November 15, 2019
By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Austin Hill bookended his 2019 season with a victory in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway – finishing a comfortable 1.569-seconds ahead of veteran Matt Crafton, whose runner-up effort was enough to earn him his third NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship.
Hill won all three stages in the race and led a race best 56 laps to give the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota its second consecutive Homestead win. Last year Brett Moffitt drove the truck to a race and series championship trophy.
Christian Eckes finished third on Friday to earn Kyle Busch Motorsports its record seventh series owner championship – the organization’s sixth in the last seven years.
From the drop of the rain-delayed green flag, the four championship eligible drivers – Crafton, fourth place Ross Chastain, fifth place Moffitt and 11th place Stewart Friesen – had to deal with a highly motivated Hill for the race win. Officially eliminated from Playoff contention last week at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway, Hill came into the event highly-motivated nonetheless.
He drove around title contender Chastain to win the first stage and held off Crafton for wins in both the second stage and ultimately the race trophy.
The 25-year old Georgia native finished the season as he started – in Victory Lane – matching his work in the season-opening Daytona race – his first career win. He won again at Michigan in the summer and then again at Las Vegas and was truly a formidable contender through the Playoffs. Unable to overcome a points deficit after a crash at Martinsville, Va. in the final Playoff round, however, kept him from the Championship 4. However his work Friday sent a strong message that he’s ready to contend for the championship next year as well.
“I’m excited for the win, but at the same time it stings a little bit just because I know that if we would have been a little bit better in the round of six, we could be celebrating a win and a championship,” Hill said. “But like I say, I can’t thank everybody out there enough.
And Hill conceded with a smile, “It’s awesome to get my fourth win of the season and end on a high note.”
This year’s champion Crafton matches a three-title mark equaled only by Jack Sprague (2001, 1999 and 1997) and exceeded by only NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. Crafton is the only driver to ever win back-to-back truck titles (2013-14).
“It feels amazing and we’re one step closer to what Hornaday’s done,” Crafton said after climbing out of his car, noting that many underestimated his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford team. “And they called us the underdog.”
Moffitt, who led the series with four wins, 13 top fives along with 17 top 10s and three pole positions, was clearly disappointed with his fifth-place finish.
“We were just pretty bad from the get-go this morning, just missing speed,” said Moffitt, who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet. “It is what it is, we had a good year and we’ll re-group and go after it again next year.”
“It’s a disappointment but we’ll move on and get better,” he added.
Chastain, who was a strong favorite to earn his first title, was equally as disappointed following the race. He led 36 laps on the night and for much of the early race looked ready to challenge Hill for the race win to land his first NASCAR title.
He won three races and earned a series best 19 top-10 finishes. A competitor in all three NASCAR national series, Chastain only declared himself championship eligible in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series in June.
“I want to throw up right now to be honest with you, but it has been an absolute dream,” said Chastain, who will drive for Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series next year.
“It’s pretty crazy that we did that [made the Playoffs], and made it to Homestead,” he added. “We did everything we could and that says a lot.”
Tyler Ankrum, the driver of the No. 17 DGR Crosley Toyota, finished 22nd on Friday, but officially earned the series’ Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors for his season’s work. He wasn’t allowed to compete on the big tracks until he turned 18 in March and he missed the opening three races of the season calendar.
“We had a really great season I thought,” said the 18-year old Ankrum, who won his career first series race at Kentucky this summer and qualified for the Playoffs as a rookie.
“When we had highs they were really, really high.”
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race – 24th Annual Ford EcoBoost 200
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead, Florida
Friday, November 15, 2019
1. (5) Austin Hill, Toyota, 134.
2. (9) Matt Crafton (P), Ford, 134.
3. (2) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 134.
4. (3) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 134.
5. (4) Brett Moffitt (P), Chevrolet, 134.
6. (6) Johnny Sauter, Ford, 134.
7. (7) Grant Enfinger, Ford, 134.
8. (11) Todd Gilliland, Toyota, 134.
9. (12) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 134.
10. (27) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 134.
11. (1) Stewart Friesen (P), Chevrolet, 134.
12. (10) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 134.
13. (13) Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 134.
14. (23) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 133.
15. (19) Gus Dean #, Chevrolet, 133.
16. (26) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 133.
17. (32) Jesse Little, Ford, 133.
18. (15) Tyler Dippel #, Chevrolet, 133.
19. (14) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 133.
20. (20) Natalie Decker #, Toyota, 133.
21. (18) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 132.
22. (8) Tyler Ankrum #, Toyota, 132.
23. (28) Tyler Hill, Chevrolet, 132.
24. (16) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 132.
25. (22) Danny Bohn, Toyota, 132.
26. (30) Codie Rohrbaugh, Chevrolet, 130.
27. (29) Cory Roper, Ford, 129.
28. (25) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 128.
29. (17) Angela Ruch, Chevrolet, 127.
30. (21) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, Electrical, 113.
31. (31) Ray Ciccarelli, Chevrolet, Oil Line, 48.
32. (24) Anthony Alfredo #, Toyota, Engine, 0.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 131.492 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 31 Mins, 43 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.569 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 14 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Friesen (P) 0;R. Chastain (P) 1-28;A. Hill 29-32;B. Moffitt (P) 33-35;R. Chastain (P) 36-43;A. Hill 44-55;M. Crafton (P) 56;A. Hill 57-63;C. Eckes 64-89;A. Hill 90-99;G. Dean # 100-103;M. Crafton (P) 104-111;A. Hill 112-134.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Austin Hill 5 times for 56 laps; Ross Chastain (P) 2 times for 36 laps; Christian Eckes 1 time for 26 laps; Matt Crafton (P) 2 times for 9 laps; Gus Dean # 1 time for 4 laps; Brett Moffitt (P) 1 time for 3 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 16,45,52,24,51,88,2,17,98,13
Stage #2 Top Ten: 16,88,45,24,52,98,75,13,2,7