William Byron powered past Matt Crafton in the closing laps of the Rattlesnake 400 at Texas Motor Speedway to claim his second victory Camping World Truck Series victory in 2016. William Byron, who is only 18 years of age, became the second youngest racer to win a Camping World Truck Series event and the youngest to win at Texas’s 1.5 mile oval. The previous record was held by NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series rookie phenom, Chase Elliott.
Matt Crafton was clearly the most dominate truck in the race for most of the evening leading 133 laps of the 167 turned but William Byron, in his Kyle Busch Motorsports hot-rod, had too much horsepower for Crafton’s Menards/Ideal Door Toyota and pulled away to secure the victory by over two seconds.
The race still was not in the bag after Rico Abreu drove his Safelite Auto Glass/Curb Records Toyota to the rear of Byron’s bumper but smashed into the outside wall when his right front tire went down. Fellow rookie Rico Abreu would finish in the ninth position. William Byron commented on his victory and how he went about the late race pace in his post-race comments.
“I found the top earlier in the race and it didn’t work very well 15 to 20 laps in the run,” said William Byron, who led twice for only six of 167 laps. “Once I could get laps on the tires … it’s all about heart and you have to want it and my team wants it and I see that every day. It’s huge for our race team to get another win this year, We didn’t leave any doubt out there that we deserved to win. It was cool to lead when it counted; to finally finish out there gives me a bit of confidence. I learned a lot about running the top.”
It looked like it was going to be Matt Crafton’s day after the two-time Camping World Truck Series champion overcame a down tire in the beginning laps of the race which damaged his truck and set him back in the 25th position.
Matt Crafton still had plenty of speed when himself and eventual race winner William Byron hooked-up for a side by side six lap duel with 44 circuits remaining. The savvy veteran’s truck took a turn for the worse when it struggled to release from the high-banked ovals corners and Crafton settled for a second place result.
“If I could have done it any differently, I would have,” Crafton said. “We just lost all drive off the corner for whatever reason there. We ran so hard at the beginning of that run that it had zero drive off (by the end of it). It says a lot about this team. If you look at the right side of this Tundra and how beat up this thing is, we led the most laps and should of, could of won this race.”
Johnny Sauter brought a fast truck to Texas over the weekend. He led nine laps and his #21 Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff Chevrolet ran towards the front for the majority of the race and finished in an impressive third position. The finish vaulted Sauter past fellow competitors Spencer Gallagher, Ben Kennedy and Ryan Truex for seventh spot in the Camping World Truck Series standings.
Ben Kennedy sits ninth in the point standings and completed the event in fourth place. Kennedy was competitive in the late stages of the contest but couldn’t manage to lead a lap. Fifth place went to Tyler Reddick and his #29 Cooper Standard Ford. Reddick was also a front runner during the Rattlesnake 400 at Texas Motor speedway but also failed to lead a lap but secured his sixth place spot in the standings, two points ahead of the hard charging Johnny Sauter.
The Rattlesnake 400 at Texas Motor Speedway took one hour and 51 minutes to finish. The average speed of the field was 134.919 miles per hour and the margin of victory was 2.095 seconds. There were four cautions in the event that used up 22 laps and 11 lead changes among four different drivers. Johnny Sauter took home the Coors Light Pole Position Award for his qualifying efforts and rookie William Byron won the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race.
Final Results for the Rattlesnake 400 at Texas Motor Speedway:
1. (6) William Byron #, Toyota, 167.
2. (4) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 167.
3. (1) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 167.
4. (15) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 167.
5. (5) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 167.
6. (8) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 167.
7. (23) John H. Nemechek, Chevrolet, 167.
8. (2) German Quiroga, Toyota, 167.
9. (13) Rico Abreu #, Toyota, 167.
10. (3) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 167.
11. (12) Ben Rhodes #, Toyota, 167.
12. (14) Cody Coughlin #, Toyota, 167.
13. (18) Austin Wayne Self, Toyota, 167.
14. (16) Cole Custer #, Chevrolet, 167.
15. (27) Austin Hill, Ford, 167.
16. (20) Caleb Holman, Toyota, 166.
17. (7) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 166.
18. (11) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 165.
19. (21) Jesse Little, Toyota, 165.
20. (22) Parker Kligerman, Ford, 164.
21. (19) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 164.
22. (17) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 164.
23. (29) Wayne Edwards, Chevrolet, 164.
24. (25) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 163.
25. (24) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 160.
26. (28) Ryan Lynch, Chevrolet, 158.
27. (10) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 153.
28. (26) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, Accident, 92.
29. (32) Timothy Viens, Chevrolet, Vibration, 56.
30. (31) Ryan Ellis(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 30.
31. (30) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, Engine, 4.
32. (9) Christopher Bell #, Toyota, Engine, 0.
