The Sprint Cup Series may have had an off weekend, but that didn't stop one Cup regular from Victory Lane.
Sixteen drivers were set to make their Darlington Raceway debut in this weekend's Camping World Truck Series Too Tough to Tame 200, including the polesitter, 19 year old Cole Whitt. He started alongside Kasey Kahne, driving the No. 18 for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Thor Motorsports teammates Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton occupied the second row, followed by Austin Dillon, the Kevin Harvick, Inc. threesome of Ron Hornaday, Jr, Elliott Sadler and Nelson Piquet, Jr. and rounding out the top 10 was Jason White.
It didn’t take long for their to be a yellow flag; Max Papis, Travis Kvapil, Miguel Paludo and Justin Lofton were involved in the day‘s first caution on lap one. Contact between David Starr and Miguel Paludo caused the incident, sparking a chain reaction. Bodine made a pit stop under the caution with a vibration, taking four tires. Whitt lead the field back to green on lap four. Chase Mattioli spun on lap seven, but was able to get off track and the race stayed green with Whitt continuing to lead the way ahead of Kahne and Sauter, though the No. 18 of Kahne was steadily gaining on the leader. Caution for the second time came out on lap 14 for Brad Sweet in the No. 32 Great Clips Chevy after he made hard contact with the wall. The race went back to green once again at lap 19 and a great restart for Whitt with Kahne and Buescher behind him. By lap 21 Whitt and Kahne had put a gap between themselves and the rest of the field. Further in the pack Hornaday, Jr. and Sauter were racing hard side by side for fourth and fifth. The third caution of the race came out on lap 25 when Brendan Gaughan’s No. 62 went for a spin, though he was able to recover and continue. Two laps later the field made their way to pit road for tires, fuel and adjustments. Drivers were also dealing with poor visibility on track as the sun began to set. Cole Whitt came out of the pits 12th, losing a ton of spots after dropped lugnuts during the stop. Kevin Harvick, Inc. drivers Sadler and Dillon, who took two tires, led Kahne, Buescher and Hornaday, Jr. off of pit road. They led the field to the restart on lap 31. Dillon and Buescher battled side by side for second as Whitt began to battle his way back up to the front. By lap 34 Dillon had fallen back to fifth after slight contact with Buescher, who had fallen to third after being passed by Kahne. Justin Johnson in the No. 51 made hard contact with the inside wall on lap 36 just as Kahne had caught the leader, though Sadler retained the lead. The No. 2 Tide ride led the field back to green flag racing on lap 41. It was a very tight restart with lots of two truck battles but Kahne was able to take the lead and pull away from Sadler and company. Hornaday was all over the back bumper of Todd Bodine as the two raced hard for that fifth position, and just ahead of them Sadler held off Dillon for third. Both Bodine and Hornaday passed Dillon on lap 50, sending him to sixth. Chase Mattioli in the No. 10 once again found trouble on lap 52, making contact with the wall but once again made his way off track and the race stayed green, allowing Kahne to maintain his over three second lead. Caution came out for the fifth time on lap 57 for debris, bringing the field once again. Whitt won the race off pit road after taking two tires, followed by Kahne, Buescher, Hornaday, Bodine and Sauter. The race restarted on lap 63. Kahne made the pass for the lead shortly after they entered turn one, and the following lap was passed by Buescher. Meanwhile, Whitt struggled on two tires and fell to sixth just three laps after the restart. Back up front, Kahne began making up ground on the leader. Bodine and Hornaday resumed their battle for position on track, the No. 30 overtaking third position on lap 69. On lap 70 Kahne moved back into the lead after the pair raced briefly side by side. Nelson Piquet, Jr. made hard contact with wall, causing a chain reaction that saw Joey Coulter and Jason White spin and then collide, bringing out the sixth caution of the Too Tough to Tame 200 on lap 74. Kahne led the field once again to the green on lap 79, electing to take the inside line; further in the pack Whitt once again began to fall back. Bodine began pursuing a very loose No. 33 of Hornaday for second on lap 86 after he was able to pass Buescher. Meanwhile, Whitt reported his Red Bull Toyota had dropped a cylinder and ran 26th. Caution for the third time for Chase Mattioli and the seventh time of the race on lap 88, setting up for the final scheduled stops of the race. Sadler won the race off pit road after taking four tires, followed by the four tire stops of Kahne, Hornaday, Timothy Peters and Buescher. Bodine and Crafton both experienced trouble on pit road; Bodine’s pit crew had a slow spot, costing their driver three spots while Crafton’s crew missed a lugnut, causing him to make a second visit to pit road.
Sadler led the field to the green on lap 96, and just as they completed the lap caution for the eight time came out. Ricky Carmichael overcorrected his loose No. 4 Monster Energy Chevy, making huge contact with the wall. Behind him, Piquet, Jr. lost a tire and hit the wall, collecting the No. 20 of Johanna Long. She was able to continue until Carmichael came down the track and the two collided. Both drivers were able to get out of their trucks under their own power and were okay. NASCAR put out the red flag to clean up the front stretch.
Once the field went to yellow flag conditions, several drivers were told to save fuel. The field went back to green with 45 laps to go with Kahne leading the mostly single file field.
Sauter, Kligerman and Buescher all raced for eighth, ninth and tenth, with Sauter and Buescher both moving past the No. 29, who then faced a challenged from Gaughan. Just behind them former leader Cole Whitt was back up to full speed and working his way through the field.
With 35 laps to go Kahne had effectively checked out from the field, leading second place Hornaday by over a second, while the No. 33 was once again battling Bodine.
Caution for the ninth time came out on lap 116 for debris. Timothy Peters was the only driver with a set of sticker tires remaining, giving up fifth spot along with eighth place Sauter to come down pit road along with a handful of others further in the pack.
Just 25 laps remained when the field returned to green, and Hornaday and Kahne began racing hard side by side for the top spot, with Bodine just behind them. The following lap Bodine moved into Hornaday but Kahne maintained the lead. Peters restarted 18th and Sauter, who took two right side tires, 13th and began working their way back to the front. Sauter’s teammate Crafton had also rebounded from his earlier pit road problem, and ran eighth.
Bodine was right on the bumper of Kahne with 20 laps to go, and the pair had separated themselves from the pack. Four laps later, Kahne began driving away from the No. 30, and Cole Whitt ran fifth, challenging Buescher for the fourth position. With ten to go, Kahne had a one second lead over Bodine; Sauter and Peters ran ninth and tenth, and third place Hornaday reported a vibration to his crew.
Caution with just eight laps to go came out for the 10th time after Jeffrey Earnhardt hit the wall.
With three laps to go it was Kahne on the outside followed by Bodine, Hornaday, Buescher, and Whitt in the top five. Hornaday was all over the back of Bodine and Dillon began falling back. Bodine got sideways sending himself, Hornaday and Crafton back and allowing Kahne to drive away. With Hornaday hard at work holding off a charging Bodine and Buescher let Kahne maintain his lead and win the Too Tough to Tame 200.
Hornaday was second, followed by Bodine, Crafton, Buescher, Peters, Sadler, Whitt, Sauter and David Starr rounding out the top ten.
In three races this season a Camping World Series regular has yet to win; Michael Waltrip won at Daytona, Kyle Busch two weeks ago in Phoenix and Kahne at Darlington.
Matt Crafton remains your points leader, six points ahead of Cole Whitt, seven ahead of Timothy Peters, eight ahead of Clay Rogers and nine ahead of fifth place in points Johnny Sauter.
The next time the CWTS will hit the track in three weeks at Martinsville Speedway on April 2nd. Coverage of the Kroger 250 begins at 2 pm ET on SPEED.
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