FORT WORTH, Texas — Zackery King entered the second race of the Ideal Family LLC AARN Truck Series season facing an immediate obstacle.
A pre-race penalty sent the No. 51 truck to the rear of the field before the green flag. One hundred laps later, King had driven through the field, stretched his fuel to the limit and crossed the finish line first at Texas Motor Speedway.
King’s victory came at the end of a tense fuel-mileage race in which the leading contenders reached the checkered flag with approximately half a lap of fuel remaining. Gregory Vadnais finished second, 4.107 seconds behind, while Douglas Scalice completed the podium after joining King in making the winning strategy work.
The race featured only one caution for three laps, but its timing during a green-flag pit-stop cycle dramatically altered the running order. Several drivers were trapped a lap down or shuffled toward the rear, while others gained the track position needed to contend for the victory.
King Charges From the Rear
King had already surrendered his original starting position before the race began, forcing him to navigate traffic during the opening portion of the event.
The No. 51 steadily worked forward as the race settled into extended green-flag runs. Rather than relying on repeated restarts, King had to earn his positions through long-run speed, pit execution and fuel conservation.
When the final strategy began to take shape, King and his Scalice-Bender Racing team committed to stretching the last tank to the finish. The margin was extremely narrow, but the calculation proved correct.
King completed all 100 laps, led 19 and earned bonus points for leading and winning. His 42-point night moved him up 10 positions in the driver standings, from 13th to third.
After a disappointing 15th-place finish at Daytona despite leading the most laps, Texas provided the rebound King needed.
Fuel Tanks Run Nearly Dry
The closing laps became a battle between outright speed and fuel conservation.
King, Vadnais, Scalice, Gary May and Chris Romano remained on track, carefully managing their pace while attempting to save enough fuel to reach the finish. The leading trucks reportedly crossed the line with only about half a lap of fuel remaining.
Behind them, other contenders could not stretch their tanks far enough.
Howard Peeples and Dave W. Allen were among the drivers forced to make another stop. Both had spent time near the front, with Peeples leading 27 laps and Allen leading three, but the additional visit to pit road removed them from the battle for the win.
Peeples recovered to finish seventh, 26.459 seconds behind King. Allen finished eighth, nearly 28.5 seconds back.
The strategy call proved to be the defining difference between a podium finish and the lower half of the top 10.
Lone Caution Changes the Race
Texas produced only one caution, but it arrived at the worst possible time for several competitors.
The yellow flag appeared while green-flag pit stops were underway, splitting the field between drivers who had already stopped, those still on the track and those caught in an unfavorable portion of the cycle.
With only three caution laps and no further opportunities to reset the field, drivers trapped a lap down had little chance to recover. The race returned to green and remained there through the finish, placing even greater importance on fuel mileage and track position.
Only eight drivers completed all 100 laps. Tyler Wagner finished ninth as the first truck one lap down, followed by Elijah Maupin in 10th.
Vadnais and Scalice Complete the Podium
Gregory Vadnais delivered one of the strongest performances of the race for Revolution Racing.
Starting sixth, Vadnais stayed within reach of King through the final run and completed all 100 laps without an incident. Although he could not close the four-second margin, his second-place finish moved him up nine positions in the championship standings.
Vadnais now sits ninth with 56 points, only one point behind eighth-place Shawn Hughes and one point ahead of Maupin at the early-season cut line.
Scalice also completed a clean race, advancing from eighth to third in the No. 16. His 35-point result moved him three positions in the standings to sixth.
King and Scalice combined to give Scalice-Bender Racing two trucks inside the top three, helping the organization close to within three-tenths of a point of the team championship lead.
May and Romano Remain Consistent
Gary May followed his fourth-place finish at Daytona with another fourth-place run at Texas.
The consistency moved May into second in the driver standings with 67 points, eight behind leader Chris Romano. May is one of only three drivers to record top-five finishes in each of the opening two races.
Romano finished fifth after starting fifth, keeping his perfect top-five and top-10 record intact. The Daytona winner remains atop the standings with 75 points and holds an eight-point advantage over May.
Romano also helped Revolution Racing retain the team championship lead, although the margin has become almost nonexistent.
Love Leads the Most, but the Result Slips Away
Jamel Love controlled more laps than any other driver, leading 51 of the 100 circuits.
Love earned bonus points for leading and leading the most laps, but he was unable to convert that speed into a strong finish. He completed 68 laps and was credited with 21st place, 32 laps behind the winner.
It was the second consecutive race in which the driver leading the most laps failed to finish inside the top 10. King led 27 laps at Daytona before finishing 15th, only to reverse that outcome with his victory at Texas.
Texas Top 10
- Zackery King — No. 51
- Gregory Vadnais — No. 65
- Douglas Scalice — No. 16
- Gary May — No. 5
- Chris Romano — No. 44
- Joseph Essenberg — No. 10
- Howard Peeples — No. 29
- Dave W. Allen — No. 31
- Tyler Wagner — No. 22
- Elijah Maupin — No. 66
Driver Standings After Race No. 2
- Chris Romano — 75 points
- Gary May — 67 (-8)
- Zackery King — 66 (-9)
- Tyler Wagner — 65 (-10)
- Dave W. Allen — 64 (-11)
- Douglas Scalice — 63 (-12)
- Howard Peeples — 58 (-17)
- Shawn Hughes — 57 (-18)
- Gregory Vadnais — 56 (-19)
- Elijah Maupin — 55 (-20)
First driver outside the current cut: Jason Thomas — 47 points, eight below Maupin.
Only 20 points separate Romano from the final transfer position, leaving the early championship picture tightly packed after two races.
Team Championship Tightens
Revolution Racing remains first in the new team standings, but its lead over Scalice-Bender Racing has been reduced to only 0.3 points.
King’s victory and Scalice’s podium produced a major night for Scalice-Bender Racing, while Romano and Vadnais carried Revolution Racing with two top-five finishes.
Team Standings After Texas
- Revolution Racing — 53.8 points
- Scalice-Bender Racing — 53.5
- Ideal Racing — 44.5
- Corey Powell Racing — 41.3
- Great Lakes Racing — 40.5
- Lucky Dog Racing — 26.8
Ideal Racing remains third behind the top-10 finishes from Peeples and Allen. Corey Powell Racing and Great Lakes Racing are separated by less than one point in the fight for fourth.
Texas by the Numbers
Series: Ideal Family LLC AARN Truck Series
Season: Season 2
Race: 2
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Distance: 100 laps
Winner: Zackery King
Winning margin: 4.107 seconds
Cautions: One for three laps
Lead changes: Five among four drivers
Most laps led: Jamel Love — 51
Fastest lap: Tyler Wagner — 30.137 seconds
Strength of field: 1,546
Race duration: 56 minutes, 30 seconds
Strategy Defines the Second Race
Daytona opened the season with repeated cautions, a massive lead pack and the closest finish in AARN history.
Texas demanded something completely different.
Only one caution interrupted the 100-lap event, and its timing turned the race into a battle of fuel calculations. Some drivers benefited from the yellow. Others were trapped by it. Several contenders were forced to pit again, while King and the eventual top finishers committed to saving every possible drop.
King began the night at the rear because of a penalty and ended it in Victory Lane with almost nothing remaining in the fuel tank.
Two races are complete, Romano continues to lead the championship and only three-tenths separate the top two teams.
The Ideal Family LLC AARN Truck Series is already developing into a season where every point—and every drop of fuel—matters.
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