CHICAGO: Avila Steals the Win from Porter at Chicagoland

It was a beautiful Monday evening at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois to turn 134 laps to kick off Split #3 of the Sportsman Truck Series. Johnny Avila led 103 out of the 134 laps and won both stages, securing his second victory of the year.

Mike Burnett took the pole and would lead the first lap before Avila would take the reins and lead until a caution would come out on lap 13 due to Jonthan Leger getting into the wall in Turn 2 which caused him to collide with Robert Fraley and unfortunately myself.

A caution for Pete Morales spinning into the infield collecting Haden Higginbotham on the way would wind up being the last caution in the stage on lap 19. Matthew Owens, Sam Bennett, Allen Phillips and Nathaniel Campbell would try to mix things up by pitting in hopes to gain some positions after the stage. The first stage would end on lap 30 with Avila bringing home the stage win.

The early pit strategy from Sam Bennett would put him in the lead to begin stage two, but he quickly fell back in the field as Avila and Cody Porter would make their way back to the front by lap 37. Avila, Porter, and Zach Saunders would battle throughout stage 2 towards the front with some exciting side by side racing. Porter would give Avila a run for his money but was unable to capture the lead for the stage. Avila would take Stage 1 winning the stage by .044 of a second.

“Jim Mott told me to pit early, and if this restart doesn’t work out everyone should blame him.”

Sam Bennett #47 Top Tier Chevrolet

Avila, Porter, and Saunders would lead the pack into the final stage continuing their battle from Stage 2 until a caution flew on lap 71 which would set the trend for the rest of the race. From Lap 71 until the finish, 6 more cautions would keep the field bunched up and racing tight. Mike Burnett the pole sitter was involved in a caution on lap 77 with Oskar Jensen would move Burnett towards the rear of field. Burnett came into the race with the fastest truck, but it wasn’t fast enough to outrun the turmoil that was chasing him. Burnett would be involved in another incident on Lap 96 with Robert Fraley causing Burnett to take the truck to the garage.

Pete Morales worked his way back towards the front after the early spin in the race and was able to get back to 11th before an atrocious wreck on the front stretch on lap 102 involving Morales, Higginbotham, Aiden Schramm, and Ryan Taft. Morales sustained heavy damage after going airborne. He was cleared from the Infield Care Center, but the #95 Space-X Ford suffered fatal damage and will need a complete tear down and rebuild before next week’s race at Pocono.

A late caution with 5 to go involving Nathaniel Campbell would create for a thrilling Green, White, Checkered finish. Porter would lead them to the green flag and hold onto the lead to take the white flag, but Avila took the low line into turn one to take the lead and held off Porter for the win.

“I just like good, clean, close racing for the win.

It makes the racing fun which is why I joined the Crown Jewel Racing League.”

Johnny Avila #63 Xpress Esports Toyota

The Sportsmans Truck Series will travel to “The Tricky Triangle” of Pocono in Long Pond, Pennsylvania next Monday night July 15th.

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