Brett Moffitt won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.HOMESTEAD, Fla. – An underdog driver for an underfunded team celebrated a storybook season ending with an improbable NASCAR championship.
Brett Moffitt won the Camping World Trucks Series championship for Hattori Racing, a tiny team stretched so thin financially there were times the organization wasn’t sure it could complete this season. But Moffitt, practically a journeyman at age 26, put together the year that made it impossible for the little team to quit.
Moffitt sealed the championship with a win, his sixth of the season, Friday night in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won last week at ISM Raceway near Phoenix to make his Toyota team one of the final four, and they outperformed their higher-funded rivals to win the title by winning the race.
“I didn’t want any drama here; I just wanted a party,” Moffitt said. “This year was no easy feat. I don’t think people understand how serious things were here. We had a good year, but a championship really put an exclamation point on the year.”
It made for a sweet celebration for Moffitt and team owner Shigeaki Hattori, a former driver who dabbled in trucks and IndyCar before turning his focus to team ownership. Both driver and owner have bounced around NASCAR, and this was just the second full season for Hattori’s team. In 2015, Moffitt was the top rookie of NASCAR’s Cup Series, but he has never been able to land a secure and stable ride.