Austin Hill takes opening win in Kansas Trucks doubleheader

Hill, who finished 30th last week at Texas due to engine problems, returned to form Friday night, leading 65 of the 134 laps on his way to a win at Kansas Speedway, his first victory of the year.

“There we go – win No. 1!” Hill said over his team radio as he took the checkered flag.

Hill took the lead for the final time on Lap 97 and easily held off Brett Moffitt by nearly three seconds at the finish.

Hill had to temper his postrace celebration as the Trucks are running a doubleheader at Kansas this weekend, with another 200-mile race scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

“Man, it’s awesome. We’ve been working so hard and running so consistent,” Hill said. “Last week was a bummer having engine troubles. I told the guys before coming here that we finished fourth here last year – let’s go finish three spots better and I’ll be danged if we did it.

“First win of the season. That last pit stop, I tried to brake-check a little bit because I wanted to come out fourth and be on the high lane. I got tagged from behind. That was my bad and I apologize to Brett, who ended up hit me.

“Now, we have to replace the bumper to get it ready for tomorrow’s race.”

Grant Enfinger finished third, Matt Crafton fourth and Derek Kraus rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 were Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, Sheldon Creed, Johnny Sauter and Todd Gilliland.

Korbin Forrister wrecked in Turn 3 on Lap 82 to bring out a caution that set up what would be the final pit stops of the race.

The lead-lap trucks all pit with Ross Chastain the first off pit road thanks to taking fuel-only. On the restart on Lap 88, Chastain was followed by Crafton, Hill, Smith and Christian Eckes.

After battling side-by-side with Crafton, Hill cleared to the lead by the start of Lap 89. On Lap 92, Moffitt powered around Hill to retake the lead as Enfinger moved to third.

Hill reclaimed the lead on Lap 97 as Enfinger moved into the second position.

With 25 laps remaining in the race, Hill had opened up a more than 2-second lead over Enfinger while Moffitt ran third.

With 11 laps to go, Moffitt was able to work his way around Enfinger and set his sights on the leader hoping to make a challenge for the win.

Stage 2

Hill easily held off Rhodes to take the Stage 2 win, his first stage victory of the 2020 season.

Smith was third, Ty Majeski fourth and Kraus rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, most lead-lap trucks pit with Creed the first off pit road.

Eckes was among those who stayed out and inherited the lead. When the race returned to green on Lap 37, he was followed by Rhodes and Raphael Lessard. Creed lined up seventh.

On Lap 41, Hill got around Eckes to take the lead for the first time in the race as Majeski moved into second.

With 15 laps remaining in the second stage, Hill had built his lead over Majeski to more than half-a-second with Smith moved to third.

On Lap 47, Smith moved into second as Majeski dropped to third. With nine laps to go in the stage, Stewart Friesen was forced to pit under green with a flat tire.

With two laps to go in the stage, Hill had built his lead to more than a second over Rhodes, who had moved into second while Smith dropped to third.

Stage 1

Moffitt grabbed the lead on a restart with seven laps to go and held off Hill for the Stage 1 win, his second stage victory of the 2020 season.

Chastain was third, Gilliland fourth and Crafton rounded out the top-five.

Eckes started on the pole thanks to a random draw but Moffitt quickly grabbed the lead and led the way on Lap 1.

After five laps, Gilliland had moved into second while Hill took third.

On Lap 9, Gilliland worked his way to the inside of Moffitt and took the lead for the first time. About the same time, Tyler Ankrum was forced to pit under green with a flat tire.

Robby Lyons spun out through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 18 to bring out the first caution of the race. Several trucks elected to pit but Gilliland stayed out and in the lead.

When the race returned to green on Lap 24, Gilliland was followed by Moffitt and Hill. Moffitt quickly moved into the lead on the restart as Hill took over second and Gilliland dropped to fourth.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	16	Austin Hill	Toyota	134	1:35'26.966			65
2	23	Brett Moffitt	Chevrolet	134	1:35'29.894	2.928	2.928	21
3	98	Grant Enfinger	Ford	134	1:35'34.742	7.776	4.848
4	88	Matt Crafton	Ford	134	1:35'35.581	8.615	0.839	2
5	19	Derek Kraus	Toyota	134	1:35'38.393	11.427	2.812
6	21	Zane Smith	Chevrolet	134	1:35'39.884	12.918	1.491	17
7	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	134	1:35'40.221	13.255	0.337	3
8	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	134	1:35'40.837	13.871	0.616
9	13	Johnny Sauter	Ford	134	1:35'41.379	14.413	0.542
10	38	Todd Gilliland	Ford	134	1:35'45.286	18.320	3.907	15
11	45	Ty Majeski	Chevrolet	134	1:35'45.304	18.338	0.018
12	30	Brennan Poole	Toyota	134	1:35'45.848	18.882	0.544
13	18	Christian Eckes	Toyota	134	1:35'50.849	23.883	5.001	10
14	51	Brandon Jones	Toyota	134	1:35'51.529	24.563	0.680
15	24	Chase Purdy	Chevrolet	134	1:35'51.559	24.593	0.030
16	4	Raphael Lessard	Toyota	134	1:35'53.480	26.514	1.921
17	22	Austin Wayne Self	Chevrolet	134	1:35'58.880	31.914	5.400
18	15	Tanner Gray	Ford	134	1:35'59.659	32.693	0.779
19	56	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	133	1:35'29.108	1 Lap	1 Lap
20	04	Cory Roper	Ford	133	1:35'32.050	1 Lap	2.942
21	44	Natalie Decker	Chevrolet	133	1:35'34.323	1 Lap	2.273
22	02	Tate Fogleman	Chevrolet	133	1:35'54.341	1 Lap	20.018
23	20	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	133	1:35'54.849	1 Lap	0.508
24	9	Codie Rohrbaugh	Chevrolet	133	1:35'58.309	1 Lap	3.460
25	00	Dawson Cram	Toyota	133	1:36'01.887	1 Lap	3.578
26	97	Robby Lyons	Chevrolet	132	1:35'48.290	2 Laps	1 Lap
27	52	Stewart Friesen	Toyota	132	1:36'00.301	2 Laps	12.011
28	68	Clay Greenfield	Toyota	132	1:36'01.726	2 Laps	1.425
29	11	Spencer Davis	Toyota	131	1:34'46.928	3 Laps	1 Lap
30	3	Jordan Anderson	Chevrolet	129	1:34'03.860	5 Laps	2 Laps
31	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Chevrolet	128	1:35'42.002	6 Laps	1 Lap
32	49	Ray Ciccarelli	Chevrolet	121	1:35'42.169	13 Laps	7 Laps
33	26	Tyler Ankrum	Chevrolet	112	1:35'44.286	22 Laps	9 Laps
34	40	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	102	1:19'10.214	32 Laps	10 Laps	1
35	7	Korbin Forrister	Toyota	80	1:00'07.528	54 Laps	22 Laps
36	6	Norm Benning	Chevrolet	50	40'09.676	84 Laps	30 Laps
37	28	Bryan Dauzat	Chevrolet	26	19'42.763	108 Laps	24 Laps
38	33	Kevin Donahue	Toyota	17	45'50.323	117 Laps	9 Laps