Austin Hill holds on for NASCAR truck series win at LVMS
It was all Sheldon Creed for most of the World of Westgate 200 NASCAR truck series race Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But it was Austin Hill when it counted most.
Hill took the lead on the 96th of 134 laps and held off the dominant Chevrolet driver for a narrow victory in front of empty grandstands at the 1.5-mile oval to clinch a spot in the next playoff round.
“Sheldon was definitely way faster than me,” the 26-year-old Hill said after claiming his sixth truck series win in 93 starts and repelling several charges from Creed over the closing laps by driving his Toyota to the high side of the track.
“I knew I was going to have to protect (the lead),” added Hill, who led the final 39 laps in earning his second win at LVMS. “That’s the first time I’ve ever ridden the wall around this place, so it was almost a little bit intimidating the first three or four laps when I moved up.”
Creed, who was driving for Las Vegas businessman Maury Gallagher, tried everything to retake the lead in a race he controlled.
The 22-year-old led a race-high 89 laps, including 66 of the first 67. Creed brushed the wall before making up ground by dipping to the low groove but didn’t have quite enough to overtake Hill, whose margin of victory was .546 of a second.
Tanner Gray finished third in a Ford, while Toyota drivers Stewart Friesen and Chandler Smith rounded out the top five.
Creed, who started on the outside of the second row, jumped pole sitter Brett Moffitt after the green flag fell en route to winning the first race stage. It was more of the same in the second stage, as Creed led from flag to flag.
IndyCar driver Conor Daly finished 18th and one lap down in his truck series debut, while fellow guest star, teammate and action sports personality Travis Pastrana was 21st. Natalie Decker was not medically cleared to drive and was credited with 36th and last place.
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck World of Westgate 200
At Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Lap length: 1.50 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (11) Austin Hill, Toyota, 134 laps, 42 points.
2. (4) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 134, 55.
3. (12) Tanner Gray, Ford, 134, 38.
4. (17) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 134, 33.
5. (5) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 134, 33.
6. (3) Grant Enfinger, Ford, 134, 38.
7. (7) Zane Smith, Chevrolet, 134, 45.
8. (9) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 134, 37.
9. (6) Matt Crafton, Ford, 134, 33.
10. (2) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 134, 27.
11. (13) Johnny Sauter, Ford, 134, 31.
12. (23) Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, 134, 25.
13. (10) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 134, 24.
14. (34) Dylan Lupton, Ford, 134, 23.
15. (1) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 134, 39.
16. (18) Tate Fogleman, Chevrolet, 134, 21.
17. (26) Tyler Hill, Chevrolet, 134, 20.
18. (27) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 133, 19.
19. (32) Spencer Davis, Toyota, 133, 18.
20. (15) Raphael Lessard, Toyota, 133, 17.
21. (29) Travis Pastrana, Chevrolet, 133, 16.
22. (21) Clay Greenfield, Toyota, 133, 15.
23. (8) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 132, 25.
24. (25) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 132, 13.
25. (19) Danny Bohn, Toyota, 132, 12.
26. (35) Ray Ciccarelli, Chevrolet, 131, 11.
27. (16) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 131, 10.
28. (24) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 129, 9.
29. (30) Josh Reaume, Toyota, 127, 8.
30. (14) Derek Kraus, Toyota, 125, 22.
31. (31) Jesse Iwuji, Chevrolet, 115, 6.
32. (20) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, garage, 85, 5.
33. (36) Timothy Viens, Chevrolet, garage, 69, 4.
34. (28) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, garage, 62, 3.
35. (33) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, accident, 16, 2.
36. (22) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, garage, 0, 1.
