The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to the Arizona desert last Friday night to settle the Championship 4. As always, the truck series action did not disappoint. Here’s a look at who topped the top five power rankings this week.
- Johnny Sauter – When there is a truck race, you can always expect Sauter to be up front and challenging for the win, however, it came with a little luck. In both stages, he placed sixth, but his luck turned around when the two leaders had contact and were involved in a racing incident. Sauter did not take the lead until Lap 146 and held off a hard-charging John Hunter Nemechek, scoring back to back wins.
- John Hunter Nemechek – Could have, would have, should have, was the title for Nemechek on Friday night. He started sixth and stayed in the top 10 for both stages, placing fourth and seventh, respectively. Like Sauter, however, he got a little bit of luck in the remaining laps and tried to challenge for the win late but unfortunately came up one spot short.
- Stewart Friesen – Friesen continued his 2017 success by coming home sixth at Phoenix this past weekend. Even though he did not place in the top 10 in Stage 1, Friesen placed 10th in Stage 2. After all the melee was over, the No. 52 Halmar Racing team came home sixth for his fourth top 10 finish of the year.
- Cody Coughlin – Coughlin placed third Friday night at the 1-mile race track. It was the best finish of his three-year career in the Truck Series, despite not finishing in the top 10 in both stages. Coughlin will look to end the season on a high note by either winning or scoring another top three finish.
- Kaz Grala – If Grala was not knocked out of the championship hunt, who knows where he would have been now. In the past three races, he has finished inside the top 10. In fact, Grala’s whole round has been solid, but wrecking at Talladega and finishing 29th was the ultimate blow to his championship hopes. He will be hoping to end the season winning at Homestead after winning the first race of the season at Daytona.
