Waters cracks top 20 in Kansas

A clean drive and late flourish saw Cameron Waters record a strong 19th place in his second NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas.

Waters hovered between 20th and 28th throughout the 134-lap race but made some late ground in the final stage to secure 19th after being 25th after his final stop.

After being involved in a late wreck at Martinsville, finishing a NASCAR Truck Series race for the first time was a milestone for Waters, especially with such a result.

It took Marcos Ambrose eight starts to record his first top 20 NASCAR Truck Series result in his debut season back in 2006.

But it was not all smiles for Waters, who found himself in an intense post race argument with Layne Riggs, who finished right in front of the Thorsport Racing driver.

Having previously raced at the short track of Martinsville, this was Waters’ first attempt at racing at a higher-speed oval.

The Heart of America 200 proved to be a clean, flat-out sprint with just the one caution taking place around the 1.5m tri-oval and no one could compete with the speed of Corey Heim too overwhelming for the rest of the field.

Waters started 20th in the ThorSport Racing Tradie Ford after recording a 31.146s time, four tenths off pole man Chase Purdie.

Off the line he settled into 22nd on a closely fought opening lap where the cars ahead were racing up to five wide.

But the action was cut short quickly when an early flat tyre sent Ty Majeski Into the wall at the start of the second lap.

A more successful second crack at racing took place on Lap 6 where Zane Smith, Purdy, Heim and Eckes wrestled hard for the lead. Heim proved to have superior speed on the inside to take control.

The TRADIE Ford was able to stay in the top 25 until Lap 11 when it fell to 28th.

The remainder of the stage was green with Heim leading home Smith, who powered away from Eckes as Waters fought his way back to 25th.

The Aussie started the second stage 28th after some chaos on pit road where a tyre rolled across to the grass.

As teammates Eckes and Smith went back and forth the lead, Waters also had a decent restart to climb to 23rd.

Waters got more comfortable as the rapid second stage carried on, working his way back into the top 20, while Smith won the battle for P1.

After holding position on pit road the #66 went to the apron at the start of the final stage with artificial light now taking full effect.

He stayed on the inside to hold position, while Eckes had a moment and dropped to third with Heim back in charge.

As the race approached the 100-lap mark, Heim had pulled a second up his sleeve over Honeycutt, while Waters was fighting with the likes of Mason Massey and Thad Moffitt to get 23rd.

This is the point where the contenders started to make green-flag stops.

After being serviced on pit road, Eckes and Honeycutt were going at it side by side. The 

#19 prevailed but only after giving his rival a whack on the way through. But they were not within reach of Heim, who was now 3s up the road.

Waters waited until Lap 101 to make the crucial final stop and rejoined 25th.

A threat of a rare caution came with 23 to go when Taylor gray dropped out of ninth after his right front went down following a scrap with the wall. Despite lots of smoke, Gray was able to make the safety of pit road to ensure the race stayed green.

Despite now being a lap down, Waters managed to pass Moffitt, Timmy Hill, Matt Mills and Mason Massey to surge to 21st with 14 to go.

Inside the final 10 laps he carried on his momentum to sneak into the top 20 ahead of Tyler Ankrum.

Meanwhile, there was no stopping Heim, who dominated the race and cruised to a 1.088s triumph.

Whilst it is unclear if Waters will return to the NASCAR Truck Series, the Cup Series goes racing around Kansas at 4.30 AEST tomorrow morning.

NASCAR Truck Series Kansas Speedway results

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