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Daniel Suarez Grabs First Career Win as Championship 4 is Set at Phoenix

Daniel Suarez is winless no more in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

After finishing runner-up four times, the part-time driver of the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota snagged his first-career win Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway. Johnny Sauter, who swept the first two races in this round, finished second. Matt Crafton. Cameron Hayley and Timothy Peters rounded out the top 5.

After a fierce battle in the final laps, John Hunter Nemechek finished sixth, followed by Christopher Bell. Matt Tifft, Ben Kennedy and Cole Custer to complete the top 10.

Meanwhile, polesitter William Byron, the winningest driver in the series this season, led a race-high 112 laps but saw his water temperature rise in the closing laps. Despite reassurances from crew chief Rudy Fugle that the truck would make it to the finish, the No. 9 lost its motor with just eight laps remaining. The resulting 27th-place finish was enough to knock Byron, who many thought was a sure shot at the championship, out of the Championship 4 for Homestead.

Byron’s teammate Bell, however, did make the cut, thanks to his seventh-place result. The rookie joins a trio of veterans in Sauter, Crafton and Peters in the Championship 4.

Nine cautions slowed the field for 49 laps, and five of those yellows flew in the first half of the event, including a lap 1 incident for Myatt Snider, who made his Truck Series debut.

The Truck Series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend to crown the 2016 champion. Coverage for the Ford EcoBoost 200 begins next Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

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