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Noah Gragson drove to his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season on Friday night when he won at Kansas Speedway.

Starting from the pole for the second straight race, Gragson led 128 of 167 laps in his No. 18 Toyota, swept all the stages of the event and collected the second NCWTS victory of his career.

“This is such a relief for a driver who had a hard week last week battling for the win,” said Gragson, who was running side by side with Johnny Sauter at Dover when he lost control of his truck and backed into the outside wall. “We came back strong this weekend. Two consecutive poles. We led the most laps today.

“Man, this is a pretty damn cool moment.”

Kyle Busch, who owns Gragson’s truck, finished second.

This should definitely help his (Gragson’s) confidence,” said Busch.

Gragson took the lead for good when Myatt Snider ran out of gas with five laps left.

Snider was one of five drivers trying to stretch fuel to the end of the race. One by one they fell by the wayside, but not before muddying the waters in the closing laps.

“After the pit stop, I thought I was going to be the leader, but they told me that (fifth-place finisher) Johnny (Sauter) was stretching it on fuel,” Gragson said. “So I said, ‘OK, maybe I’m running second.’ Then they said the 52 (Friesen) and the 4 (Busch) are a half a lap ahead of you.

“And I thought that was for the lead when I passed the 4 and I passed the 52, and then they said the 13 (Snider) was the leader. And I said, ‘Dang, how many leaders are there going to be?”

As it turned out Snider was the last one, and Gragson had come full circle from his mistake at Dover.

Sauter retained the series lead by 35 points over Gragson.

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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – 37 Kind Days 250
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Friday, May 11, 2018

1. (1) Noah Gragson, Toyota, 167.
   2. (6) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 167.
   3. (8) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 167.
   4. (14) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, 167.
   5. (5) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 167.
   6. (3) Matt Crafton, Ford, 167.
   7. (2) Cody Coughlin, Chevrolet, 167.
   8. (4) Grant Enfinger, Ford, 167.
   9. (13) Brandon Jones(i), Toyota, 167.
   10. (12) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 166.
   11. (11) Dalton Sargeant #, Chevrolet, 165.
   12. (9) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 165.
   13. (19) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 164.
   14. (15) Darrell Wallace Jr. (i), Chevrolet, 164.
   15. (32) Myatt Snider #, Ford, 164.
   16. (10) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, 163.
   17. (17) Justin Fontaine #, Chevrolet, 163.
   18. (7) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 162.
   19. (16) Bo LeMastus #, Toyota, 160.
   20. (31) Kyle Donahue, Chevrolet, 159.
   21. (25) Josh Reaume, Toyota, 158.
   22. (29) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 157.
   23. (28) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 157.
   24. (30) Mike Harmon(i), Chevrolet, Oil Leak, 146.
   25. (21) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 139.
   26. (27) Robby Lyons, Chevrolet, 139.
   27. (18) Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, Suspension, 131.
   28. (26) Jamie Mosley, Chevrolet, Overheating, 66.
   29. (24) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Transmission, 30.
   30. (22) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, Overheating, 27.
   31. (23) Joey Gase(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 6.
   32. (20) Kevin Donahue, Chevrolet, Transmission, 0.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  134.137 mph.
Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 52 Mins, 03 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.558 Seconds.
Caution Flags:  4 for 21 laps.
Lead Changes:  13 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders:   N. Gragson 0; M. Crafton 1-4; N. Gragson 5-48; B. Rhodes 49; N. Gragson 50-83; J. Haley 84-87; N. Gragson 88-104; S. Friesen 105-106; N. Gragson 107-133; S. Friesen 134-137; K. Busch(i) 138; J. Sauter 139-152; M. Snider # 153-161; N. Gragson 162-167.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  N. Gragson 5 times for 128 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 14 laps; M. Snider # 1 time for 9 laps; S. Friesen 2 times for 6 laps; M. Crafton 1 time for 4 laps; J. Haley 1 time for 4 laps; K. Busch(i) 1 time for 1 lap; B. Rhodes 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 18,4,16,41,98,8,51,88,21,52
Stage #2 Top Ten: 18,16,4,51,52,8,98,21,88,2

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