Brett Moffitt Wins At Atlanta And Captures First Truck Series Victory For Hattori Racing

HAMPTON, Ga. – Brett Moffitt executed a three-wide race winning move on the final restart in NASCAR Overtime to capture the victory in the Active Pest Control 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.

On the final restart of the night, Myatt Snider and Daytona winner, Johnny Sauter brought the field down to the green flag to begin NASCAR Overtime; however, as soon as they passed over the start-finish line, Moffitt in the Np. 16 AISIN Toyota Tundra who restarted third, jumped to the inside of both of them and completed the pass for the lead as the field headed into Turn 1.

“I was wide open for two laps there and I knew once I got clear I would be able to be wide open and thankfully they got side-by-side behind us and that opened up the gap even more,” Moffitt said.

The win is Moffitt’s second career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and it’s Hattori Racing Enterprises first-ever in the series. The 25-year-old only led two laps throughout the event.

“First of all I have to thank Shige (Hattori, team owner), AISIN, TRD and Mark Cronquist and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) engines and just everyone out here,” Moffitt said. “This is unbelievable to even be in a race car at this point let alone in victory lane. We had a really good truck all night and Kyle (Busch) spun his tires earlier and that put us back, but I knew the 13 (Myatt Snider) was a sitting duck (on the final restart) and I just wanted to get a good restart. Hopefully they got into a battle behind us and they did – it’s pretty surreal.”

Kyle Busch had the dominate truck, beginning with a win in Stage 2. During the final pit stop of the night, his crew had issues with the right front tire. In an effort to make up the lost time, Busch took off, but unfortunately, the left rear tire changer had already removed the lug nuts. Not long after leaving pit road, Busch’s left rear tire separated from the truck, and Busch had to reverse all the way back to his pit stall to fix the issue. Busch finished 21^st after leading on three occasions for 67 laps.

Busch’s teammate, Noah Gragson won Stage 1 and was able to finish second on Saturday. Gragson in the No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra led 43 laps throughout the night. The runner-up finish comes as a relief, following a disappointing 23^rd-place finish at Daytona.

“I came from ninth,” Gragson said referring to the final restart of the race. “And I think I was in second halfway down the back straight away on that first lap. It was pretty hectic there at the end. I made a mistake there on pit road that cost us probably a position or two but everything happens for a reason. Restarting ninth and coming all the way to second and that’s that.”

Sauter led 12 laps during the race in the GMS Racing No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet Silverado, and he followed by last weekend’s win at Daytona International Speedway with a third-place finish on this weekend in Atlanta. Sauter leads the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings by 31 points over Matt Crafton.

“I thought that I did everything right, you know, I ran the last two laps wide open, and they just got going better than I did,” Sauter said. “I’d love to be able to stand here and tell you that I think that I could’ve done something different, but I just don’t think that I could. I thought I timed it right, but I just come up a little short. By far the best truck that I’ve ever had here.”

Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton rounded out the top-five. Stewart Friesen finished sixth, followed by Myatt Snider, Jesse Little, Grant Enfinger and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon.

There were four cautions during the Active Pest Control 200, but only two were for wrecks. Norm Benning spun in Turn 2 to bring out the first caution of the evening on lap 3. The final caution of the night came out on lap 126, when Josh Reaume spun on the backstretch and was clipped by Dalton Sargeant.

Up next on the schedule for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 2. The third race of the season will broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 9 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images

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