NASCAR Truck Series at New Hampshire 2014 Results: Winner, Standings, Reaction

As the 2014 NASCAR Truck Series winds down, it made a stop at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the UNOH 175. The race featured a smaller field—just 30 drivers started, with most of the Sprint Cup drivers are focused on the Chase—which made it a more intimate affair. 

The story of the race was winner Cole Custer. The 16-year-old started out in front and didn't relinquish that position for most of the day, save for a questionable pit stop late that nearly cost him the victory. Custer was on the pole for the event after setting a track record with a 131.897 mph lap during qualifying. It's the second pole position he's earned in just seven Truck Series starts. Joining him on the front row was Cameron Hayley.

With time running out for drivers to make their move up the standings, the urgency going into the final laps was easy to see. After next week's Rhino Linings 250, the Truck Series takes two weeks off, so any momentum that could have been built today was crucial. 

Here's a look at the results from the Truck Series' stop at Loudon, New Hampshire, and the season standings:

Place	Driver
1	Cole Custer
2	Darrell Wallace Jr.
3	Matt Crafton
4	Johnny Sauter
5	John Hunter Nemechek
6	Cameron Hayley
7	Erik Jones
8	Tyler Reddick
9	Joey Coulter
10	Ryan Blaney

Pos.	Driver	Points	Points Behind Leader
1	Matt Crafton	602	-
2	Johnny Sauter	595	7
3	Ryan Blaney	578	24
4	Darrell Wallace Jr.	567	35
5	German Quiroga Jr.	530	72
6	Joey Coulter	527	75
7	Ben Kennedy	509	93
8	Timothy Peters	508	94
9	Jeb Burton	491	111
10	Ron Hornaday Jr.	460	142

With the victory, the teenager made history, according to NASCAR Truck Series' official Twitter:

Custer took to Twitter before the race to give thanks to his crew, as all smart drivers do, stating they did great work on the car and that limiting mistakes would be the key. 

It's safe to say that whatever the crew did to his car, combined with his steely approach on the track, paid off well for Custer. He also now has bragging rights over everyone else in high school for the next two years because no other teenager can claim to be a better driver. 

NASCAR writer Richard Allen noted that Custer's start at the UNOH 175 was better than the one another Custer had during a famous battle in American history:

The only thing that slowed Custer down was a caution flag and pit stop following a crash by J.R. Heffner. During the caution, he pitted to take four tires.

That caution allowed the field to catch up to Custer. On the restart, he fell back to seventh before climbing back up to the second row following another restart with 11 laps to go. 

Cautions became the story of this race late. After a largely smooth run for the first 145 laps, there were four accidents in the next 22 laps that slowed the pace considerably. 

While Custer had a banner day, the bigger picture is still rosy for Matt Crafton, who came into the race with a five-point lead in the overall standings and put an awful qualifying session behind him.

After starting the race 30th, Crafton climbed all the way up to the lead on the restart following Heffner's accident. He would relinquish that spot following the final restart with four laps to go when Custer made a brilliant inside move to retake the No. 1 position, via NASCAR Truck Series' official Twitter:

Unfortunately for Crafton, he wasn't able to put much distance between himself and fellow points contenders Johnny Sauter and Ryan Blaney because all three of them finished inside the top 10. Crafton and Sauter followed each other in the No. 3 and 4 spots when the checkered flag waived. 

With so little margin for error in the points chase, the last six races are going to have all the drama and intrigue NASCAR fans could ask for. If they get close finishes like the one in New Hampshire, that's just icing on the cake. 

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