NASCAR Truck Series at Bristol 2015 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

The 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, had a little bit of everything, and it fittingly produced an incredible comeback victory from Ryan Blaney.

Blaney fought through an early penalty, an extended rain delay, late cautions, the typical chaos of the world's fastest half-mile short track and a loaded field that included Kyle Busch to come away with the win. Safe to say, it was well deserved, and Fox Sports NASCAR provided a glimpse of the elated crew:

Here is a look Blaney and the rest of the top-10 finishers, courtesy of NASCAR.com.

Place	Driver	Laps Led
1	Ryan Blaney	40
2	Kyle Busch	4
3	John Hunter Nemechek	0
4	Daniel Hemric	0
5	Brandon Jones	1
6	Erik Jones	0
7	Matt Crafton	39
8	Tyler Reddick	0
9	Johnny Sauter	7
10	Dalton Sargeant	0

Wednesday's race naturally impacted the tight Truck Series standings, which can be seen below, courtesy of NASCAR.com. 

Place	Driver	Points
1	Tyler Reddick	550
2	Matt Crafton	544
3	Erik Jones	543
4	Johnny Sauter	497
5	Daniel Hemric	460
6	Cameron Hayley	451
7	Timothy Peters	448
8	John Wes Townley	447
9	Spencer Gallagher	416
10	Ben Kennedy	410

It is important to establish initial momentum in short-track racing because the laps move quickly at the 0.553-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, and that is exactly what Blaney did. He seized the early lead from Busch right out of the gate, as Fox Sports NASCAR highlighted: 

Blaney parlayed that first-lap move into a dominant start. He led for the first 42 laps, and his strategy was rather clear given the potential weather concerns, per Jay W. Pennell of Fox Sports:

Blaney controlled the early portion of the race, but he lost the lead when he was issued a pass-through penalty for jumping the restart after a caution. Cole Custer, who is only 17 years old, seized the first place spot, although Blaney was not pleased with the developments, per Bob Pockrass of ESPN:

Blaney's loss was Custer's gain, and the youngster deserved plenty of credit for holding off a charge from the excellent Busch, per Fox Sports 1:

Custer traded the lead with Johnny Sauter but took it back through the halfway mark of 100 laps. The drivers approached the midway portion of the event with more aggression than usual with rain in the area because the race became official in case of bad weather at that 100-lap mark.

An important moment happened with 85 laps remaining. Busch elected to head to pit road despite his position in the top five, which created some separation for the leaders. Busch was largely considered the favorite heading into Wednesday's race considering he won his first two Truck Series starts of the season and had four wins and six top-10 finishes in nine career Truck Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway.

He even swept the weekend at Bristol in 2010 with wins in the Sprint Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series races and was looking to do it again this year given his comments, per KyleBuschMotorSports.com: 

"

Bristol is a fun place to race the trucks at and we always bring fast Tundras there. This will be the only time this year that I’m running all three series in the same weekend, so it’s my only shot at bringing home another triple. It was really cool to sweep the weekend in 2010 and with the way we’ve been running in all three series the last month or so, I think we should have a good shot at doing it again this week.

"

Even with the stop, Busch managed to work his way back into the top 10 with fewer than 50 laps remaining, but Custer held firm to the lead. He earned praise from Pennell in the process:

However, Custer's momentum did not carry over into the final push because of an unfortunate break. Spencer Gallagher spun out right as Custer was about to lap him, and the 17-year-old leader hit him and ended any hope of victory. Fox Sports 1 passed along the highlight:

How quickly Custer went from first place to out of contention underscored the unpredictable nature of the short-track racing in Bristol. Matt Crafton was the beneficiary and seized the lead right as the red flag came out for inclement weather. Ultimately, the timing could not have been better for Crafton or worse for Custer.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. offered his support for Custer in the difficult moment:

The drivers returned to the track following a lengthy delay, and it set up a thrilling finish with only 25 laps remaining after the caution was lifted. Crafton hung onto the lead with a solid restart, but a number of other drivers remained within striking distance.

One driver who made a late charge was Blaney. He battled back all the way to second place with six laps left. It was an incredible recovery from his early pass-through penalty, but a caution down the stretch limited his chances at overcoming Crafton for the win. 

In fact, the caution set up an intense green-white-checkered finish that even had driver Darrell Wallace Jr. on the edge of his seat:

"

No finger nails left

— Darrell Wallace Jr (@BubbaWallace) August 20, 2015"

That fast-paced finish was all Blaney needed. He blew past Crafton on the restart and carried his momentum all the way to the finish line for an astounding comeback victory. NASCAR Trucks captured the dramatic moment:

While the finish was certainly thrilling for the fans in attendance, it was a lost opportunity for Crafton. He entered the race in second place in the standings and could have made an even bigger charge toward the top had he finished the job at Bristol, but he simply fell two laps short.

As for the 21-year-old Blaney, the way he seized the early lead and then fought through the penalty should provide a confidence boost moving forward. He is still one of the younger racers in the field every week, and overcoming a group that included Busch, Tyler Reddick and Crafton was quite a statement.

Blaney is also scheduled to run the other two national series races in Bristol. He now knows he can be the fastest racer on the world's fastest half-mile.