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NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series news and information

GMS Racing NCWTS Michigan Preview

JOHNNY SAUTER
No. 21 Allegiant Chevrolet Silverado

Michigan Stats
8 starts, 1 win, 2 top-fives, 3 top-10s

Season Stats
12 starts, 1 win, 8 top-fives, 10 top-10s

Additional Info
– Sauter will pilot chassis no. 029 at Michigan International Speedway. This chassis has been a staple for the No. 21 team for the last two seasons, being utilized a total of seven times for one pole, three top-fives and seven top-10 finishes. Sauter drove this same Chevrolet to a ninth-place finish in last year’s race at MIS.

– He is second in the NCWTS driver championship point standings, just past halfway in the season.

Quote
“We’re getting to the part of the season where I feel a little more comfortable at the tracks we’re visiting. Michigan (International Speedway) has been good to me the last few years and with the way we’ve been running I think we’ll come out with another good finish. Joe and the No. 21 guys have been working hard to make improvements and every week I feel like we’re showing up a the track with a shot to win.”

JUSTIN HALEY
No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet Silverado

Michigan Stats
Haley will be making his first NCWTS start at Michigan International Speedway.

Season Stats
10 starts, 1 top-five, 8 top-10s

Additional Info
– The No. 24 team will utilize GMS chassis no. 116. Haley has raced this chassis three times this year, at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway. He earned top-10 finishes in each race, including his two best finishes of the season, third at Kentucky and sixth at Texas.

– Haley has earned seven consecutive top-10 finishes and a career-best third-place finish at Kentucky.

– He is 12th in the driver championship point standings with 11 races remaining.

Quote
“We’ve been on a good streak these last five or six races, we just need to execute at the end. Track position has been big all season and I don’t see that being any different at Michigan (International Speedway). I know Kevin will come up with a good strategy to get us up front, so I just need to do my job and keep us there.”

KAZ GRALA
No. 33 ChargeCords.com Chevrolet Silverado

Michigan Stats
Kaz will be making his first NCWTS start at Michigan International Speedway this weekend.

Season Stats
12 starts, 1 pole, 1 win, 2 top-five, 4 top-10s

Additional Info
– Kaz will pilot chassis no.018 this weekend. While this chassis is making its debut for the 2017 season, it has been run seven previous times in 2016, including last year at Michigan where Grant Enfinger qualified ninth and finished eighth.

– After a 23rd-place finish at Pocono Raceway, Kaz is currently 11th in the driver point standings, with one win to his name.

Quote
“I don’t know much about Michigan (International Speedway) really. I’ll lean pretty heavy on my teammates though this weekend, especially with the amount of experience Johnny (Sauter) has there. I’m looking forward to it. Lately I don’t seem to have much luck so hopefully we can turn that around this weekend. This is the first time that we have ChargeCords.com onboard the truck, so I really want to get them a good finish.”

ABOUT GMS RACING
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with drivers Johnny Sauter, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala, and the NASCAR XFINITY Series with Spencer Gallagher, Ben Kennedy and Brett Moffitt. Since the team’s start in 2014, GMS Racing has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. The campus also includes operations for GMS Fabrication.

SOCIAL MEDIA
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

August 8, 2017
NASCAR Racing Schedule for Michigan and Mid-Ohio

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series in the Irish Hills of Michigan International Speedway and the XFINITY Series hits the road course of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

EVENT SCHEDULE

Friday, August 11
11:30 AM – 12:55 PM MENCS 1ST PRACTICE
1:00 PM – 1:55 PM NCWTS 1ST PRACTICE
3:00 PM – 3:55 PM NCWTS FINAL PRACTICE
4:30 PM 6:30 PM MENCS ** HOT PASS IN EFFECT **
5:05 PM MENCS QUALIFYING (MULTI-VEHICLE / THREE ROUNDS)

Saturday, August 12
8:30 AM – 9:25 AM MENCS 2ND PRACTICE
9:30 AM NCWTS QUALIFYING (SINGLE VEHICLE / TWO ROUNDS)
11:30 AM – 12:20 PM MENCS FINAL PRACTICE
1:00 PM NCWTS RACE (100 LAPS, 200 MILES)

Sunday, August 13
2:20 PM MENCS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
3:00 PM MENCS RACE (200 LAPS, 400 MILES)

For the fifth time, the NASCAR XFINITY Series stops at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Mid-Ohio Challenge. The future stars of NASCAR will battle fender-to-fender on track. Additional race weekend features include the legendary Trans Am Championship presented by Pirelli and the F4 United States Championship Powered by Honda adding some open-wheel racing to the weekend schedule. Six races in total will take the green flag during the weekend.

TV: NASCAR XFINITY Series
Practices: NBC Sports App – August 11, 2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m. EDT live
Pole Qualifying: CNBC – August 12, 12:00 noon EDT live
Race: NBC Sports Network – August 12, 3:30 p.m. EDT live

Race Information:
NASCAR XFINITY Series – 75 laps covering 169.35 miles
Stage 1: 20 laps, Stage 2: 20 laps, Stage 3: 35 laps

Follow:
Website: midohio.com
Facebook: facebook.com/MidOhioSportsCarCourse
Twitter: @Mid_Ohio
Instagram: officialmidohio
#MOChallenge

EVENT SCHEDULE:

Friday, August 11
2:00 PM – 2:55 PM NXS 1ST PRACTICE
4:00 PM – 4:55 PM NXS FINAL PRACTICE

Saturday, August 12
12:00 PM NXS QUALIFYING (MULTI-VEHICLE / TWO ROUNDS)
3:30 PM NXS RACE (75 LAPS, 169.35 MILES)

August 7, 2017
Despite Season Dominance, Bell Isn’t A Lock For Title

It’s easy to believe with Christopher Bell’s dominance in the Camping World Truck Series this season that he’s a lock for the 2017 championship. He leads the series with four wins, has eight top-fives and 11 top-10s, three poles, and currently leads the regular season points. He’s a Kyle Busch Motorsports pilot right now, and with backing from Toyota Racing Development, it’s tempting to just call off the competition now and hand him the championship trophy.

But the season isn’t over, and if anyone has any doubts, they can look at the saga of Bell’s former KBM teammate William Byron a year ago. At this point in the 2016 truck season, Byron was only a rookie but had five wins including Pocono and was the season points leader. When he wasn’t winning poles and races, he was scoring top-fives and top-10s, keeping up with the consistency and making sure he was in championship shape as Homestead loomed larger.

After opening up the playoffs with a win at Loudon, Byron rattled off four-straight top-10s, three of which were top-fives, and kept padding onto his points lead. But after winning the pole and leading 112 of the 150 scheduled laps at Phoenix (the elimination race before Homestead), he dropped an engine on lap 141 and finished 27th. That finish ultimately killed his title hopes. Adding insult to injury, Byron could have won the title as he won the season finale at Homestead.

The target is currently on Bell’s back as he is looking to be the man to beat in 2017. He’s regularly outperformed 2016 champion Johnny Sauter, has twice as many wins as John Hunter Nemechek and team owner and part-time driver Kyle Busch, and despite not having as many stage wins as Sauter he does happen to have more playoff points (24) than Sauter (10), which is important considering this new format.

On top of that, the list of tracks coming up could help Bell further assert his dominance over the rest of the field. Proving that he’s a well-rounded driver, in the upcoming tracks he’s finished in the top-10 at every race with the exception of 24th at Michigan a year ago, although that was due to a crash after starting fifth. But while he has an affinity for the 1.5-mile tracks, he’s excelled on short tracks, 1.0-mile tracks, 2.0-mile tracks, and even road courses (he finished fifth at Mosport in 2016).

With Crew Chief Rudy Fugle in his corner (Fugle also led Byron’s seven-win rookie season in 2016), Bell has shown that he has grown immensely after playing second-fiddle to Byron for most of the 2016 season. But although he’s been at the front for most of the 2017 (1,703 laps completed out of 1,868 possible laps in 12 starts, 521 laps led) with very few mishaps (a 25th at Dover thanks to a crash), he’s shown that he’s the main threat for the championship this year. However, it’s already been proven that under this playoff system, things can change in a heartbeat.

August 1, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Pocono

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headed to Pocono International Raceway yesterday for the annual running of the Overton’s 150. It was quite the interesting race, regarding pit strategy. Here’s a look at who’s in my power rankings this week.

Christopher Bell- Bell had another strong run this year to collect his fourth win of the season. In the two practice sessions on Friday, he was fourth in the first practice and topped the final practice number one. Bell ended up the first stage second. In stage 2, it was almost the same as he finished third. It wasn’t until lap 54 of 60, where Bell took the lead from John Hunter Nemechek and went on to win for the fourth time of the year. Not only win the race, but grabbed the points lead as well from Johnny Sauter. Bell now leads Sauter over 18 points.
“It was really tough, but my guys do the best and they take really good care of me,” Bell said. “Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) does a great job and Tony (Hirschman, spotter) does a great job on top. I’m glad we were able to get the SiriusXM Tundra to victory lane, we’ve had had them on a lot, but we haven’t been able to win.”

Ben Rhodes- Before Pocono, Rhodes was still searching for his first win of the season. After wrecking out the past two races, he was looking to get a solid finish at Pocono. In stage 1, he finished third and in stage 2, Rhodes finished fourth. He didn’t battle for the lead until five laps to go as he took second. However, eventual race winner Bell was so far ahead, that it was difficult for Rhodes to catch him in the remaining laps. Though, Rhodes was happy with second.
“It is a great race,” Rhodes said. “This race reminds a lot of Michigan, Daytona, Talladega, just the big tracks where we’re drafting and aerodynamics are so important- but you’re playing those games the whole time here at Pocono. Good race for our Safelite Tundra. We were fast, just not fast enough to beat the 4 (Christopher Bell).” This was Rhodes’ best career finish of second, since Gateway of 2016.

Ryan Truex- Truex continues to keep having a solid year for the Hattori Racing team. In stage 1, Truex finished right where he started the race, fourth. In stage 2, Truex battled for the lead with Kyle Busch for a short-while, before settling taking second in stage 2. In the end, Truex was among the four battling for the win with eight laps to go. However, he eventually finished third. Truex scored his best finish of the year and moved to seventh in the playoff standings.

John Hunter Nemechek- Nemechek had another strong run at Pocono on Saturday. It almost looked liked, he would end up winning his third race of the year. He took the lead on lap 45, but was passed by Bell with six laps to go. Nemechek faded back just a bit, but still finished in the top five with a fourth. In the point standings, Nemechek is currently fifth with four races remaining until the playoffs.

Cody Coughlin- Coughlin had a career best finish on Saturday of second. Although, he did not finish in the top ten in both of the stages. However, Coughlin restarted fifth in stage 3 and dropped a few positions, but ended up eighth scoring his best finish of his career.
“It was a good day,” Coughlin said. “We’ve been running in the top-10 all year, we just haven’t finished there. It was nice to at least finish where we’ve been running, but I wanna be better. I think this is good momentum though, for sure.”The race featured four cautions for 15 laps, as well as, five leaders among five lead changes.
Next Up: The Truck Series take a week off this weekend, before heading to the Irish Hills of Michigan International Speedway for the 13th race of the year.

August 1, 2017
2018 National Series Driver Participation Guidelines Announced

Update Brightens Spotlight on New Stars

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 1, 2017) – With the emergence of NASCAR’s next generation of stars defining the 2017 season, NASCAR today announced new guidelines that will further highlight the young talent battling for championships in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Starting next season, drivers with more than five years of full-time experience in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be limited to a maximum of seven races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and five races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Drivers who have elected to accumulate Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship points, regardless of series tenure, will be ineligible to compete in the regular season finale and playoff races in each series, as well as the Dash 4 Cash races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

“Fans have made it clear that they want to see the future stars of the sport racing against their peers in the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series,” said Jim Cassidy, senior vice president of racing operations. “These guidelines achieve that and preserve limited opportunities for developing drivers to compete against the best in motorsports.”

The 2018 rules continue the evolution of driver participation guidelines, and NASCAR’s effort to strengthen the identities of all three national series while allowing up-and-coming drivers important developmental opportunities. Guidelines implemented for the 2017 season limited drivers with five years of full-time experience in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to 10 XFINITY Series races and seven races in the Camping World Truck Series.

The updated guidelines do not apply to drivers who are competing for the championship in the NASCAR XFINITY Series or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR XFINITY Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).

August 1, 2017
NASCAR sets further cap on Cup interloping in XFINITY and Truck

Come next season, there’ll be further limits to the number of races Cup drivers may run in the lower tiers.

NASCAR announced today that starting in 2018, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers, with more than five years of driving experience, will be limited to seven non-playoff race starts in the XFINITY Series and five in the Camping World Truck Series. For playoff races, all Cup drivers, regardless of experience, will be barred from running any of the playoff races. The latter rule is also in play for all four XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash races.

This cap is down from 10 XFINITY starts and seven Truck starts that was put in place for this season.

Rumors on possible changes had circulated since the possibility of changes were hinted at by XFINITY Series Managing Director Wayne Auton at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 21. NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio a few days later that talks on the matter were “pretty far down the line.”

The guidelines were implemented because of fan feedback on Cup interlopers in XFINITY and Truck competition, according to NASCAR Senior Vice-President of Racing Operations Jim Cassidy.

“Any time we implement a change, we’re going to monitor it closely and make sure we’re measuring the level of success or making sure that if there’s an opportunity to make it even better, then we will,” Cassidy told NASCAR.com. “In this case, we really like what we’ve seen and in talking with all the other stakeholders that we would normally talk to, this has been a very popular subject over a long period of time.

“We’re certainly excited to see what happens during the playoffs, but based upon the feedback that we’ve had, we were fortunate enough not to have to wait till the playoffs to come up with this next round of limitations. It’s good, it’s working in all respects, and this next layer just provides additional opportunity to focus on those drivers coming up through.”

August 1, 2017
MB Motorsports #63 Drive Announcement- Landon Huffman

LANDON HUFFMAN TO MAKE NCWTS DEBUT WITH MB MOTORSPORTS

Driver: Landon Huffman, @LandonHuffman
Team Info: mbracing.net, @MBMotorsports

FORISTELL, MO- Determination, persistence, and talent have led Landon Huffman to yet another milestone in his young career. The 21 year-old from Claremont, NC is set to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) debut with MB Motorsports in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 16th.

“We’re thrilled to have Landon in the #63 Chevy Silverado at Bristol,” says team owner Mike Mittler. “He’s done quite well for himself so far and we look forward to working with him. He’s worked very hard to get where he is today.”

Landon, the son of former NCWTS driver Robert Huffman, who now serves as truck chief on Brad Keselowski Racing’s #19 team, is coming off his first Late Model win of the season at Hickory Motor Speedway.

“I cannot thank Mike and everyone at MB Motorsports enough for this opportunity,” says Huffman. “It is surreal to know that I will have a shot in a truck after working so hard these past four years. It is a dream come true and a day I thought might not ever come.”

In addition to his Late Model racing, Huffman made his ARCA debut in 2016, qualifying fourth at the Berlin Raceway. While building his racing resume, Landon attends UNC- Charlotte, majoring in Marketing.

“I can’t wait to get to the ‘The Last Great Coliseum’,” adds Huffman. “I will do my best to represent MB Motorsports and their sponsors, as I hope this is just the start of our working together.”

The UNOH 200 will be broadcast live on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Channel 90 on Wednesday, August 16th at 8:30 pm ET.

FAST FACTS:
• The UNOH 200 will be Landon Huffman’s NCWTS debut.
• Huffman has 7 late model stock wins across multiple tracks over past 3 years
• Huffman attends UNC- Charlotte, majoring in Marketing

About MB Motorsports:
MB Motorsports is the sole surviving original team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, having competed in every season since the series debuted in 1995. The team has given many young drivers their start in NASCAR, including Sprint Cup Series winners Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski and Regan Smith.

For more information on MB Motorsports and its marketing partners, visit www.mbracing.net

July 31, 2017
Four Takeaways From Pocono: The Camping World Truck Series

Trucks For Pocono Isn’t That Great- The Truck Series continued their annual trip to Pocono dating back to the first race in 2010. With Pocono being a 2.5 mile track, the field gets sprung out after a few laps. When stage 1 ended, Crafton was fifth ten seconds behind the race leader. Track position is important at Pocono for sure, but racing isn’t that great. If it weren’t for the stages being so short, there probably wouldn’t have been much of a battle for the lead.

Christopher Bell continues strong season- Bell claimed victory number four Saturday at Pocono. Prior to Pocono, he finished ninth at Eldora and won at Kentucky. Bell has solidified himself as championship favorite and contender. He now leads former point leader, Johnny Sauter over 18 points. It will not be surprising if Bell grabs a few more wins and possibly the championship at Homestead. It’s Bell’s championship to lose.

Kyle Busch and Noah Gragson wreck- Just when it looked liked it was going to be a strong day for Kyle Busch Motorsports, their day went to sour when stage 3 begun. Busch accidentally got turned by Justin Haley in turn 2 on the restart for stage 3. Then just a few laps later, Gragson got involved in an mishap between Kaz Grala and Chase Briscoe. This ruined Kyle’s shot at career win 48 and Gragson’s strong point day. Gragson now sits ninth in the point standings 183 points behind first. He’ll have to win a few stages and a couple of races, if he wants to be in this years playoffs.

Ben Rhodes Comes Up Short Once Again- Rhodes continues his up and down season with a career best finish since Gateway of 2016. Ever since battling for the win at Kansas and blowing an engine late in that race, Rhodes has two top five and top ten finishes. However, he recently wrecked out at Eldora and Kentucky. He finished a solid second at Pocono, but sits sixth in the point standings, 141 points behind. If Rhodes wants to stay in the playoffs, which he is currently, he’ll have to continue what he did at Pocono for the remaining four races and not afford anymore DNF’s.

July 31, 2017
Christopher Bell Scores Fourth Career Win In 2017

Christopher Bell captured his fourth Camping World Truck Series race of the year on Saturday afternoon in the Overton’s 150 at Pocono International Raceway.

15 laps made up both stages 1 and 2, while 30 laps made up the final stage.

When stage 1 got underway, it was all Kyle Busch. Busch led wire to wire in the first stage and ended up winning it, while his teammate Bell, wounded up second. The action heated up on pit road, however, as Noah Gragson was penalized one lap for pitting outside the box.

Stage 2 took place on lap 20 and it was much the same as stage 1, except there was a little more pit strategy. Busch got out once again, but Ryan Truex stayed close behind. As stage 2 got toward the end of the conclusion, pit strategy was played as Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and Cody Coughlin pitted. Busch was the winner in stage 2.

On the initial restart on stage 3, Justin Haley accidentally turned Busch in turn 2, thus sending him into the wall and ending his day after winning the first two stages.

Another caution took place once again on a restart with 21 to go. This time it involved, Gragson, Kaz Grala and Chase Briscoe. Grala went up the track as he and Briscoe made slight contact with each other, which caused the incident.

The final restart came with 16 to go, where John Hunter Nemechek made a pass for the lead after getting a push by Crafton. Nemechek held the lead for nine laps until Bell passed him with six to go.

Bell was able to go on to win his fourth race of the year and take the series points lead from Johnny Sauter by 18 points.

There were four cautions for 15 laps, as well as, five leaders among five lead changes.

Next Up: The Camping World Truck Series takes another week off, before heading to Michigan International Speedway on Saturday August 12.

July 29, 2017
Q&A With Austin Cindric

This weeks Q&A is with Austin Cindric, who drives the no.19 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing. In 16 career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, Cindric has two top fives and four top ten finishes, with seven laps led.

When asked when he first got interested in racing, he cant remember a time that I wasn’t around it. “Racing has always been a part of my family long before I was born.” Cindric says.

So if there was another career choice other than racing, what would it be? “I’ve always been interested in engineering, design, and aerodynamics.” But Cindric can’t imagine another job. “It’d be hard to imagine me carrying another job that wouldn’t be involved in racing somehow.”

Besides his racing talent, when asked if he has another talent that no one knows about, Cindric says that he can cut his own hair.

Cindric has too many favorite race tracks, but says that Mid-Ohio, Mosport, Bathurst, Dover and Kentucky are a few of his the top picks. If he had a chance to design a racetrack he would choose a road course in the North Carolina Piedmont area. “because the biggest region in the United States for motorsports needs a proper road course and proving grounds nearby.”

Every driver has a racing hero or heroes. In this case, Cindric has three racing heroes he has looked up too, and some of those racing heroes are talented and legendary. “Helio Castroneves, Rick Mears and Greg Moore.” A driver from the past that Cindric would like to race with would be “Tim Richmond.”

Many drivers have different types of track preferences. Some prefer day races where the track is hot and slick, whereas, some prefer a night race where it’s much cooler and faster. For Cindric, he likes to race during the “day.”

There is some tracks a driver hasn’t raced on and they would like to race on them before their career is over. In Cindric’s case, it’s one a track people are familiar with and that track is “Darlington.”

You can follow Austin on his twitter page @AustinCindric.

July 28, 2017