2017 Eldora Dirt Derby


The 2017 Eldora Dirt Derby 150 was the 11th stock car race of the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the fifth iteration of the event. The race was held on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, in Rossburg, Ohio at Eldora Speedway, a permanent oval dirt track. The race took the scheduled 150 laps to complete. At race's end, Matt Crafton, driving for ThorSport Racing, would take control of the race on the final restart with 18 laps to go to win his 14th careerNASCAR Camping World Truck Series win and his only win of the season. To fill out the podium, Stewart Friesen of Halmar Friesen Racing and Chase Briscoe of Brad Keselowski Racing would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Eldora Speedway is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and festival-style seating believed to be in the range of 30,000. The 22,000 permanent grandstand and VIP suite seats make it the largest sports stadium in the Dayton, Ohio-region according to the Dayton Business Journal.

Entry list

' denotes rookie driver.
  • ' denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
*Withdrew due to blowing an engine on their heat qualifying lap.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Tuesday, July 18, at 7:00 PM EST, and would last for 55 minutes. Stewart Friesen of Halmar Friesen Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 19.547 and an average speed of.

Second and final practice

The second and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Tuesday, July 18, at 9:00 PM EST, and would last for 55 minutes. Caleb Holman of Henderson Motorsports would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 19.990 and an average speed of.

Qualifying

Qualifying for the five heats took place on Wednesday, July 19, at 5:00 PM EST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Qualifying would set the grid positions for the heats; first would get first in heat one, second first in heat two, etc in a repeating order until the slowest car.
Stewart Friesen of Halmar Friesen Racing would win the overall heat qualifying pole, setting a time of 20.000 and an average speed of.

Last Chance Qualifier

The Last Chance Qualifier was held Wednesday, July 19, at 8:45 PM EST. The race was held for all other drivers that were not guaranteed a starting spot in the main feature, with the top seven drivers in the event qualifying to the main feature, leaving one driver to not qualify. Bobby Pierce would win the Last Chance Qualifier and take the 26th spot. At race's end, Tommy Regan, retiring after two laps due to handling issues, would be the only driver to fail to qualify.

Race results

Stage 1 Laps: 40
Pos.#DriverTeamMakePts
188Matt CraftonThorSport RacingToyota10
252Stewart Friesen 'Halmar Friesen RacingChevrolet9
38John Hunter NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsChevrolet8
429Chase Briscoe 'Brad Keselowski RacingFord7
599Ty Dillon 'MDM MotorsportsChevrolet0
619Austin Cindric 'Brad Keselowski RacingFord5
716Ryan TruexHattori Racing EnterprisesToyota4
824Justin Haley 'GMS RacingChevrolet3
998Grant Enfinger 'ThorSport RacingToyota2
1080Justin ShipleyJacob Wallace RacingFord1

Stage 2 Laps: 50
Pos.#DriverTeamMakePts
152Stewart Friesen 'Halmar Friesen RacingChevrolet10
299Ty Dillon 'MDM MotorsportsChevrolet0
38John Hunter NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsChevrolet8
44Christopher BellKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota7
519Austin Cindric 'Brad Keselowski RacingFord6
698Grant Enfinger 'ThorSport RacingToyota5
780Justin ShipleyJacob Wallace RacingFord4
889Rico AbreuThorSport RacingToyota3
988Matt CraftonThorSport RacingToyota2
1024Justin Haley GMS RacingChevrolet1

Stage 3 Laps: 60

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings
  • Note: Only the first 8 positions are included for the driver standings.