It came down to the final three turns and the first place runner and the second place runner were swapping the lead. Ryan Blaney, who had been leading after the final caution and most of the race, was getting some pressure from German Quiroga in the closing laps of the 64-lap feature at the road course north of the border. As they entered into the final turns at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Quiroga was able to get by Blaney for the lead but Blaney performed a quick crossover move and was able to just inch in front of Quiroga as they crossed the finish line.
The margin of victory was 0.050 seconds.
This was Blaney’s first win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season and his 10th top 10 finish of the year. Blaney sits third in the points standings and is now 13 points behind Johnny Sauter in the hunt for the championship.
Blaney’s crew chief Chad Kendrick had an interesting pit strategy that happened to work out for the team. Blaney made one pit stop in the race and it would depend on if any caution flags would come out to make this a good scenario for the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing team. It was a green flag race until John Hunter Nemechek stalled his truck in turn one on lap 48. Blaney would be able to save fuel with some caution flags and this became an opportunity for the team. He would have another chance to save fuel and keep his track position when his teammate, Alex Tagliani, spun in turn five and couldn’t re-fire the engine. This set up the last restart of the day with nine laps remaining. Blaney was able to take the lead and keep the lead until the last few turns in the race when he and Quiroga battled for position. Blaney kept up the fight and won the race.
Blaney led the most laps on the day with 34.
German Quiroga was in the top four for most of the day and was one of the drivers who many were picking to have a good run on the day. He was able to lead eight laps on the day and came home second after a heartbreaker with Blaney.
Pole-sitter Alex Tagliani had a good run to start and led the first seven laps of the race. He pitted early as a strategy call and was running well until he spun on lap 55 and couldn’t re-fire the truck. He was aggressively attempting to get track position and hit the back of Cole Custer’s truck and spun. Tagliani finished 16th.
Points leader Johnny Sauter was able to lead four laps on the day and kept the points lead leaving Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. He was able to finish eighth.
Canadian drivers Cameron Hayley and Andrew Ranger made their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debuts in the Chevrolet Silverado 250. Ranger was able to lead four laps on the day while Hayley was able to keep in the top 15 for most of the race. Ranger finish fifth while Hayley finished 11th.
The top ten: Ryan Blaney, German Quiroga, Erik Jones, Gray Gaulding, Andrew Ranger, Matt Crafton, Brennan Newberry, Johnny Sauter, Cole Custer and Timothy Peters.
The next NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will be the Lucas Oil 225 on Friday, Sept. 12 at 8:30 p.m. ET at Chicagoland Speedway.
