NEWTON, Iowa – Brett Moffitt delivered a loud and clear message to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series field at the end of Saturday’s M&M’s 200 powered by Casey’s General Stores at Iowa Speedway.
He’s not planning on going away as the summer stretch of the schedule begins to heat up.
Moffitt delivered a statement victory over the weekend, winning for the second time in his career at the seven-eighths-mile short track and the first time since 2011, when he topped a NASCAR K&N Pro Series combination race at Iowa.
He held off a last-lap, last-corner charge by Noah Gragson for the win, crossing back under the Kyle Busch Motorsports young gun after Gragson overshot his run into the corner and smacked the wall exiting turn four.
“With the pursuit Noah was giving, the last 40 laps were really tough for me. It was all about hitting my marks and hoping that he wouldn’t be able to pass us,” Moffitt noted. “Thankfully, he didn’t … or he did, but not for long.”
“The updated splitter configuration that NASCAR has implemented in the Truck Series has made it very difficult to pass,” added crew chief Scott Zipadelli. “All night long, trucks could run side by side, but to finish a move and get clear of someone wasn’t easy at all. In the four or five races since the change, it’s been all about pit strategy and getting yourself out front, so that you don’t have to make passes. We did that on strategy and it paid dividends at the end of the race when it mattered most.”
In contrast to Moffitt’s K&N win seven years ago, Saturday evening’s triumph came at a critical time for Hattori Racing Enterprises, which Moffitt admitted prior to the race is still searching for sponsorship to run the remainder of the season despite the fact that they are third in points with two wins on the year.
“We’ve been in some tight spots. I’ll say this much, the Monday before Texas, we didn’t know for sure if we were going to be at the race track,” Moffitt told the media Friday afternoon. “We have put in a lot of work and made a lot of things happen to get this far, but there are still some unknowns ahead for us as a team. We’ve still got a few open races coming up, and (sponsorship) is something that’s on our minds all the time right now, but we’re working to close those gaps.”
During the race, however, what was on Moffitt’s mind was staying out in front of the field with a slew of hometown fans watching closely.
Moffitt is from nearby Grimes, Iowa – just 45 miles west of Iowa Speedway along Interstate 35 – and had no shortage of motivation despite a day that started out challenging after he qualified 16th, the worst starting position of any NASCAR winner in track history.
“With this being my hometown race, it was really important for me to do well here … and it was an uphill battle all night long,” said Moffitt. “We didn’t qualify where I thought we should have and Scott and I were both pretty dumbfounded and frustrated by that. To fight from 16th to seventh by the end of the first stage was a huge success, and then we had a lug nut get caught between the wheel and the hub and fell all the way back to 14th from there.”
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