Tyler Reddick wins Daytona trucks race for first career victory

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tyler Reddick outran a little bit of everything — sparks, fire, flying parts, parts that threatened to fly, and two Big Ones — Friday night to win for the first time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Reddick, a 19-year-old in just his 18th race in the series, kept the No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford ahead of the field after a restart with six laps remaining in the NextEra Energy Resources 250. He finished 0.174 seconds ahead of 18-year-old Erik Jones.

The race featured an array of crashes and unusual incidents that knocked out 11 of the 37 trucks and led to six caution periods covering 28 of the race's 100 laps. Among them were two large crashes that involved a total of 23 trucks.

Afterward, Reddick was the toast of his texting family and friends.

"I had about 150 text messages in about 20 minutes," Reddick said. "That's pretty unreal. … To know that they are watching me race means a lot to me."

Near the mid-point of the race, 12 trucks were involved in a pileup heading into Turn 3. John Wes Townley took the brunt of the collision, hitting the wall three times after being struck from behind by James Buescher's truck.

The pack of trucks appeared to be avoiding Ben Kennedy, who had slowed and moved high on the track. It was the second time in the race that Kennedy was involved in a multi-truck pileup. Early in the race, he was hit from behind during an 11-truck melee.

"Someone hit me from the back, I spun, I got hit, blah blah blah," Kennedy said while describing the first incident. "It was either wreck left or turn right and hit the wall, so I just decided to wall it. I have no idea what happened with the (second) wreck. I just hate that it was me."

At the end, with just 14 trucks on the lead lap, Reddick edged Jones, who took second place from Reddick's teammate, Austin Theriault, on the final lap. Scott Lagasse Jr. finished third, while Theriault — who was involved in the second Big One — held on for fourth.

Reddick credited Theriault for helping him get into the lead and keep it

"When you're out front, you've got nobody to draft off of," Reddick said. "You're kind of a sitting duck. You just have to wait and be smart and hope for the best. There was a lot of stress taken off my back when I saw the blue 29 (Theriault) behind me."

The second major crash collected trucks driven by Townley, Buescher, Theriault, Kennedy, Johnny Sauter, Ryan Ellis, Spencer Gallagher, Chris Fontaine, Timothy Peters, Cameron Heyley, Daniel Hemric and Todd Peck.

Townley, Gallagher and Peters were treated and released from the infield care center. Following the lengthy caution period, Theriault got his truck back in the lineup.

Peters, who crashed earlier in the day during qualifying, saw two of his trucks destroyed in a span of four hours.

"That just goes to show you — it's out of your control," Peters said.

The crash came shortly after a fire on pit road involving Jennifer Jo Cobb's truck after her crew tried to restart it. Two crew members tried to put out the fire with their gloved hands before the fire was put out by a fire extinguisher.

Nobody was hurt in the incident, and Cobb returned to the track to finish 18th, 23 laps behind.

On Lap 65, Matt Tifft spun out, forcing a caution period that saved Sauter from a black flag for a hood that was perilously close to flying off his No. 98 Toyota Tundra. Sauter's team screwed a piece of sheet metal to the hood and front bumper, added tape and returned for a top-10 finish.

The early pileup began when Austin Hill's truck encountered a problem and broke away on Lap 14. Donnie Neuenberger, Justin Boston, Ray Black Jr., Peck, Korbin Forrister, Justin Marks, Hayley, Joe Nemechek and Kennedy were collected in the incident.

Eight laps after the ensuing restart, Boston's truck broke and veered into the inside wall. He was not injured.

The truck series resumes Feb. 28 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Follow Olson on Twitter @jeffolson77

PHOTOS: History of the Daytona 500

NextEra Energy Resources 250

Friday's results

1. (3) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 100 laps, 137 rating, 48 points, $91,804.

2. (7) Erik Jones, Toyota, 100, 115.4, 42, $58,057.

3. (9) Scott Lagasse Jr., Chevrolet, 100, 112, 0, $42,138.

4. (4) Austin Theriault, Ford, 100, 110.2, 41, $32,221.

5. (15) Ray Black Jr., Chevrolet, 100, 99.4, 39, $26,294.

6. (13) David Gilliland, Ford, 100, 88.1, 0, $22,729.

7. (28) Bryan Silas, Chevrolet, 100, 71.6, 37, $22,981.

8. (31) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 100, 68.9, 37, $22,883.

9. (30) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 100, 74.8, 0, $20,786.

10. (19) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 100, 89.9, 34, $20,638.

11. (1) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 100, 113.5, 0, $19,673.

12. (23) Korbin Forrister, Chevrolet, 100, 76.2, 32, $19,430.

13. (29) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 100, 54.1, 32, $17,050.

14. (22) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 100, 43.6, 30, $19,171.

15. (2) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 93, 69.2, 29, $17,192.

16. (21) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, accident, 87, 61.2, 0, $16,798.

17. (5) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 85, 74.5, 27, $16,469.

18. (11) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 77, 54.4, 26, $18,590.

19. (16) Matt Tifft, Toyota, rear hub, 64, 57.1, 25, $18,461.

20. (18) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 62, 36.1, 24, $18,896.

21. (10) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 61, 68.8, 23, $18,267.

22. (26) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, accident, 48, 60.9, 22, $18,138.

23. (14) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, accident, 48, 69.2, 21, $18,009.

24. (32) Timothy Peters, Toyota, accident, 48, 53.3, 20, $17,879.

25. (8) Chris Fontaine, Toyota, accident, 48, 69.5, 0, $15,650.

26. (20) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, accident, 48, 64.8, 18, $16,435.

27. (24) Todd Peck, Chevrolet, accident, 48, 50.8, 17, $15,241.

28. (6) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, accident, 20, 40.2, 16, $15,661.

29. (25) Justin Boston, Toyota, accident, 18, 34.5, 15, $14,550.

30. (17) Austin Hill, Ford, accident, 13, 39.6, 0, $14,050.

31. (12) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, accident, 13, 33.3, 13, $12,550.

32. (27) Justin Marks, Toyota, accident, 12, 25.9, 0, $11,550.

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Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.480 mph.

Time of Race: 1 hour, 56 minutes, 45 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.173 seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps.

Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: T.Dillon 1-16; M.Crafton 17; T.Dillon 18-21; T.Reddick 22; T.Dillon 23-24; T.Reddick 25-31; T.Dillon 32; T.Reddick 33-36; T.Dillon 37-50; T.Reddick 51; D.Suarez 52-56; A.Theriault 57-65; T.Young 66; D.Gilliland 67; T.Reddick 68-100.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): T.Reddick, 5 times for 46 laps; T.Dillon, 5 times for 37 laps; A.Theriault, 1 time for 9 laps; D.Suarez, 1 time for 5 laps; D.Gilliland, 1 time for 1 lap; M.Crafton, 1 time for 1 lap; T.Young, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 10 in Points: 1. T.Reddick, 48; 2. E.Jones, 42; 3. A.Theriault, 41; 4. R.Black Jr., 39; 5. B.Silas, 37; 6. M.Crafton, 37; 7. J.Sauter, 34; 8. K.Forrister, 32; 9. T.Young, 32; 10. N.Benning, 30.