Late drama ends Waters’ NASCAR debut
Cameron Waters’ rookie NASCAR Truck series race ended early after he was caught up in some chaos in Martinsville.
Waters has been forced to retire from his TRADIE backed ThorSport Racing #66 Ford 176 laps into the 200-lap affair won by Christian Eckes around the historic short track.
Waters was sitting in the top 20 when racing resumed from an eighth caution period with 37 to go and he was caught up in a multi-car incident.
A nose-to-tail concertina effect caused a chain reaction in the final corner, sending the #66 into a spin.
But the Aussie was able to carry on with only minimal front end damage, only to be caught in another multi-car bottleneck just a couple of laps later.
The train of cars on the inside slowed to avoid the spinning Layne Riggs on the exit of turn 2, leaving Waters with nowhere to go, but into the back of Jake Garcia.
The Aussie hit Garcia hard enough to send the #13 into a spin and the heavily damaged #66 crawl to the infield.
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise solid first NASCAR drive with Waters on track for a top 20 finish having qualified 22nd.
After a delayed start due to NASCAR cleaning the track after Blake Lothain’s fluid, Waters finally experienced his first ever rolling start on tarmac and was muscled down to 24th on the outside as Eckes hit the lead.
After 10 laps Waters 25th having pulled around three car lengths on Alan and applied pressure on William Sawalich ahead.
Any hope of making a move was denied by an early caution for the spinning #46 of Thad Moffat on lap 30.
With 22 laps remaining in the stage ThorSport Racing took the opportunity to complete an early tyre change
He only lost one position from 25th to 26th as the #91 of Jack Wood got out of shape at turn 1.
On lap 44 Waters made nice back to back moves on Lawless Alan and Mason Massey down the inside.
It ensured he crossed the line 24th at the completion of Stage 1, but thanks to the early pit he restarted 11th caution filled second stage.
Waters managed to avoid the multiple spins to sit 12th before pitting in the second caution with 21 to go and dropping to 25th.
synchronised spinning from Spencer Boyd and Riggs brought the second stage to a slow end under caution once again led by Eckes.
Waters sat 15th at the start of the second half of the race where Karen Honeycut went head on into the wall.
The Aussie boxed again to be 23rd at restart but green flag racing did not last much longer before a big crash for Dean Thompson, who got nudged by an out of shape Grant Enfinger hard into the turn 1 wall.
Waters restarted 21st on the inside and used it to enter the top 20 just before Bret Holmes and Justin Corral rotated at the second corner.
But then with 37 to go Waters’ ability to avoid the chaos disappeared as he was caught up in some craziness at turn four.
With the #71 of Rajah Caruth out of shape ahead on quarter exit, a chain reaction occurred which caused Waters to spin 90 degrees onto the inside kerb.
He escaped with front right damage and it proved to be an issue as he restarted 22nd but struggled to put the power down out of turn 2 and drifted towards the back of the pack.
A handful of laps later it was game over with even heavier damage as steam flew out of the bonnet after rear-ending Garcia.
Despite the disappointing finish, Waters will enjoy another crack at the NASCAR Truck Series at Kansas Speedway on May 4.
Image: Motorsport Images
Don’t forget the latest issue of Auto Action will be available via subscription here or at selected outlets. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.
CLICK THE IMAGE TO READ THE LATEST DIGITAL MAGAZINE
Latest Podcast: Follow the Easter Trail and more here on the Auto Action RevLimiter
This week we had to work hard for Supercar News, but we found some. It was easier in Speedway with the Easter Trail and the new speedway opening at Eastern Creek.
Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here
