NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview
Event: Overton’s 225, Race 11 of 23, 150 Laps –35/35/80; 225 Miles
Location: Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (1.5-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: June 29, 2018 at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to ‘Noah’bout
- After knocking on the door of victory the last two races, Noah Gragson and the No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team will look to seal the deal at Chicagoland Speedway Friday night. Last week at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., Gragson led a race-high 63 laps and was out front for a restart with six laps remaining before losing several positions due to a soft right-rear tire. After a caution, the team was able to put on four fresh tires and salvaged a 10th-place finish. Two weeks ago, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Gragson made what he called a “video game” move in the final corner of the race, when he dove to the bottom of the track into Turn 3 and exited Turn 4 ahead of leader Brett Moffitt. Unfortunately, the momentum from the move carried him into the outside wall on the exit of Turn 4 and Moffitt was able to reclaim the lead before they crossed the finish line to bring home the victory.
- With his 10th-place finish at Gateway, Gragson maintained second place in the NCWTS championship standings. He enters this week’s race 73 tallies behind points leader Johnny Sauter. Gragson has earned 10 playoff points through the first eight races in 2018, including the seven he earned by sweeping all three stages en route to victory from the pole at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City in May. Overall in 10 starts this season, he has posted one win, two poles, four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
- The 19-year-old driver has led at least one lap in nine of the 10 races this season and leads the Truck Series with 346 laps led on the year. He also leads the Truck Series with an average starting position of 3.7.
- Crew chief Rudy Fugle visited victory lane with Kyle Busch in the 2013 event at Chicagoland. Last year Fugle’s driver, Christopher Bell, led a race-high 73 laps and finished third in the Windy City.
- Safelite AutoGlass, the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services, will adorn the hood of Gragson’s No. 18 Tundra for all 23 events on the NCWTS schedule in 2018.
Noah Gragson, Driver Q&A
You’ve knocked on the door of your second victory of 2018 the last few weeks. Do you feel like your team is hitting its stride?
“I feel like we’ve been championship contenders and race-winning contenders since a couple races into the season. Once I started getting a good flow with my crew chief Rudy Fugle and the rest of my crew guys getting our team chemistry down. I feel like it’s really good right now. We had a shot at winning Iowa — finished second there — and then we led up until about seven to go at Gateway last weekend until we unfortunately had a flat tire. Definitely was in contention to win that race too. I know I have the best team out there at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Now, it’s trying to get this summer stretch in and keep really consistent race weekends throughout the whole summer stretch. Trying to win races is the biggest thing and keeping consistent.”
What does it take to have a fast Tundra at Chicagoland?
“Chicago is a fast race track — you’ve got to have a lot of speed there, but it’s really bumpy too. So, with the bumps you have to have your handling good over the tunnel turn in three and four. There’s a tunnel that goes right underneath there, so the bumps are really rough. So, to be able to handle but still have speed is really the biggest thing. It’s a lot of fun to race at that race track and we’re going to have a lot of Safelite AutoGlass employees out there. It should be good and we’ll put on a good show.”
Noah Gragson Career Highlights
- In 35 career NCWTS starts has collected two wins, five poles, 533 laps led, eight top-five and 20 top-10 finishes.
- Recorded two top-five and three top-10 finishes resulting in average finish of 4.3 across three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for Joe Gibbs Racing this season
- Finished 10th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) championship standings in 2017 after collecting one win, three poles, 187 laps led, four top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in his rookie campaign. He earned his first NCWTS victory last October at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway outdueling series veterans Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton in the closing laps
- The NASCAR Next alum also competed in three events for KBM’s Super Late Model team in 2017, highlighted by his triumph in the prestigious ARCA/CRA Super Series Winchester 400 at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway in October
- The Las Vegas native has collected four NASCAR K&N Pro Series West victories across 27 career starts and two NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victories across 16 career starts
Noah Gragson’s No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Tundra:
KBM-047: The Safelite AutoGlass team will unload KBM-47 for Friday night’s Overton’s 225 at Chicagoland Speedway. The Tundra led a race-high 72 laps and finished third with Christopher Bell behind the wheel in last year’s event in the Windy City.
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have collected four wins, 472 laps led, eight top-five and 14 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 7.9 across 18 starts at Chicago
- Kyle Busch has claimed all four wins for KBM (2010, 2013, 2014 & 2016) at the 1.5-mile oval and has led 344 of the team’s 472 laps
- The No. 18 team, which last year was the No. 4 team with Christopher Bell, has won five consecutive NCWTS Owner’s titles for KBM and has produced two championship-winning drivers (Erik Jones, 2015 and Christopher Bell, 2017)
- The No. 18, the number which was on the first Tundra that went to victory lane for KBM in 2010, has 21 career victories
- KBM holds the NCWTS records for most career wins (67) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017)
