After leading the way during the morning practice session at Gateway Motorsports Park, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie candidate Ben Rhodes in his ThorSport Racing Tundra has swept the two Drivin’ for Lineman 200 practice sessions.
Rhodes’ fast lap of 33.148 seconds in the second session was his fastest of the day, and just a tick faster than the mark he set in the first session. For Rhodes, it’s his first time ever racing at Gateway, and if qualifying and the race can go as smoothly as practice went, he might just wind up in victory lane.
Johnny Sauter was second in practice with a 33.208 second lap. The Daytona winner is presumably locked into this year’s eight-man Chase, but would welcome a second win to secure his spot. Sauter finished fourth and third in his last two Gateway starts.
Atlanta winner John Hunter Nemechek was third in final practice after winding up 10th in the morning session followed by part-time drivers German Quiroga and Ryan Truex.
Tyler Reddick, who spun out in the morning session, was sixth in his No. 29 Cooper Standard Brad Keselowski Racing truck followed by Christopher Bell, Cole Custer, Cameron Hayley and Spencer Gallagher.
A couple Truck Series heavy hitters ended up further down in the running order once final practice was in the books. Two-time series champion Matt Crafton was 12th, while 2015 series champion Erik Jones was 16th.
Timothy Peters, a 10-time Truck Series race winner was 20th in practice followed by William Byron, a three-time winner this season in 21st.
