The 2016 Drivin' for Linemen 200 was the 9th stock car race of the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the 16th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, June 25, 2016, in Madison, Illinois, at Gateway Motorsports Park, a 1.25-mile (2.01 km) permanent tri-oval shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 160 laps to complete. In a wreck filled race, Christopher Bell, driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, held off Ben Rhodes on the final restart, and earned his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win, along with his first of the season. It was also the 50th NASCAR win for Kyle Busch Motorsports as an organization.^[1] To fill out the podium, Daniel Hemric, driving for Brad Keselowski Racing, would finish 3rd, respectively. But the race was most known for a fight between John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher. After the two crashed out of the race, the two had words when they climbed out of their trucks before Townley lunged at Gallagher and tackled him to the ground. The two got up and went to the ground again before they eventually got up again with announcer Vince Welch laughing. Townley then landed four punches on Gallagher before he tried to land a couple more but missed before either they go separated by the NASCAR Officials or Townley simply gave up, let go of Gallagher, and walked away. Soon, Townley and Gallagher's fight began trending and was called one of the funniest fights ever in sports.^[2][3] Townley was eventually fined $15,000 and placed on probation until the end of the year while Gallagher was fined $12,000 and also placed on probation at the end of the year

Background

The layout of Gateway Motorsports Park, the venue where the race was held.

Gateway Motorsports Park is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a 1.250 mi (2.012 km) oval that hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, a 2.000-mile (3.219 km) infield road course used by SpeedTour TransAm, SCCA, and Porsche Club of America, a quarter-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip that hosts the annual NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals event, and the Kartplex, a state-of-the-art karting facility.

Practice

Qualifying

Qualifying was originally going to be held on Saturday, June 25, at 4:45 pm CST.^[4] Since Gateway Motorsports Park is under 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length, the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 15 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 15 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.^[7]

Qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather. The starting lineup was determined by practice speeds. As a result, Ben Rhodes, driving for ThorSport Racing, would earn the pole.^[8] No drivers failed to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 William Byron 226 1 2 Matt Crafton 225 (−1) 3 Timothy Peters 221 (−5) 4 Daniel Hemric 216 (−10) 2 5 Johnny Sauter 204 (−22) 6 John Hunter Nemechek 192 (−34) 1 7 Ben Kennedy 192 (−34) 3 8 Tyler Reddick 191 (−35) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 8 positions are included for the driver standings.

References