Play-By-Play Alpha Energy Solutions 250 - Martinsville Speedway

MARTINSVILLE, VA – RIS  -  Chase Elliott started on the pole position at Martinsville Speedway and led two times for a total of 92 laps to win the 19th Annual Alpha Energy Solutions 250.  Elliott led the first 75 laps and the final 17 laps.

The play-by-play followed the eventful plot of many previous trips to the half mile paper clip. This time, Chase Elliott in The #23 Allegiant Airlines/NAPA Chevrolet started on the pole position and pulled away from the field as soon as the green flag flew.  He continued to widen the distance between his truck and the second place starter/runner #21 Johnny Sauter.

Just three laps into the 250 lap race, the back running #1 truck of Bryce Napier brushed the turn one wall and started smoking.  Caution # 1 lasted laps 4-8.

Caution #2 flew again shortly as it was brought out by #13 Cody Coughlin as the right front of the yellow JEGS Toyota tapped the left rear bumper of #87 Joe Nemechek in turn three.   Coughlin was also penalized for removing equipment from his pit stall and lost two laps.  Caution was a short period for laps 14-16.  The #49 of Wendell Chavous was the beneficiary of the free pass. At the restart, the running order was still Chase Elliott followed by Johnny Sauter.  Chase once again pulled about 10 truck lengths ahead of the field.  Matt Crafton worked his way past Sauter to take second position.  Sauter paced in third for a few laps and then retook second position from Crafton.

By lap 40, the field was spread out single file except for the lapped #49 truck trying to stay out of the way by running the inside lane.  Chase worked to lap a multitude of trucks while Sauter followed in the tracks of Elliott’s #23 truck.  Crafton ran about one half of a straight behind them.

At the fifty lap mark, Chase Elliott had led all of the laps with Sauter being the only one able to hang with him.

The first stage was scheduled to end at lap 70.  Sauter started hounding Chase more persistently with 7 laps to go in the stage. #16 Ryan Truex attempted to stay on the lead lap but Chase passed his truck with two laps to go in stage one.  With two laps to go, #24 Justin Hayley tried to hold off Chase Elliott and remain on the lead lap.  Chase Elliott managed to hold off Johnny Sauter and win stage one.  Matt Crafton earned third place points.

The bright, bright, bright yellow Mustang pace car slowed the field until pit road was opened with 176 laps remaining in the race.  The lead lap cars came down pit road at the 30 mph speed limit.  Christopher Bell’s #4 crew gambled for track position and put only two tires on the JBL Toyota to lead the pack back onto the track. After the caution between segments one and two, Johnny Sauter started second followed by Chase Elliott, Matt Crafton and #99 Ty Dillon.

At the start of the second segment, Christopher Bell held the inside lane for about 1 ½ laps while holding off Sauter.  Once Sauter took the lead, he became the dominant truck pulling away from the field as Bell’s truck held off Chase Elliott (who had led the first 75 laps).

Caution #4 came out for the spun out #44  truck of Brandon Brown with 158 laps remaining .  His plain white truck stopped on the middle of the track exiting turn four.  He was eventually helped to the garage area with a push from the wrecker. Laps 92-96 were run under caution.

The restart order was as when caution had slowed the field.   Sauter pulled into the lead with Bell and Chase Elliott battling for second followed by Crafton. However, caution #5 flew just a few laps into the green run when the #29 of Chase Briscoe pushed up the track in turn two and spun the #18 of Noah Gragson.   Caution was out for laps 101-106.

Sauter again had the inside lane advantage on the restart.  The trucks of Bell, Elliott and Crafton lined up second through fourth.   The lead truck driven by Sauter maintained dominance over the field just as Elliott did the first segment of the race.

The #8 of John Hunter Nemechek slowed drastically on lap 117 and crept from the front stretch to just past the exit of pit road when finally caution was finally called.  Caution waved for laps 119-122.

The restart had a big jam up as the field roared into turns one and two.  Chase Briscoe’s truck had some damage that created a tire rub, but it could have been much worse as he straightened a sideways truck.  Making his way into the top five during this time was #98 Grant Enfinger.

Sauter still led the field followed by Crafton and Chase Briscoe.   Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell were the losers as they ended up running mid-pack.  Chase worked hard to make his way through the field and finally turned #66 Ross Chastain exiting turn four while trying to gain positions.  Chastain was able to restart and continue but laps were logged under caution. Caution #7 spread over laps 137-149.

Stage two ended under caution with Sauter being the winner of the one play-off point.  Crafton, Chase Briscoe, Timothy Peters and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five.

Christopher Bell’s team once again did a different pit strategy.  He didn’t pit and restarted with the race lead. Chase Elliott’s team also played strategy as he restarted in second position. #7 Brett Moffitt also did the pit strategy and had moved into third position. Johnny Sauter restarted thirteenth after the pit stops between segments.

Christopher Bell started losing the advantage held by earlier lead trucks as Chase Elliott was on his bumper on lap 156 and hounded him for the next three laps.

Caution #8 flew for #29 Chase Briscoe when he spun and stopped in the middle of turn two.   Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Brett Moffitt and Ty Dillon were your top four runners.

Caution #9 flew after eleven laps of green flag racing. #51 Harrison Burton paid the price as the final end of a chain reaction that caused his truck to be the one to spin exiting turn four.

During the next green flag segment, four drivers doggedly battled nose-to-tail with Christopher Bell maintaining the lead followed by Chase Elliott, Johnny Sauter and Noah Gragson.  With 20 laps remaining in the race, lapped cars started holding up the leader as they ran side-by-side in front of the leader trucks.  Finally, Bell tried to go under a lapped car in turn ones and two.  Bell’s charge was not advantageous to him.  His truck slid up into the lapped #19 truck and as they tangled and slowed, Elliott, Sauter and Gragson drove past them. 

Caution number ten quickly passed under laps 235-238.  The race had been slowed for 63 laps at this juncture of the race.

When the green flag flew on lap 239 of 250, Elliott blocked Sauter going into turn one and pulled ahead of the field.  Once regaining the lead, the race was his to take at this point.

Elliott was in lead with Sauter second, Bell third, Noah Gragson fourth and Ty Dillon fifth..

Chase Elliott pulled away with ten laps to go.   No one was able to catch and challenge Elliott and the final order was as they had restarted with ten remaining laps.  The finishing order was

winner Chase Elliott, followed by Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell, and Noah Gragson (the highest finishing rookie).  This was Elliott’s second victory in 12 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races and his first at Martinsville Speedway.

Johnny Sauter leads they point standings by four points over Christopher Bell.

The next race is Mary 12, 2017 at Kansas Speedway.