NASCAR Truck Series at Daytona 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Johnny Sauter avoided a last-lap melee just after taking the white flag and won a wild season-opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona on Friday.

Just as the pack crossed the start-finish line for the final lap, Christopher Bell was turned on a bump draft from William Byron, fishtailed into Timothy Peters and barrel-rolled 10 times when his truck bed was picked up by the air at close to 200 miles per hour as it stormed into the fastest point on the track. 

Bell caught close to 10 vehicles, and NASCAR Trucks shared footage of the scene:

Bell pulled his window net down to let everyone know he was OK, drawing a favorable reaction from the audience as well as Todd Fuhrman of SportsLine.com:

The crash came just six laps after the first "Big One" on Turn 3, which involved 13 vehicles and brought out the red flag for an extended period.

Peters slammed into Cameron Hayley’s bumper when the two were running at the front of the pack and collected more than a third of the 32-truck field.

Here is a look at the wreck, courtesy of Fox Sports 1:

And here is a look at the final results on a night of swerving and saving at Daytona:

Finish	Driver
1	Johnny Sauter
2	Ryan Truex
3	Parker Kligerman
4	Brandon Brown
5	Travis Kvapil
6	Tyler Young
7	Ben Rhodes
8	Daniel Hemric
9	Scott Lagasse Jr.
10	Matt Crafton
11	Michel Disdier
12	Bobby Gerhart
13	William Byron
14	Timmy Hill
15	Timothy Peters
16	Christopher Bell
17	John H. Nemechek
18	Tyler Reddick
19	Austin Wayne Self
20	Grant Enfinger
21	Spencer Gallagher
22	Chris Fontaine
23	Ben Kennedy
24	Cole Custer
25	Cameron Hayley
26	Jon Wes Townley
27	Austin Theriault
28	Daniel Suarez
29	Rico Abreu
30	Jordan Anderson
31	Cody Coughlin
32	Tommy Joe Martins

Sauter narrowly avoided calamity when leading at Lap 64 after getting a bump from behind coming off Turn 4. There was no contact on the exchange, but rather an intense side draft that got Sauter loose, as NASCAR Trucks showed:

Ten laps prior, Bell had a remarkable save while avoiding a would-be major wreck between Turns 1 and 2, courtesy of NASCAR Trucks:

Bell was also involved in an accident on Lap 41 as a slew of trucks were entering pit road. Cody Coughlin got tangled in traffic, spun and collected Spencer Gallagher and Bell. 

Here is a look at the replay of the traffic tangle entering the pits, courtesy of NASCAR:

Bell didn’t take much body damage, but he lost many spots in the process before working his way back into the top five on the final lap.

Coughlin’s No. 18 Toyota, however, was badly damaged, which forced him to go to the garage. The 20-year-old offered his assessment of the exchange that ended his third career Truck Series race during an in-race interview with Fox Sports 1.

"Everybody is all tight here at Daytona going wide-open and you don’t lift. … I tried my best to stay off the No. 23 [Gallagher] there, but they just checked up so hard I couldn’t stay off them and I got hit from behind,” Coughlin said.

The newly established caution clock was also in play, but it never came to use in Friday’s season opener. In January, NASCAR announced the addition of the 20-minute timer to create competitive balance and allow more opportunities for teams to make adjustments under yellow rather than doing so under green-flag runs.

Cautions waved for situational circumstances throughout, including one for debris on Lap 66 and again with 23 to go when Jordan Anderson’s No. 66 machine stalled on Turn 4.

Sauter was the survivor Friday.

He also avoided internal issues on his No. 21 vehicle in the middle stages of Friday’s race, though he thought he was on the verge of losing an engine, per Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com:

Yet he was able to hang on and capture his 11th win in the Truck Series and second at Daytona.

Post-Race Reaction

"I just had this feeling that our truck was so good yesterday that, if I didn't make any mistakes, we were going to have a shot at this,” Sauter said, per Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com.

Sauter’s win was the first at Daytona for GMS Racing, and 13-year Truck Series veteran said the victory had an added sense of accomplishment.

"I'm so pumped to be the first guy to get to Victory Lane here. GMS—I mean, what can I say? This is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Bell was transported to a local hospital following the race, per Spencer, and no further information was immediately available on his condition.