Trackin’ Trucks: Chase Elliott Wins Big at Charlotte

Credit: Lisa Janine Cloud for Skirts and Scuffs

Chase Elliott earned his third career Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series victory on Tuesday night, beating Kyle Busch by 0.627 second during the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Elliott also secured a $100,000 bounty to be donated to the charity of his choice by finishing ahead of Busch. The first $50,000 of that bounty was offered by Kevin Harvick to any full-time Cup Series driver that beat Busch, and the amount was matched by the CEO of Gander Outdoors, Marcus Lemonis.

“It was a lot of fun,” Elliott said of Tuesday’s win. “First off, a thanks to (sponsors) iRacing and Hooters, Chevrolet and GMS (Racing) for letting me come do this. (The truck) was really good from the get-go, for having no laps (of practice). The splitter was where it needed to be."

“It made it easy for me to move forward and try to get back acclimated," he said. "It doesn’t make up for Sunday, but it was still a really good night. Glad to win and glad to do some good for the relief effort for this virus.”

The win came during Elliott’s first truck series start since 2017, where he beat Johnny Sauter by almost two seconds at Martinsville.

Busch finished second for the first time in eight starts, finishing in the runner-up position at Charlotte in May of 2018.

“We were out in left field the whole night, never really had a great feel for the truck, a great-driving truck, and just salvaged what I could,” Busch said.

Busch gained nine positions on the final restart to finish in the runner-up position, coming just short of the victory after a lapped truck broke his momentum in the closing laps.

Series rookie Zane Smith finished third, while Brett Moffitt and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top five.

A Look Ahead (with points after Charlotte):

The Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 6th for the Vet Tix Camping World 200. Can Smith beat Busch at the 1.5-mile track, or will another series regular get the job done? Find out at 1 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

Austin Hill sits atop the leaderboard in the point standings, 17 points ahead of Sauter and Smith, who are tied for second.

1. Austin Hill
2. Johnny Sauter -17
3. Zane Smith -17
4. Ben Rhodes -21
5. Brett Moffitt -22
6. Sheldon Creed -30
7. Grant Enfinger -39
8. Christian Eckes -42
9. Tyler Ankrum -44
10. Codie Rohrbaugh -48
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Before she even knew what NASCAR was, Courtney watched the races while sitting in her father’s lap. When she attended her first race at Talladega, her love for the sport grew even stronger.

In addition to her Trackin’ Trucks column for Skirts and Scuffs, Courtney runs her own blog, ChasingtheScoreboard.com. She is a receptionist for a daycare headquarters and enjoys attending country music concerts whenever one is in town.