Marked by hard racing, Saturday’s NASCAR Trucks decided in overtime at Kansas Speedway

Brett Moffitt has been chasing his first win of the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV Trucks Series season all year — through a pandemic, a reconfigured schedule, and multiple runner-up finishes.

With victory in sight in the final laps of Saturday’s Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway, Moffit wasn’t about to yield for anyone, even teammates.

Moffitt apologized to teammate Zane Smith for what he called a “poor block” on the backstretch with three laps to go, with the pair battling for the lead. The move sent Smith into a long spin that ended his chances of victory and set up an overtime three-lap shootout to decide the race.

Moffitt wouldn’t be denied in overtime, holding off Sheldon Creed to pick up a victory at the most opportune time. Saturday was the first of three races in the Round of 8 of the Trucks Series playoffs, and Moffitt is now guaranteed a spot in the Championship 4 at the season finale in Phoenix.

“It’s definitely a relief. It’s go time in the season and we’ve had a pretty rough one,” Moffitt said. “It’s a lot of relief to do it in a high-pressure situation and knowing we have a chance to do race for a championship.”

Moffitt and Smith seemed destined to duel to the finish, but things came to a head before that with the pair had to battle lap traffic and each other. Smith had a run on the backstretch before a late move from Moffitt sent him spinning into turn three. Smith eventually finished 11th.

“I apologize to the whole 21 (Smith) group. I threw a bad block. We were racing hard. I tried to be as aggressive as I could and unfortunately it didn’t work out good for them and it was my fault,” Moffitt said.

The teammates kept things cordial after the race, but Smith didn’t try to hide his disappointment.

“I think that was our ticket to Phoenix,” Smith said. “I think I definitely had a better truck than Brett. (the block) definitely caught me off guard, or else I probably would’ve hooked him. We shook each other’s hand (after the race) and he said ‘I know you’re mad.’ Yeah, I am mad. That’s all that needs to be said.”

Creed started the day tied for the series points lead, and was the dominant truck in the first half of the race, winning the first two stages. His truck got looser as the race wore on, but the late caution gave him the opportunity to climb back to runner-up position.

“That caution saved us. We were so good and just didn’t keep up with the pace,” Creed said. “Brett deserves this for the year he’s had. I feel like we had a really good truck, and I’m looking forward to next weekend.”

Austin Hill and Grant Enfinger, who are also in the Round of 8, finished third and fourth, respectively.

Deegan Makes Trucks Debut

Hailie Deegan, 19, who wrapped up her ARCA season on Friday with rookie of the year honors, made her Trucks Series debut on Saturday. She started 34th, but made history by finishing 16th, the best-ever finish for a woman on the Trucks Series.

Deegan will look to improve on that record next year, when she hopefully plans to run a full trucks season.