Thanks to a call by NASCAR and the aggressive driving of Matt Crafton, Mike Skinner fell into a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win Saturday at Gateway International Raceway.
Skinner, who won a week ago at Iowa Speedway, scored his second consecutive victory and was in the right place in the right time after leader Crafton was sent to the tail of the lead lap by NASCAR for aggressive driving. AHN
On the first restart, Todd Bodine bumped Matt Crafton, positioned to his inside, and went across the track, hit the wall and collected Colin Braun and Rick Crawford, prompting the race to be red flagged.
With just four laps to go, Crafton sent race leader and points leader Ron Hornaday spinning out after the two bumped on the first turn. Crafton was black-flagged and had to restart at the end of the lead line.
“I’ve won a couple like this, and I’ve probably lost 20 like this,” Skinner said. “I’ve said it I don’t know how many times: How are we going to ever police, how are we ever going to stop it being OK just to go out there in the first turn on a restart with five to go and wreck the leader to win races? USA Today
“We had a horrible pit stop today, which put us back there,” he added. “Our truck was good. I don’t think it was as good as Ron’s, but it was better than Matt’s and probably as good as [Todd Bodine’s]. I felt like we had a second- place truck anyway.”
Sauter finished second, while Brain Scott, Aric Almirola and Tayler Malsam completed the top-five. MiamiHerald.com
Crafton climbed back to finish sixth, and Hornaday was 17th. Hornaday has a 197-point lead over Crafton in the point standings with seven races remaining. Skinner is third, 213 back.
Sauter was unhappy that NASCAR ordered Skinner in front of him under caution before the next-to-last restart. NASCAR said the electronic timing loop at the time of the caution had Skinner ahead.
“I don’t know how you get passed under the caution,” Sauter said.
Sauter also defended Crafton’s aggressive driving.
“First of all, Matt Crafton won [Saturday],” Sauter said. “I don’t think Matt dumped anybody. He had good restarts.” NASCAR
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