Category: Trucks

TALLADEGA: BIG WRECKS AND PHOTO FINISHES THIS WEEK IN THE CROWN JEWEL

The Crown Jewel Racing League bump drafted its way to the high banks of Talladega this week for some SuperSpeedway Racing. The VRS Truck Series kicked off the action on Monday Night, followed by Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series on Tuesday Night, and the week concluded with the Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series on Wednesday Night.

VRS Truck Series

Garth Griswold, CJR Media Team


It was elimination week in the VRS Truck Series Playoffs, and after last week’s win at Kansas Speedway, John Connor was still feeling the high heading to Talladega. Pete Morales would capture the pole with a time of 54.485, and Nishil Condoor would qualify second with a time of 54.491. Condoor, who missed the race in Kansas, needed a good start and a good finish this week to stay above the cutline.
It was green flag racing through most of the stage until Lap 16, when an incident occurred between Vince Mitchell and Ryan Taft on the background stretch. Taft received a poorly executed bump draft from Mitchell, causing Taft to get loose out of line and come back across Mitchell’s nose. When the field went back green, it was a photo finish at the line, and the stage win would go to Vince Mitchell after CJR Officials reviewed the photo finish.

Jim Mott, fighting for the final playoff spot with Condoor, would get his playoff dreams crushed on Lap 35. Mott, getting drafted from Nate Cadotte, would get too much of a bump on the right side, sending Mott down the track. Eventually, Mott would return and get Cadotte airborne for a second. CJR officials announced post-race that Cadotte would be issued three penalty points for the incident. Connor would go on to win Stage 2, leading the last lap of the stage.


There were a few incidents during the final stage, with the big wreck happening in turn four on the final lap. Saunders got a bump from behind, sending him up the track and into chaos. Connor kept the run at the front and got to the line first to win back-to-back weeks in the VRS Truck Series.
The Round of 8 is set. Saunders, Connor, Morales, Henry Kallhoff, Cory Mott, Matthew Owens, Garth Griswold, and Condoor will move on to fight for the Final Four spots in the playoffs over the next three weeks. Jim Mott, Thomas Villano, Cody Porter, and Johnny Avila were eliminated in the Round of 12.
The VRS Truck Series is back in action next Monday night at Auto Club Speedway to begin the Round of 8 Playoff battle.

Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series

Noah Hamilton, CJR Media Team

The second race of the weekend marked the fourth event of the Xfinity season. In the #45 Chevrolet, Noah Hamilton stunned the field by capturing the pole and leading them to the green flag. The first stage saw frequent lead changes, with John Connor ultimately taking the stage win. However, chaos soon followed when “the big one” struck after an early caution, collecting several competitive cars from the front and back of the pack. Among those caught up was #8 Joe Gibbons, who was cleared from the infield care center but saw his race cut short.


Stage two was full of action, too. A second caution flew on lap 36, ending Ryan Taft’s night in the #86. As stage two wound down, yet another wreck occurred, but Tyler Belanger in the #88 held on, claiming the stage win.


The final stage stayed relatively calm until lap 93, when an unfortunate net code incident between Zach Saunders and Noah Hamilton caused a major wreck, sidelining more top contenders. The race ultimately finished with a green-white-checkered finish, with Jacob Fifield in the #92 leading the field to the checkered flag. Fifield had been a force up front throughout the race, making key moves early in the final stage to secure the win.

Team Conti Cup Series

Garth Griswold, CJR Media Team

The second of three races of the Round of 12 in the Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series Playoff shook the playoff standings between Hurricane Milton making landfall just south of Talladega and avoiding the big wrecks at Talladega. The Playoff Drivers and the rest of the field had the work cut out for them.
Hurricane Milton hindered Playoff Drivers Caleb Tipton and Steven Carlile at a critical point in the season. Tipton lost power before the race began and could not make the race for Daytona. Carlile, who wasn’t racing from his normal Ethix’s Headquarters, would win the pole to lead the flag to green. But Carlile would lose power for a second early in the race, which caused him to go laps down, something he could never recover from.


The first caution came out on Lap 4 when Stewart Harding Walker traveled up the track into Cameron Romano. Romano held his ground, and Walker would lose control, collecting Tommy Carroll Jr. Walker rebounded up into the wall, collecting Tyler Belanger to end Belanger’s night early.

The first big shake-up in the playoffs occurred on Lap 19, when Playoff Driver Ben Lawson pushed his team, Stephen Menke, a bit too long before Lawson’s Dark Horse engine said “sayonara.” Lawson would finish in the 29th position and is now in a must-win situation heading into the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.


The first stage would come to an abrupt two laps early on Lap 23 when Playoff Driver Cody Leach would try to get in front of the high line a bit too late. This would cause John Connor and Ryan Taft to check up, leading to Taft taking a spin and collecting several other drivers in the incident. Stephen Menke would get the stage win and the much-needed playoff points to keep him well above the cutline.


The second stage would stay green until Lap 38 when “The Big One” struck. Jacob Abreu would come in hot and give Cody Leach a big smooch on his left rear, and the carnage would unfold for all the drivers behind them. This wreck ended the night for the Hollywood Motorsport Drivers Allen Phillips and Garth Griswold. Thomas Wolfe would also sustain damage, and CJR officials would deem him out of the race due to the damaged vehicle policy. Luckily for Wolfe, he is already locked into the next Round with last week’s win at Kansas.


Stage 2 would come to an end on Lap 50 with an exciting photo finish between Menke and Vince Mitchell, with Mitchell getting the win after review,

Green, White, Checkered x 3

Fuel Strategy never really came into play this week, with a few cautions throughout the final stage. But the racing got even more exciting when a caution came out with two to go for a one-car incident on the backstretch. The field would get racked and restacked for the first try at a green-white-checkered finish, but the field wouldn’t return before another caution would come out for a minor three-car incident. CJR Officials would rack them and stack them again.
Zack Johnson would get a good jump off the line, with Condoor pushing him down the backstretch. The inside line was nowhere to be found. Johnson would be 100 yards from that white flag, but Barney grabbed the yellow flag for another incident in the back. We would have to try a third time to finish this race.


Johnson and Saunders would go side by side to take the green flag on the third green-white-checkered. Johnson and Saunders would fire off together, but the outside line behind Johnson would come roaring to life down the backstretch. Saunders would fall back to tenth as most of the outside line passed. The field would make it back around, and finally, the white flag would wave for one lap to go.

Wins by a Quarter Panel

Johnson would stay out front through turns one and two, getting pushed by John Connor. Connor would go low out of Turn 4 to block the inside run of Mark Roettgen, nearly causing an incident but causing a check-up. Joe Wright and Saunders would move to the outside, coming out of four and having a huge run. It appeared that Saunders would push Joe Wright to the win, but he would move outside, leaving a little hole for Nathaniel Campbell to get his nose in. Saunders would try to come back down and spin around Campbell’s nose into Wright as they spun across the line.


It was a photo finish for history books, both Wright and Saunders sideways at the line, but Saunders’s rear quarter panel crossed the checkered line first for the win. Saunders locks himself into the Round of 8 with the victory joining his teammate Thomas Wolfe.

Next Week Will Be Wild

Team Conti Cup Series will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, next week to take on the road course Roval. Road courses always bring exciting racing, but let’s sprinkle some sprinkles on top because it’s also elimination week in the Round of 12.
Both Caleb Tipton and Ben Lawson will need a win to advance. Steven Carlile will need a strong finish with some good stage points mixed in to try and climb out of his hole of being -18 points back from the cutline. Cory Mott, the Regular Season Champion, is currently out. Mott sits one end under the cutline behind his Palmetto Motorsports teammate Zack Johnson. Nathaniel Campbell, Vince Mitchell, and Cody Leach will need solid days at the Roval to maintain their spots, while Nic Vasquez and Stephen Menke need a decent finish to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Suspensions

CJR Officials had a shake-up this week, and Competition Director Gordon Fraley resigned from his position. CJR Officials have hinted recently that the penalty system will get another rework this season to alleviate the harsh penalties during the race. CJR is expected to make an announcement on that in the coming weeks.
CJR Officials announced today that Stewart Harding Walker had been placed on a one-race suspension in the Team Conti Cup Series for reaching the incident point threshold. Walker was deemed at fault for incidents at Watkins Glen, Bristol, Kansas, and this past week at Talladega. CJR Officials said they are still reviewing the races this week and will post an updated penalty report in the near future.

PENALTY REPORT: Bristol

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CJR Officials released the weekly penalty report for last weeks events in Bristol.

VRS Truck Series

Incident Report

LapDriver(s) InvolvedResult/Penalty
92828
432525
793030
1182525
1268686
1343535
1637, 35, 1Racin’
17011
1905151

Rolling Total

NumberDriverNashvilleBristolTotal
1Cory Mott33
21Mack Fabiny33
25Jim Mott369
28Jonathan Leger336
29Tyler Belanger336
35Henry Kallhoff33
47Sam Bennett99
51Michael Deitch33
84Corey Schramm33
86Ryan Taft336
95Pete Morales6-15

As they have reached 9 incident points, Sam Bennett of the No. 47 and Jim Mott of the No. 25 are unable to qualify until they run are below 9 incident points again.

Bob Henry’s Series

Incident Report

LapDriver(s) InvolvedResult/Penalty
55454
1644
5344
6120, 99
8055, 2955
865252
1039292
1258, 5252
1459292
21088, 29Racin’/Netcode/Magic

Rolling Total

NumberDriverBristolTotal
4John Connor66
9Gordon Fraley33
52Leeroy Sellers66
54Cory Mott33
55Cameron Romano33
92Jacob Fifield66

TCSP Cup Series

Incident Report

LapDriver(s) InvolvedResult/Penalty
115454
575454
10315, 7777
11115, 29Racin’
1151, 9696
1235757
1339191
18161, 8, 88, 361, 3(1)
1895757
27077
2802929
2872929
32261, 30Racin’
33022, 3022
39522, 6969
44556, 3030
44733
48797, 797
49356, 7777
50122, 6969(1)

Rolling Total

NumberDriverDarlingtonAtlantaWatkins GlenBristolTotal
3Ben Lawson3-146
5Allen Phillips3-1-1-10
6Stephen Menke3-1-1-10
7Steven Carlile3-1-134
15Cody Leach33-1-14
22Nic Vasquez33
29Stewart Harding-Walker369
30Mason Hoeffner33
37Joe T Wright3-12
54Jacob Abreu366
55Cameron Romano3-13
57Michael Deitch66
61Nishil Condoor33
63Johnny Avila33
66Ray Gill3-1-11
69Caleb Tipton44
77James Mott66
86Ryan Taft3-1-11
91Zack Saunders6-1-137
96Vince Mitchell33
97John Connor33

The #29 Ford Mustang of Stewart Harding-Walker has accumulated 9 incident points and will be ineligible for qualifying until he gets below 9.

Two incidents of note from the TCSP Cup Series.
On lap 181 CJR officials noted Ben Lawson, in the No. 3 Ford Mustang, failing to check up and appeared to full throttle into a incident already in progress. For failure to make any attempt to avoid the incident and futher contributing to it he has been penalized with one (1) additional incident point.
At the conclusion of the race the No. 69 Ford Mustang of Caleb Tipton appears to intentionally steer into the No. 22 Ford Mustang of Nic Vasquez. Per the rule book he was also levied an additional incident point for this action.

Clips of both incidents will be posted in the “Hall of Shame” channel of the Discord later tonight.

As always any and all penalties can be appealed via the ticketing function in the League Discord.

BRISTOL: THE WORLD’S FASTEST HALF-MILE BROUGHT THE ACTION WITH 3 NIGHTS OF RACING

The Crown Jewel Racing league travelled to the Last Great Colosseum for three exciting nights of high speed short track racing this week. With the First Round of the VRS Truck Series Playoffs taking place Monday night it would set the tone for the opening race of the week. The Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series brought the action on Tuesday night for the second race in the series followed up by the final race of the Round of 16 in the Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series Playoff on Wednesday Night.

VRS TRUCK SERIES

The first Round of the VRS Truck Series Playoffs kicked off on Monday Night with the #97 John Connor dominating the race. Connor would lead 194 laps of the 200-lap race, winning both Stage 1 and Stage 2, with the #91 Zack Saunders finishing second. Connor led all 55 laps in Stage 1 and would allow the #57 Michael Deitch to lead 4 Laps in Stage 2 before leading the rest of the 51 laps. Zaunders was lurking and waited until two to make his move on the outside, take the lead in the final two laps, and take the first win in the playoffs. The #95 Pete Morales would also get around Connor with two laps to take second, and the dominant Connor would finish third. In the post-race interview, Connor had this to say about race.

“We had a great run; I just used my tires up a bit too much earlier before the caution would come out, and I didn’t have enough to hold Saunders off on the outside at the end. But a great playoff point weekend for me, and Saunders ran a great race and a good win by him.”

John Connor, #97, Chevrolet

Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series

The second race in Bob Henry’s Xfinity Series ran on Tuesday night, and fans were excited to watch this series complete 300 laps of short-track racing. Saunders would again perform strongly, taking the pole and leading every Lap in Stage 1. The fireworks went off early in the race when #9 Gordon Fraley and #20 Jim Mott made contact, causing Mott to flip upside down and go for a wild ride. Mott and Gordon would receive care from the infield care center and be cleared.

#26 Caleb Sheets would lead the first four laps in Stage 2 before Saunders would retake the lead and lead the rest of the 84 laps, picking up back-to-back stage wins for the night. It seemed as if Saunders would win back-to-back races going into the final stage, but #1 Zach Johnson, who had finished second in Stage 1 and sixth in Stage 2, was ready to make his move.

Johnson made that move, captured the lead on Lap 225, and ran away. Johnson finished the night as the only car on the lead Lap. #71 Michael Deitch took second place with a strong showing, winning stage points in both stages. Sheets took third, giving the TCSP Cup Series a heads-up that he knows how to run the high banks of Bristol.

Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series

The Final Round of the TCSP Cup Series Round of 16 got off to a wild start, with a big shake-up in the playoffs standings right from the beginning. The carnage would occur on Lap 11 when the #54 Jacob Abreu would spin going into Turn 3. Watch the carnage unfold below.

The #6 Stephen Menke and #24 Noah Hamilton’s race would end before it started. The #5 Allen Phillips night would also end in this incident, as CJR Officials shut him down in the garage due to the damaged vehicle policy. This was detrimental for Phillips, who would end up falling below the cutline from 8th to 13th, eliminating him from the playoffs. The #00 of Garth Griswold wouldn’t make contact with any cars but couldn’t keep ahold of his car and took a trip into the wall. Griswold would go 8 Laps down, and his playoff hopes faded into darkness. A tough start for Hollywood Motorsports.

The #1 Cory Mott would win Stage 1, with Nishil Condoor taking second and Caleb Tipton taking third. Tipton would take the lead into Stage 2 and would lead for 40 laps before the #7 Steven Carlile would take the lead for 84 Laps and win Stage 2. Carlile, who was already locked into the Round of 12, continues to perform at a high level in the postseason.


The #97 John Connor would finally get to the front and lead for 192 laps in the final stage. Connor picked up where he left off on Monday night in the Truck Series and hoped to change the result for the win. However, Connor couldn’t hold onto the lead until the finish, as Nathaniel Campbell would take the lead on Lap 448. Sitting -1 point back below the cutline, Campbell needed an excellent race to ensure he sees a spot in the Round of 12.


Campbell would only retain that lead for two laps before the #74 Caleb Sheets would capture the lead. Sheets would hold onto that lead and try to survive the late race cautions that would come out, leading to a green-white-checkered overtime finish. Sheets would get a good start getting pushed from behind by Cory Mott. Mott would duck low into one and two as Sheets stayed high and kept the speed out of two to hold onto the lead going down the backstretch. Mott would remain in the low line as he and Sheets would make contact on the front stretch, allowing Sheets to pull away and head into the final Lap.

Campbell would stay on Sheets bumper, get around Mott in the final turn, and edge out Mott by a nose at the line to take second place. Sheets showed his hand during the Xfinity Series and came away with his first win in the Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series.


The TCSP Cup Series Playoffs will move on to the Round of 12 next week at Kansas. The drivers eliminated were #38 Zander Short, #56 Tommy Carroll Jr., #00 Garth Griswold, and #5 Allen Phillips. You can now check out all the racing results and playoff standings on the CJRacing Webpage.
The CJR ARCA Series was off this week and will be in Dover on Sunday night for the General Tire 125. The rest of the Crown Jewel Series will be back in action at Kansas Speedway next week for more high-intensity playoff action.

NASHVILLE: AVILA CONTINUES STREAK AND WINS THE BRING IT BACK! 200

Johnny Avila would continue his domination of the VRS Truck Series on Monday Night at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Avila won five out of the six races he had competed in, and he finished second to Cody Porter the first time he didn’t win.

RACE RECAP

Early in the race, there were some glimmers of hope that someone was finally going to knock the king off the throne, but the carnage left by multiple incidents early in the race would take its toll. Drivers like Cory Mott and Tyler Belanger were taken out of contention from the damage endured. Zack Saunders, who would go on to win the first stage, would resign from the race after the 12th caution of the night after Stage 2.


Matthew Owens, who had been running up front most of the night and finished 4th in Stage 1 and 3rd in Stage 2, would try his best to catch up to Avila in the final stage. After suffering through 12 cautions in the first two stages, the field could finally run green with only one caution coming out in the final hundred laps of the race. Owens would try his best but could not keep pace with Avila, who would run off in the moonlight for his 5th race win.


The playoff field is officially set, with no changes from last week. Factory Motorsports Driver Stephen Menke decided on Tuesday that he would relinquish his playoff position to Thomas Villano. Villano, who has been suspended for the last 30 days, will return after the week off next week to make a run in the playoffs.


The VRS Truck Series will return on September 23rd at Bristol Motor Speedway to tackle the high-banked short track in the first round of the playoffs. Short-track racing hasn’t been the best this year in the VRS Truck Series, but that should only make the first round of the playoffs more thrilling.

PENALTY REPORT: NASHVILLE AND ATLANTA

CJR officials announced penalties and updated incident points following the weeks events at Nashville Fairgrounds and Atlanta.

VRS Truck Series

Corey Schramm driver of the No. 84 Truck has an unserved EOL he will need to serve at the next race participated. Drivers Nishil Condoor and Zach Johnson, drivers of the Nos. 61 and 2 respectively, are to serve an EOL at the beginning of their next races as well stemming from a racing incident on lap 7. Below are the incident report and point totals.

Truck Incidents

LapTruckPenalty/Cause
24747
72, 61Racin’ (Unserved)
1395, 3495
1961, 84Racin’
308484 (Unserved)
424747
482525
548686
672828
792121
874747
9395, 195
1312929

Truck Incident Points Total

NumberNameTotal
21Mack Fabiny3
25Jim Mott3
28Jonathan Leger3
29Tyler Belanger3
47Sam Bennett9
84Corey Schramm3
86Ryan Taft3
95Pete Morales6

TCSP Cup Series

The No. 37 of Joe Wright and No. 3 of Ben Lawson will both serve EOLs at the beginning of their next participated race leading from race incidents that did not bring out cautions.

Cup Incidents

LapCars InvolvedResult/Penalty
251, 3737
8500, 66Racin’
10261, 15, 615
11837, 22, 56, 30Racin’
14886, 1586
1633, 53

Cup Incident Point Totals

NumberNameTotal
3Ben Lawson3
5Allen Phillips2
7Steven Carlile2
15Cody Leach2
37Joe T Wright6
54Jacob Abreu3
55Cameron Romano2
63Johnny Avila3
66Ray Gill2
86Ryan Taft3
91Zack Saunders5

As always, protesting is an option via the League Discord help desk

OFFICIAL: 2025 Schedule Announcement

Crown Jewel staff release the official schedule for the 2025 season.

As the end of the 2024 season approaches, we are excited to announce a majority of the 2025 schedule. The 2025 season will see the addition of the franchise system, introducing the Crown Jewel Xfinity Series and adding a “career-mode” feeling to the Crown Jewel Racing League. Team owners will take control of their franchises and drivers will earn their way to the premier Crown Jewel Cup Series while navigating negotiations with team owners, manufacturer alliances, and more – bringing an authentic experience to all members of the league.

2024-2025 Offseason Schedule (Mon. & Wed.)

The 2024-2025 offseason will consist of two separate series – the Crown Jewel Offseason and the 2024 Trans-Am Offseason. The Crown Jewel Offseason will consist of classic oval Crown Jewel events from history. The races will be run at full distance with the same rules package from the era in which it was run. This series will test drivers in all forms of oval racing, while preparing drivers for the 2025 season with longer races. The 2024 Trans-Am Offseason will consist of the full 2024 Trans-Am schedule (available on iRacing) and run the Late Model Stock and Ford Mustang FR500S on road courses in short, 100-mile races. This series will test your H-pattern road racing skills across multiple tracks in a unique multi-class setting. Both of these series will be fixed setup (excluding the Snowball Derby, which will be open setup).

2025 Special Events Schedule

In 2025, we will be taking a smaller and more digestible route in the inclusion of road racing in the Crown Jewel Community. While not a focal point in our community, road racing is an important part of racing’s DNA and should be included in some capacity. In 2025, we will be introducing six special events to the calendar – five road, and one returning oval event. The second annual Frank Pauley Memorial 500 returns by popular demand and will be the third straight year the CJRL runs the Indianapolis 500. In addition to the FPM 500, five major road course events have been added as well. All events will have an entry fee that contributes to a prize pool and broadcasting. Prize pool will be based on participation and announced prior to the race. We hope to see you out on the track and turning left and right in 2025!

2025 Crown Jewel Cup Series Schedule

With NASCAR releasing the 2025 Cup Series Schedule, we are now able to fill in the blank as to what is the 2025 Crown Jewel Cup Series season. With The Clash moving venues and the addition of Mexico City, there are still two question marks on the schedule from an iRacing sense. These will continue to be monitored as those events approach. All decisions will be made with Cup Series team owner and driver input and will be decided no later than 2-weeks before the event. The 2025 schedule has a large mix-up that will surely change the dynamic of the season – and we are excited to be a part of it with the CJCS! All 38 events will be live on the Fireball Talks NASCAR Broadcasting Network – don’t miss a broadcast in 2025!

2025 Crown Jewel Xfinity Series Schedule

Xfinity Series action returns to the Crown Jewel Racing League in 2025! With the introduction of the franchise system, drivers will be fighting for their careers as they try to work their way into the Crown Jewel Cup Series. This steppingstone series will be sure to put on a show week in and week out as drivers battle for a Xfinity Series Championship! The schedule will feature four Dash 4 Cash races, where no Cup drivers will be allowed to enter, and drivers will battle for a cash prize each race. The Xfinity Series Mexico City race will be a mirror of the decision made by the Cup Series – where Xfinity will continue to be the support series for that week. Make your name known in the Crown Jewel Xfinity Series in 2025! All races will be broadcasted by the Cup Series Driver’s Only Broadcast – live on the Crown Jewel Racing Network every week in 2025!

2025 VRS Truck Series Schedule

VRS is set to return in their second season as the title sponsor for the VRS Truck Series. Cut in size to just twenty-five races, the VRS Truck Series just might become the entry-level for the career mode system in 2025. Based on the number of charters being requested by teams, a contingency plan is in place to include the Truck Series in the franchise system to ensure all drivers have the ability to experience the career-mode structure. Decisions regarding its inclusion will be made prior to franchise bidding, and all teams will have the ability to prepare and draft franchises if necessary. The 2025 VRS Truck Series action can be found on High Velocity TV for the entirety of the 2025 season!

2025 Crown Jewel ARCA Schedule

The 2025 ARCA Menards Series schedules have yet to be released. However, community members can expect the Sunday Night ARCA series to continue. The current plan is to combine the East, West, and National schedules into a single schedule and run it in its entirety. When the 2025 ARCA Menards schedules are released, we will announce the series in full via another post – so stay tuned!

WATKINS GLEN: AVILA REAPPEARS TO WIN AT THE GLEN

Cody Porter has won the last three races coming into Monday night to take on The Glen at the Watkins Glen International road course. His sidekick, Johnny Avila, has missed the previous two races of the VRS Truck Series, but his hauler showed up and unloaded a fast truck for 45 laps around the road course.

Zack Saunders got off to a quick start in the race and won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 before the iRacing Gods ended his night by ending his connection to the racing Server. It was disappointing as Saunders had the speed and would have made Avila, who was charging from the back, have a good fight at the end.

Avila would take the reins from race leader Nathaniel Campbell on Lap 28 and lead the final 15 Laps to win his 5th race of the season. Porter would take second, and Oskar Jensen would take 3rd to round out the podium. Notable driver of the night went to Joe Wright, who struggled to get through a race with a decent finish. Wright started in the 14th position and reached a Top 10 finish at 9th place.

PLAYOFF MOVEMENT

With Mike Burnett dropping out of playoff contention, his Split 1 seat has now been opened to allow a 4th wildcard spot a seat in the playoffs. Jim Mott now holds onto that 4th spot. With one last race at Nashville Fairgrounds next week, the playoff spots fall into the hands of that last Split 3 Driver, Matthew Owens. If Owens can hold onto that spot next week, then the playoff field won’t change, but if Tyler Krawcyzk, who is -18 points back from Owens, can jump in front, that would shift all the wildcard drivers down one spot with Owens getting in with the first wildcard spot.

It will be an exciting race next Monday night at Nashville Fairgrounds. Tune in on the Crown Jewel Racing Network to catch all the thrilling action to conclude the 2024 VRS Truck Series Regular Season.

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PENALTY REPORT: WATKINS AND DARLINGTON


Thursday evening brought news of a rare early penalty report from CJR officials.

VRS Truck Series

CJR officials announced no penalties in the VRS Truck Series.

Team Conti Sim Performance Cup Series

The TCSP saw it’s cleanest race since the Olympic Break, but still had a handful of cautions. Under the new penalty system, 10 drivers saw penalties for 11 incidents. See the tables below for the breakdown.

Incidents

LapCars InvolvedFault/Result
369191
447, 307
6466, 3166
7063, 24, 15, 5463
8515, 9615
9191, 0491
1245555
14504, 55
1996, 66Racing Incident
21454, 6354

Rolling Total

Car NumberDriver NamePoints
91Zack Saunders6
66Ray Gill3
5Allen Phillips3
7Steven Carlile3
15Cody Leach3
54Jacob Abreu3
63Johnny Avila3
55Cameron Romano3

CJR officials also announced that Pete Morales, substitute driver of the #34 Ford Mustang, will be penalized post-race for illegally passing the pace car in the final caution sequence. For such infractions the penalty is being scored the last car a lap down. Long time fans will remember when Archie Williams, driver for the now defunct Circuit Motorsport Club, was penalized the same following a similar incident at COTA.

A reminder, any of the penalties can be appealed via the ticket function in the League Discord.

MILWAUKEE: PORTER WINS 3 IN A ROW, TAMES MILWAUKEE MILE

VRS Truck Series competed at the Milwaukee Mile on Monday night in West Allis, Wisconsin. 37,000 fans filled the grandstands to see these trucks turn 175 laps around this legendary oval, and were able to watch Cody Porter dominate the race from start to finish. Click here to watch the race replay.

Quick Stats

  • Location: Milwaukee Mile Speedway, West Allis, Wisconsin
  • Race Length: 175 Laps, 2 Hours 6 Min
  • Weather: 86 degrees, Partly Cloudy, Wind SW @ 5-6 MPH
  • 3 Leaders
    • Cody Porter – 155 Laps
    • Stewart Harding Walker – 10 Laps
    • Cody Leach – 10 Laps
  • 6 Lead Changes
  • 12 Cautions – 49 Laps

Qualifying

Porter would continue his dominance taking the pole with a time of 30.558 on his second qualifying lap. Zack Saunders (30.785) and Cody Leach (30.822) would take second and third behind him. This is Porter’s third pole of the VRS Truck Series and second week in a row of starting on the pole. In the last five races of qualifying, Porter hasn’t started anywhere but the front row. Porter had this to say about where they find that speed week in and week out.

“It all comes down to testing and having a good setup team. I only made minor changes from practice to loosen the truck up a bit, and without having that data and all those practice laps, it would not be easy.”

STAGE 1

Porter would take the green flag leading the field into Stage 1 and with most short track races this season it didn’t take long for that yellow caution flag to fly. On Lap 2, the #4 of Tyler Krawczyk would lose the back end and go around exiting Turn 4.

A much appreciated caution for the #1 Cory Mott, the #15 Cody Leach, and the #61 of Nishil Condoor who were all serving a drive thru penalty from the last race at Richmond. But a few laps later that helpful caution wouldn’t matter to Mott who was caught up in a wreck on Lap #7 with the #86 Ryan Taft, and the #67 of Joe Katarsky.

The #93 Stewart Harding Walker would take the lead from Porter on Lap 16 and hold onto that lead until a caution would come out for the #56 of Noah Lycan. Porter and Walker would battle for the lead on the restart with Walker leading laps 25-27 before Porter took back the reins. iRacing would throw another caution just after the lead change and this caution drew some gripes and complaints from the drivers as no incident really occurred. The #35 of Henry Kallhoff sent his truck sideways in Turn 3 but was able to keep the Tokyo Drift going to regain control.

There would be two more cautions during the stage before the stage would end on Lap 55 with Porter getting another stage win for his fourth of the season. Walker would take second place in the stage after leading ten laps. The #34 Matthew Owens would take 3rd, the #88 Connor Wold 4th, and the #95 Pete Morales taking 5th.

STAGE 2

Leach would take the lead on Lap 58 and lead the field back to green. A caution would come out on Lap 63 for the #8 Joe Gibbons, and Porter would take the lead back on the Lap 68 restart. Leach would try to keep control of the second place spot, but the #99 Zack Saunders would be all over his bumper for multiple laps trying to get Leach out of the way. That aggressive racing would lead to another caution on Lap 73 when Saunders bumping game would get to rough for Leach to handle. Leach would spin out and Saunders would check up causing Walker to give Saunders a taste of his own medicine with bump to his rear bumper. Saunders would lose control colliding with the outside wall causing extensive damage to his truck. Saunders night was finished and he didn’t have much to say after the race, and Leach only had a three word response regarding the incident.

“It’s just chickenshit.”

We will see if this altercation carries over into the other series, but I don’t think they will be exchanging christmas cards anytime soon.

Racing would resume on Lap 75 with Porter remaining at the helm in the front, and they would stay green flag racing for 35 laps to complete the stage. Porter would once again get the stage win, Walker finishing in 2nd, Wold in 3rd, Condoor in 4th, and the #29 Tyler Belanger would take 5th.

Not Enough Preparation in the End

Porter would lead the field back to green for the final stage of the evening. Only two cautions would come out in the final stage with the first caution being on Lap 122 that would end the night for the #1 Cory Mott who just couldn’t get the race going in the right direction. And the final caution would come out on Lap 146 for the #4 of Tyler Krawczyk who had some difficulty keep the tires underneath him coming out of Turn 4.

Walker would do his best to keep the pressure on Porter on the final restart on Lap 151, but just wasn’t able to find the speed in the end. Porter would would take the checkered flag for his third straight victory in the VRS Truck Series.

Walker would finish second in his VRS Truck Series debut. He was all smiles after the race when he spoke during his media session.

“Definitely above where we expected to finish tonight racing on such short notice. Didn’t have much time to prepare, hell we wrapped the truck when qualifying was going on. Porter had a great truck tonight, and I had more for him at the start, but my knowledge of setups was what became my downfall at the end.”

With two races to go in the regular season the playoff battle is really heating up with multiple scenarios that could play out over the next two races. The VRS Truck Series will be back in action next Monday night when they travel out Dix, New York to take on The Glen for the “Go Truckin at The Glen 150.” Tune into the Crown Jewel Racing Network to catch all the action live!

PENALTY REPORT: RICHMOND

Cody Leach catches some air

CJR officials announced penalties on Saturday, August 17th following this weeks events at Richmond Raceway. Due to the sheer volume of cautions, Race Control was unable to provide videos for each incident.

VRS Truck Series

LapDrivers InvolvedResult/Fault
286, 886
1351, 46, 18, 21Netcode
2035, 95, 1Racing
2861, 4561
3695,2121
457676
542525
6104, 15, 97, 4, 97, 00, 47, 84, 1, 34, 86, 78, 21, 15, 46, 76, 294
7411
822121
8876, 9999
10284, 4Netcode
1391515
1471, 78Racing
15415, 1, 9515
1617676
16851,0051
1929595
21511
2237676
22978, 3078
23761, 82, 78, 461

Drivers penalized with 1 IC and an EOL at the beginning of the next race are;

#86 Ryan Taft
#25 Jim Mott
#4 Tyler Krawczyk
#99 Zack Saunders
#51 Michael Deitch
#95 Pete Morales
#78 Thomas Villano(temporarily retired)

Drivers penalized with 2 ICs and a drive through at the beginning of the next race are:

#61 Nishil Condoor
#21 Mack Fabiny
#1 Cory Mott
#15 Cody Leach

Only one driver reached 3 ICs and will be suspended for the next race.

#76 William Ransone

Team Conti Sim Performace Cup Series

LapDrivers InvolvedResult/Fault
1716, 6616
317, 1515
419696
549696
8561, 8, 361
907272
1006868
10831, 6531
117131, 9595
13886, 3186
14800, 9400
15529, 1515
16555, 86, 3155
17291, 8391
1806, 83Racing
1866161
1921515
20011, 0011
2107777
21828, 15, 37Racing
22656, 29Netcode
23938, 66Racing
24677, 5277
…woof

Drivers with 1 IC and and EOL at the beginning of next race are;

#16 Nathaniel Campbell
#72 Richard Dusett(retired?)
#68 Alexander Hodge
#31 Mark Roettgen
#95 Bob Fitzpatrick Jr
#86 Ryan Taft
#00 Garth Griswold
#55 Cameron Romano
#91 Zack Saunders
#11 Russell Bratka

Drivers penalized with 2 ICs and a drive through at the beginning of the next race are:

#96 Vince Mitchell
#61 Nishil Condoor
#77 Jim Mott

Only one driver reached 3 ICs and will be suspended for the next race.

#15 Cody Leach

As always these penalties can be appealed through the help desk in the CJR Discord.