Darrell Wallace Jr. triumphs in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' return to Gateway

Credit: Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images

Darrell Wallace Jr. captured his second career victory Saturday night as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned to Gateway Motorsports Park, formerly known as Gateway International Raceway.

Wallace Jr held off the hard-charging German Quiroga and Timothy Peters to take home the trophy in the Inaugural Drivin' for Linemen 200 in the Trucks first appearance at the 1.25 mile track since 2010.

The action was intense from the drop of the green flag when Wallace Jr. powered past polesitter Cole Custer to lead the first 62 laps. Custer became the youngest driver to earn the pole in series history, but wasn't able to keep pace with the potent Kyle Busch Motorsports duo of Wallace Jr. and Erik Jones. Still, Custer managed to come home sixth in just his third Truck start.

As exciting as Bubba Wallace's second win was, the story of the night was John Hunter Nemechek, who led briefly, got passed by last week's winner Matt Crafton, then went back to the point  after Crafton blew a tire and slammed into the Turn Four wall.

Nemechek found himself under fire from all sides, yet handled his race truck with poise until a brush with Quiroga caused him to have a tire go down and spin. Nemechek recovered to finish 15th while Quiroga went on to make contact with Jones, sending the No. 51 truck into the inside wall hard.

During the closing laps, Quiroga and Timothy Peters attempted to wrest the lead from Wallace Jr. but to no avail. Quiroga finished second, Peters third, and Wallace Jr. celebrated in Victory Lane with his father.

What would likely have otherwise been a frustrating ride home for the son of Front Row Joe Nemechek must have been softened by the discovery that such NASCAR stars such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, and Tony Stewart were tweeting their support for him and his impressive run.

How cool is it watching @JohnNemechek leading at Gateway in the @CampingWorld truck series race! Go get!em kid!
— Tony Stewart (@TonyStewart) June 15, 2014

Damn. Tough luck @JohnNemechek. Thanks for a great show.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) June 15, 2014

Really fun to watch @JohnNemechek run so well in the truck race tonight! Tough break.
— Danica Patrick (@DanicaPatrick) June 15, 2014

 The Truck series heads out to Road America with Johnny Sauter leading the points standings by 10 over Matt Crafton.

Unofficial results:

Fin	Driver	Sponsor
1	Darrell Wallace, Jr.	Toyota
2	German Quiroga	Net 10 Wireless
3	Timothy Peters	Red Horse Racing
4	Johnny Sauter	Smokey Mountain / Curb Records
5	Ron Hornaday, Jr.	Rheem
6	Cole Custer	Haas Automation
7	Ryan Blaney	Cooper Standard Performance Products
8	John Wes Townley	Zaxby's
9	Chase Pistone	NTS Motorsports
10	Tayler Malsam	Outerwall
11	Joey Coulter	Allegiant
12	Mason Mingus	Call 811
13	Tyler Reddick	DrawTite
14	Ben Kennedy	Turner Scott Motorsports
15	John Hunter Nemechek	M.D. Anderson Cancer Ctr. / smokeandsear.com
16	Bryan Silas	Bell Trucks America, Inc.
17	Tyler Young	Randco / Young's Building Systems
18	Jeb Burton	Estes / Carolina Nut
19	T.J. Bell	Drivin' For Linemen
20	Gray Gaulding	Krispy Kreme / Gemini Southern
21	Korbin Forrister	McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks & Co.
22	Norm Benning	Boedecker Construction
23	Erik Jones	ToyotaCare
24	Ray Black, Jr.	ScubaLife / NASE Worldwide
25	Ted Minor	Blastis.com
26	Matt Crafton	Ideal Door / Menards
27	Jennifer Jo Cobb	TheParkwayHotel.com
28	Scott Stenzel	Mittler Bros. Machine & Tool
29	Adam Edwards	Charlie Henderson
30	Charles Lewandoski	Randco / Young's Building Systems
31	Caleb Roark	The Parkway Hotel
32	Justin Jennings	LGSds / Mittler Bros. Machine / Ski Soda