KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ross Chastain raced to his first NASCAR Truck Series victory Friday night after leader Stewart Friesen ran out of gas with three laps to go at Kansas Speedway.
« This is what sports is all about — comebacks, man, » Chastain said after leading just five laps.
Friesen took the first two stages for the first time this season, but a costly mistake of leaving the pit box early with 42 laps to go left him without enough gas. He held the lead after a restart with 16 laps to go and led a race-high 87 laps on the 1 1/2-mile oval, but ended up 15th.
« We just can’t close it, » said Friesen, who was seeking his first Trucks win after five runner-up finishes. « I didn’t know we were taking four [tires]. I thought for sure we were taking two. Just a lot of silence on the radio. That’s it. »
The winner of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race last year in Las Vegas, Chastain topped Ben Rhodes by 0.483 seconds.
Todd Gilliland was third, followed by Austin Hill and Brandon Jones and two-time Kansas winner Matt Crafton. Johnny Sauter, coming off a victory at Dover, was forced to the garage after his 20th lap because of mechanical woes and came back to complete 97 laps.
http://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/26720107/chastain-races-1st-nascar-truck-victory
