FORT WORTH, Texas – For the second time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, Justin Haley experienced the thrill of victory, while Todd Gilliland was forced to endure the agony of defeat.
Haley punched his ticket to the Championship 4 with a last-lap pass of Gilliland in Friday night’s JAG Metals 350 at Texas Motor Speedway, charging to the lead coming down the backstretch when Gilliland ran out of fuel less than a mile from the finish line.
The 19-year-old native of Winamac, Ind., then took his No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet Silverado back to the house, kick-starting a raucous celebration after guaranteeing that he’ll race for the series title at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway on Nov. 16.
“That was amazing,” Haley noted. “What a turn there. Everyone at GMS gave me a great truck.
“I thought we had lost there, honestly, after the last pit stop. I didn’t quite maximize pit road, but God stuck with me,” he continued. “I just kept my faith behind me and kept digging.”
Friday night’s win carried with it echoes of Haley’s playoff-opening victory in late August at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, which saw Gilliland and Noah Gragson crash in the final corner, opening the door for Haley to sneak through to victory lane on that day.
The fact that another dramatic scenario handed him a victory again had Haley nearly at a loss for words.
“Canada and here were just two luck wins,” he said. “It’s just proof that you can’t give up faith. The cards fell into our hands today and I can’t thank everybody enough.”
After the first two stages of the race were plagued by seven cautions, the final stage went uninterrupted once the green flag waved with 73 laps to go. Gilliland was the leader at that point, having stayed out during the second stage break, with a hard-charging Stewart Friesen behind him.
Try as he might, Friesen was unable to work past Gilliland for nearly 40 laps, but the Canadian finally squeezed to the inside and made the pass stick with 40 to go. However, Friesen was busted for speeding eight laps later during his final green-flag pit stop, taking him out of contention for the victory.
Gilliland found his way back to the front with 24 laps left once the final round of pit stops cycled through, carrying more than a four-second margin over second-running Haley. Though Haley steadily ate into the deficit and had the lead down to under three seconds with five circuits remaining, it appeared that Gilliland was finally going to secure his long-awaited first Truck Series win.
However, Gilliland’s fuel tank ran dry, his truck began to slow and the magic fizzled out once again.
Ben Rhodes and Brett Moffitt also passed the slowing No. 4 Toyota to finish second and third, respectively, while Gilliland limped across the line in fourth and struggled to flash a smile after climbing from his truck after the race.
“There’s definitely positives we can take away from tonight, but man, that hurts,” Gilliland lamented. “We tried a little bit different package and I feel like it was a hundred percent better than what we had. We were in position to win that race. It sucks and it’s horrible, but there’s nothing you can do.
“Marcus made great calls all day and got us into that position to win. That’s all you can do and we were a half-lap away. It happens and it sucks. We were just a touch short on fuel.”
Austin Hill crossed the line with a career-best fifth-place finish, ahead of Harrison Burton and Jesse Little. Friesen rebounded from his speeding penalty to end up eighth, with Matt Crafton and Gragson completing the top 10.
With teammate Johnny Sauter having already won at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway one week ago, Friday night’s result means GMS Racing will have two trucks guaranteed to race for the championship this year.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” noted Haley. “To get two Chevrolets to Miami … me and Johnny (winning) back-to-back, that’s what we want. We’ll have a 50 percent chance of winning it now.”
Heading to Arizona’s ISM Raceway for the final elimination race in the playoffs, Sauter and Haley are locked into the final round, while Brett Moffitt is 22 points above the cut line and Gragson is 18 ahead.
ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton are at risk of being knocked out of the playoffs.
