Brett Moffitt’s 17th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday afternoon was an uphill battle, but it was effective enough to advance him to the Round of Six in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Playoffs. After the points reset for round two, Moffitt leaves Talladega second on the Playoff Grid, 15 points out of the point lead.
Moffitt and the No. 16 team delivered one of their strongest qualifying efforts of the season on Friday evening and earned the eighth-starting position for Saturday’s Fr8Auctions 250. While carrying the colors of the American Red Cross and relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Michael, Moffitt was on the hunt for stage points when the green flag waved. The four-time winner in 2018 was shuffled to the middle of the pack early in the going without ample drafting help and finished Stage 1 in 12th-position on lap 20.
Moffitt made his way inside the top-10 by lap 28 but would face a healthy dose of adversity shortly thereafter. Contact from another truck severely damaged Moffitt’s right front fender on lap 39 and forced him to pit road to make repairs one lap shy of the Stage 2 caution. Moffitt lost a lap, but ample repairs from the HRE team kept him in contention for the race’s final stage. The turning point of the race occurred on lap 59 when a multi-truck accident collected the majority of the front runners, including several of Moffitt’s playoff combatants.
Despite significant damage to the right side of his Tundra, Moffitt managed to advance from outside the top-10 up to third by lap 73. However, two cut tires from the earlier damage forced Moffitt to pit road at laps 80 and 92, respectively. Moffitt was able to stay close enough to his fellow championship hopefuls to hold his position inside the top-six of the championship standings. Moffitt was credited with a 17th-place finish after the caution waved on the final lap and heads to Martinsville Speedway with new life, second in the NCWTS standings.
Brett Moffitt Quote:
“I thought we were in a good position and then someone got spun into us early which caused tire rubs on the right rear and right front. We ended up blowing a couple of right rears there. Fortunately, we’re able to hang on to the truck and bring it back and fix the issue. I am just thankful we made it through. It was a stressful day and I am not a big fan of restrictor-plate races. I am looking forward to going to some tracks I feel confident in, and am proud of this HRE team.”
“I was not comfortable at all. Every single speedway race I’ve been whether it’s Cup Series or Truck Series. I have been leading and gotten wrecked. I’ve been running in the back and have tried to be conservative and have gotten wrecked. And today, I was a middle man and still got wrecked. It just happens. That’s the stressful part about Talladega. A lot is out of your control. We were trying to mind our own business someone got spun down the track into us, and it almost cost us a shot at the title. Thankfully things worked out the way they did. That could have been a blessing in disguise. I could have gotten in one of the bigger wrecks and been completely out of the race. It is what it is. We’ll move on to some racetracks we’re confident in and try to win races.”
HRE PR/Photo Credit Getty Images
