“I can’t thank these guys enough. The truck was junk yesterday,” Crafton said in victory lane. “It was a 20th-place truck yesterday.”

With the win, Crafton moved to within 12 points of series championship points leader, Sauter, who won the first two races of the season.

Coulter finished the race second, and Ryan Blaney got by Brendan Gaughan on the final lap to finish third, moving Gaughan back to fourth.

ThorSport didn’t leave Kansas unscathed, though. A third ThorSport Toyota driven by Todd Bodine was involved in the incident that resulted in a nearly 13-minute red flag period with just over 40 laps to go. Bodine hit the wall hard after contact with Brennan Newberry.

“Brennan got loose,” Bodine said. “It’s just one of those things in racing.”

Having a fast truck wasn’t a sure-fire way to avoid the carnage, either. Miguel Paludo, who had one of the fastest trucks early on, was forced to retire from the event early because of an incident with his Turner Scott Motorsports teammate James Buescher while racing for the lead.

“It’s okay. I know he didn’t mean to get into me,” Paludo said. “It’s unfortunate, because we were having a great run, and we really needed a good finish.”

Kyle Busch, who normally dominates when climbing behind the wheel of a race truck, fell out of the race after and incident with German Quiroga.

Crafton, along with Sauter and Buescher, took four tires during a caution with 49 laps to go, and as a result, the three restarted 10th through 12th. They quickly made their ways back up toward the top-five, though. And with 30 laps to go, Crafton moved into the lead. He was able to hold on to his spot up front for one additional restart and kept Coulter behind him the rest of the way.

Finishing the race sixth through 10th were Buescher, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ty Dillon, Ron Hornaday and Timothy Peters.

– Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR

Follow Stock Car Spin on Twitter @SCSblog or like Stock Car Spin on Facebook. Amanda’s also on Twitter @NASCARexaminer and has a fan/like page on Facebook: NASCAR Examiner

“We really needed this win,” Piquet said in victory lane. “Probably the best win of my career.”

As fans watched Piquet celebrate his “best win,” Crafton was forced to settle for second.

“That was a tough one to lose on the last lap,” Crafton said.

After the race, Piquet didn’t seem to have an answer for how he made his final pass for the win.

“I have no idea what happened,” he said. “Someone up there gave me some grip when I needed it.”

Race pole sitter Joey Coulter finished third, Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan was fourth and Todd Bodine, who spun to bring out the first caution of the race on lap one, rounded out the top-five.

The yellow flag waved early and waved often throughout the event. Including a caution on lap one, there were eight yellow flags throughout the 146-lap event. The early stages of the race were caution-filled, as the yellow flag was utilized three times in the first 13 laps.

After the action settled down somewhat, Parker Kligerman took the lead by taking fuel only on a pit stop during a lap 30 caution. After not getting his truck completely full of fuel, though, he gave up the lead to head down pit road under green on lap 73, turning the top spot over to Piquet.

Piquet then lost the lead during the next caution that came out on lap 76 when the Richard Childress Racing duo of Coulter and Ty Dillon beat him off pit road. He got back up front, though, on the next restart that followed a caution that came out with 45 laps to go.

Piquet continued to lead the way until losing the lead to Coulter with 15 to go. He kept the lead in sight, and not long after then-leader Crafton took the white flag, Piquet made his move to get back into the top spot at the end.

– Photo courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR

– Follow Stock Car Spin on Twitter @SCSblog or like Stock Car Spin on Facebook

– Amanda’s also on Twitter @NASCARexaminer and has a fan/like page on Facebook: NASCAR Examiner