In his sixth full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Stewart Friesen is primed to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway, the driver of the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro will be making his 150th start in the Truck circuit.
A native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Friesen, whose racing career started with go-karts before ascending to over 200 World of Outlaws sprint car victories and over 900 starts in dirt events, made his Truck Series debut at Eldora Speedway in July 2016. Driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Silverado for Halmar Racing, Friesen started 12th but finished 28th in his debut after being involved in an early multi-truck wreck. He went on to compete in five additional Truck events for the remainder of the season, where his best on-track result occurred at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September after finishing 13th.
Entering the 2017 season, Friesen and his team, Halmar Friesen Racing, commenced the season with plans on competing in the Truck Series on a full-time basis. After finishing no higher than 19th during the first seven scheduled events, however, the driver and team did not compete for the following two events before returning to action at Kentucky Speedway in July. Then at Eldora, Friesen qualified on pole position and led a race-high 93 of 150 laps before finishing a career-best second behind two-time champion Matt Crafton. Remaining in competition for 10 of the final 12 Truck scheduled events, Friesen recorded four top-10 results before ending up in 14th place in the final standings.
Friesen commenced the 2018 season by finishing 27th at Daytona after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck. He rallied with a strong, consistent run for the remaining 15 regular-season events as he posted three runner-up results, seven top-five results and 11 top-10 results. The results were enough for him and the No. 52 team to qualify for the 2018 Truck Playoffs. Despite finishing no worse than 17th during the Round of 8, Friesen was eliminated from title contention. Nonetheless, he went on to finish no lower than 11th for the final four scheduled events as he capped off the 2018 campaign in seventh place in the final standings along with nine top-five results, a career-high 16 top-10 results, 188 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.1.
The 2019 season was a breakout year for Friesen, who started the season by finishing 10th at Daytona. Despite finishing 18th at Atlanta during the following scheduled event, he then posted three consecutive top-five results for the following three events before finishing 12th at Dover Motor Speedway. At Kansas Speedway in May, Friesen led a race-high 87 of 167 laps and was leading with two laps remaining before he ran out of fuel and ended up in 15th place. While continuing to pursue his first NASCAR win, he went on to finish in the top five five times during the following seven events. Then at Eldora in July, Friesen achieved his first NASCAR Truck career victory after leading 57 of 150 laps and capitalizing on a two-lap restart over rookie Sheldon Creed. To cap off the regular-season stretch with an eighth-place run at Michigan International Speedway in August, Friesen and the No. 52 team earned a one-way ticket to the Playoffs for a second consecutive season. At the start of the Playoffs, Friesen finished no lower than 19th during the Round of 8 as he transferred to the Round of 6. After finishing fifth and sixth at Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway, respectively, in October, he then rallied from serving an opening lap penalty for jumping the start to fend off Brandon Jones and notch his second career win at Phoenix Raceway in November. The victory was one that punched his ticket to the Championship 4 round. During the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, however, Friesen finished 11th on the track and fourth in the final standings behind title rivals Crafton, Chastain and Brett Moffitt. Despite falling short of his first title, Friesen capped off the season with his first two career victories and career-high season stats in top fives (12), top-10s (16), laps led (256) and average-finishing result (8.5).
For the 2020 season, Friesen and Halmar Friesen Racing changed manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota while receiving technical support from Kyle Busch Motorsports. Compared to his previous two full-time seasons while piloting a Chevrolet and receiving support from GMS Racing, the 2020 campaign was a difficult one for Friesen, who posted nine top-10 results and finished no higher than fourth during the 16-race regular-season stretch as he did not qualify for the Playoffs. During the Playoff event at Kansas Speedway in October, Friesen skipped the event and competed in the Short Track Super Series at Port Royal Speedway, where he finished second. With three top-six finishes during the final seven Truck events, the Canadian concluded the season in 15th place in the final standings. In total, he only achieved three top-five finishes, 12 top-10 results, 31 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.7.
The following season, Friesen returned to the Truck Playoffs despite recording three top-five results and four top-10 results during the regular-season stretch. At the start of the Playoffs, he transferred from the Round of 10 to 8 on the strength of three consecutive top-four results. With only a single top-10 result during the Round of 8, however, he did not transfer to the Championship 4 round. He managed to close the season with a runner-up result in the finale at Phoenix in November and in sixth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series and racked up four additional top-five results compared to his previous season.
This past season, Friesen finished no lower than 16th during the first eight scheduled events. Then at Texas Motor Speedway in May, he overtook Christian Eckes during an overtime attempt to score his third Truck career victory and snap a 54-race winless drought. The Texas win along with a total of nine top-10 results during the regular-season stretch locked Friesen and the No. 52 HRE Toyota team into the Playoffs for the fourth time in their career. Despite posting three top-seven results throughout the Playoffs, including a strong third-place finish at Homestead in October, Friesen fell short of transferring to the Championship 4 round by a single point. With his title hopes of the season evaporated, he went on to finish fifth at Phoenix in November and cap off the season in sixth place in the final standings for a second consecutive time. Friesen also managed to cap off the season with a total of nine top-five finishes, 13 top-10 results, 130 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.9
Through 149 previous Truck starts, Friesen has achieved three victories, three poles, 45 top-five results, 74 top-10 results, 731 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.9. He is currently ranked in 11th place in the driver’s standings while trailing the top-10 cutline to make the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs by a single point. He has also racked up three top-five finishes through the first 11 events on the schedule, with his best on-track finish being a second-place result at Darlington Raceway in May.
Friesen is scheduled to make his 150th Craftsman Truck Series career start at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, June 3, with the event’s coverage to occur at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
NASCAR released its penalty report and a notable name was issued a major suspension following the recent on-track action at Charlotte Motor Speedway that spanned throughout the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The first news to headline the penalty report is that Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has been suspended from competing in next weekend’s Cup Series event at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.
The news comes after Elliott was found to have intentionally wrecked veteran Denny Hamlin on Lap 185 of 400 during the Coca-Cola 600 that occurred this past Monday, May 29.
During the event, Hamlin and Elliott were battling inside the top 10 when Hamlin slipped up the track and crowded Elliott towards the frontstretch’s outside wall which resulted in Elliott making contact with the wall. Elliott quickly responded back by veering his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the left and turning Hamlin head-on into the frontstretch’s SAFER Barriers at full speed that resulted in both competitors being wrecked out of the event. After the incident, Elliott cited the lack of control over his damaged car after scrubbing the wall that resulted in the contact with Hamlin.
“[Hamlin] ran us up in the fence,” Elliott said in the infield care center on FOX. “Once you hit the wall in these [cars], you can’t drive it anymore. An unfortunate circumstance.”
Hamlin, however, did not mince his words over the incident and called for Elliott to be suspended for the upcoming Cup event at Gateway for jeopardizing a driver’s safety amid a retaliatory act.
“I got right-rear hooked in the middle of the straightaway,” Hamlin said. “It’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week. Right-rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable.”
Following the news of Elliott’s suspension for violating NASCAR’s Behavioral and Code of Conduct policy, Hendrick Motorsports released a statement, citing the team’s decision to not appeal the penalty and submit a formal request for a Playoff waiver for Elliott to remain in contention to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs. In addition, HMS announced that Corey LaJoie will be serving as an interim competitor for the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the upcoming event at Gateway. LaJoie currently competes as a full-time Cup Series competitor for Spire Motorsports. He is set to become the third different competitor to pilot HMS’ No. 9 entry alongside Josh Berry and Jordan Taylor.
With LaJoie joining HMS for a one-race deal, Carson Hocevar, a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor for Niece Motorsports, will make his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series by piloting LaJoie No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry this upcoming weekend at Gateway.
Elliott’s suspension marks the first time NASCAR has suspended a competitor for a retaliatory act since Bubba Wallace was suspended from competing in the Cup Series Playoff event at Homestead-Miami Speedway last October for intentionally turning and sending Kyle Larson into the frontstretch’s outside wall during the previous event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The incident involving Wallace and Larson mirrored the on-track scuffle between Hamlin and Elliott, where Larson forced Wallace up the track as Wallace hit the frontstretch’s outside wall before Wallace quickly retaliated by veering left, clipping and sending Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry into the outside wall as both competitors were knocked out of the event.
Elliott’s suspension also means that he is set to miss his seventh event of the 2023 Cup Series season. He was absent for six consecutive events from early March to the first half of April after suffering a left leg fracture from a snowboarding accident in Colorado during the week of the Cup Series event at Las Vegas. In eight starts through the first 14-scheduled events, including the Coke 600, Elliott has secured two top-five results and four top-10 results, with his best on-track finish being a runner-up result at Auto Club Speedway in February. With an average-finishing result of 14.6, however, he is currently situated in 29th place in the driver’s standings with 215 points and trails the top-16 cutline to make the Playoffs by 81 points. Elliott has until the series’ return to Daytona International Speedway on August 26, which marks the conclusion of the regular-season stretch, to win or point his way into the Playoffs, which will commence at Darlington Raceway on September 3.
In other penalty news highlighting the Cup Series, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang team piloted by Michael McDowell has been penalized for the loss of a wheel or a wheel that was improperly installed on a racing vehicle when a right-front wheel rolled off of McDowell’s entry on the track’s backstretch with 57 laps remaining. As a result, front-tire changer Scott Brzozowski and jackman Adam Lewis have been suspended from NASCAR competition for the following two Cup Series events.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Jeff Meendering, crew chief for rookie Sammy Smith and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra team, has been fined $5,000 due to a lug nut infraction, where one lug nut was found to have not been properly secured on Smith’s entry following Monday night’s action. In addition, the No. 74 CHK Racing team piloted by Dawson Cram at Charlotte has been docked 10 driver/owner points for violations involving the air duct, outlet hose and quarter window of Cram’s entry that did not meet NASCAR standards.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Derek Hartnagel, truck chief for rookie Daniel Dye and the No. 43 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST team, has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR for violating the sport’s substance abuse policy.
With this past extended weekend’s events at Charlotte Motor Speedway complete, the Cup and Craftsman Truck Series embark to World Wide Technology Raceway for their next scheduled event while the Xfinity Series travels west to compete for the second-ever time at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. The Truck Series’ event at Gateway, which is also set to serve as the second of three Triple Truck Challenge events, will occur this Saturday, June 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Xfinity Series event at Portland will follow suit at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series action at Gateway will conclude the weekend and occur on Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
From rolling off the starting grid in 19th place to claiming the checkered flag in first place, Ben Rhodes emerged victorious for the first time in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season after winning the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 26.
The 2021 Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, led two times for 37 of 134 scheduled laps as he managed to reassume the lead from Carson Hocevar during a late restart with 24 laps remaining. From there, he managed to pull away from the field and beat runner-up Corey Heim by more than two seconds to win for the first time in the 2023 season and at Charlotte.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Tanner Gray claimed his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.385 in 29.936 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 180.180 mph in 29.970 seconds.
Prior to the event, Tyler Ankrum dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his Hattori Racing Enterprises entry. Rookie Nick Sanchez also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his Rev Racing entry.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Tanner Gray received a push from teammate Corey Heim on the inside lane to muscle ahead of Majeski with the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. As the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch and entering the frontstretch, Gray managed to fend off Majeski and Heim as he led the first lap.
During the second lap and amid a series of early on-track battles, Tanner Gray retained the lead by half a second over a side-by-side battle between Majeski and Heim while rookie Rajah Caruth closed in while running in fourth. Shortly after, Armani Williams had early on-track issues after he made contact with the wall and limped his damaged truck to pit road, but the race remained under green.
Then on the fourth lap, Heim gained a strong run beneath teammate Tanner Gray entering the frontstretch as he assumed the lead in his No. 11 Rootly Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Entering Turn 1, Majeski attempted to overtake Gray, but he got loose beneath Gray as his truck slipped sideways, but he managed to straighten his truck entering the backstretch as Gray and Caruth overtook him for top-five spots. In the midst of the battle, Heim stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Caruth and more than a second over third-place Dean Thompson while Majeski and Tanner Gray trailed in the top five. Behind, David Gilliland was in sixth ahead of Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith and Stewart Friesen while Grant Enfinger, Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray, Lawless Alan and Chase Purdy rounded out the top 15. Meanwhile, Jack Wood was in 16th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Colby Howard, Matt DiBenedetto and Matt Crafton while rookie Nick Sanchez was up to 21st ahead of Hailie Deegan and rookie Jake Garcia.
Ten laps later, Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Caruth as Dean Thompson retained third while trailing by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Majeski also retained fourth while Hocevar carved his way up to fifth. With Zane Smith moving up to sixth, Tanner Gray fell back to seventh ahead of David Gilliland while Taylor Gray cracked the top 10.
Another four laps later, Hocevar carved his way up to second place as he trailed Heim by more than a second while Caruth, Thompson and Majeski dropped a spot, but remained in the top five.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Heim claimed his fourth Truck stage victory of the season after fending off Hocevar by a tenth of a second. Hocevar settled in second followed by Thompson, Caruth and Zane Smith while Majeski, Tanner Gray, Friesen, David Gilliland and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted and after the pit stops, Heim retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Hocevar, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Thompson and Gilliland. Following the pit stops, Majeski pitted for a second time for repairs to his quarter panel. Caruth also made another pit stop due to a jack issue from his initial stop.
The second stage started on Lap 36 as Heim and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Hocevar dueled for the lead through the first two turns amid a tight pack of competitors. Just as Hocevar tried to peek ahead on the outside lane, Heim managed to muscle ahead on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 as he retained the lead while teammates Tanner Gray and Thompson battled for third. Behind, Friesen was in fifth while David Gilliland carved his way to sixth ahead of Taylor Gray, Zane Smith, Eckes, Bayley Currey, Colby Howard and Matt DiBenedetto.
Just past the Lap 40 mark, Heim was holding a steady advantage over Hocevar followed by Thompson, Tanner Gray and Friesen while Zane Smith, Taylor Gray, Gilliland, Rhodes and Eckes were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Colby Howard was in 11th ahead of DiBenedetto, Crafton, Sanchez, and Currey while Purdy, Deegan, Enfinger, Garcia and Caruth were running within the top 20.
Five laps later, Hocevar emerged as the third different leader of the event as he overtook Heim for the lead while third-place Thompson trailed by more than two seconds. By then, Caruth and Majeski were mired back in 18th and 20th, respectively, as Friesen and Zane Smith rounded out the top five.
At the Lap 50 mark, Hocevar extended his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Heim while third-place Thompson trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Friesen and Zane Smith remained in the top five while Taylor Gray retained sixth ahead of Ben Rhodes.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Hocevar claimed his second stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Heim settled in second ahead of Thompson, Zane Smith and Friesen while Taylor Gray, Rhodes, Gilliland, Sanchez and Eckes were scored in the top 10. By then, 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hocevar returned to pit road. Following the pit stops, Heim managed to edge Hocevar to reassume the lead followed by Taylor Gray, Thompson, Zane Smith and Sanchez. Following the pit stops, Tanner Gray pitted for a second time with the hood up on his truck.
With 66 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Heim and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Hocevar dueled for the lead until Heim launched ahead with the lead on the inside lane through the first two turns. Heim would retain the lead through the frontstretch as Hocevar overtook Taylor Gray for second while the rest of the field fanned out and jostled for positions.
With 60 laps remaining, Heim continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Hocevar. A lap later, however, Hocevar reassumed the lead over Heim as Thompson, Rhodes and Friesen were scored in the top five.
Then with 54 laps remaining, the caution flew when Armani Williams slipped sideways and spun entering Turn 4 as his truck dipped below the apron and onto pit road, where he collided against the pit road wall and damaged his truck. Despite the incident, Williams emerged uninjured as his incident also did not involve any crew members.
Following an extensive cleanup period and while still under a caution, Hocevar led a parade of competitors to pit road with 48 laps remaining. Amid mixed strategy, Chase Purdy exited first after only opting for fuel as he was followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, Deegan, Taylor Gray and Thompson.
During the following restart with 45 laps remaining, Purdy struggled to launch on the inside lane while Rhodes received a strong push from Hocevar’s No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST to assume the lead on the outside lane. The field then fanned out to three lanes entering Turn 1 as Hocevar quickly challenged Rhodes for the lead. Entering the frontstretch, however, the caution returned when Zane Smith got loose underneath Taylor Gray while battling for third, spun across the track and clipped the side of Hailie Deegan’s No. 13 Ford F-150 before spinning across the frontstretch grass.
With the race restarting with 38 laps remaining, Rhodes managed to launch with a strong start and retain the lead ahead of Hocevar while transitioning from the outside to the inside lane entering Turn 1. After being placed in a three-wide battle between Hocevar and Christian Eckes through the backstretch, Rhodes maintained the top spot as he gained a strong start on the outside lane and muscled away from the field. Behind, Hocevar and Eckes battled for second in front of Majeski and Taylor Gray.
With 33 laps remaining, Hocevar managed to reassume the lead from Rhodes as Eckes fell back to third ahead of Heim and Thompson. Two laps later, however, the caution returned as Tyler Ankrum and Kris Wright wrecked in the backstretch.
As the race restarted under green with 24 laps remaining, Rhodes gained a strong push from Eckes on the inside lane to pull ahead of Hocevar and reassume the lead entering the first turn. With the rest of the field jostling for positions, Rhodes retained the lead by a tenth of a second with 20 laps remaining.
With 15 laps remaining, Rhodes was leading by three-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Hocevar, Thompson and Eckes while Enfinger, Majeski, Taylor Gray, DiBenedetto and Gilliland were scored in the top 10. Behind, Caruth was in 11th ahead of Currey, Crafton, Sanchez, and Garcia while Daniel Dye, Purdy, Tanner Gray, Jack Wood and Friesen were running in the top 20.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Rhodes continued to lead in his No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 by eight-tenths of a second over Heim and more than a second over Thompson while Hocevar and Enfinger were in the top five. Rhodes would retain the lead by a second over a three-truck battle between a tight three-truck battle between Heim, Thompson and Hocevar with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Rhodes remained as the leader by more than two seconds over Heim with Hocevar, Thompson and Enfinger scored in the top five. With Heim unable to narrow the deficit for a final lap and with Rhodes having a clear view in front of him, the Kentucky native was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch for his first elusive checkered flag of the 2023 campaign.
With the victory, Rhodes became the ninth different winner of the 2023 Truck season and the sixth series regular to place himself in contention to make the 2023 Truck Playoffs. In addition to scoring his seventh series career victory and the second of the season for ThorSport Racing, Rhodes notched the first Truck victory at Charlotte for himself and the Ford nameplate as he claimed the first $50,000 bonus for winning the first Triple Truck Challenge event.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I didn’t think we were that good in practice,” Rhodes said on FS1. “I didn’t qualify the best, and here, [the truck] came to life at night. Oh, man, I had so much fun. This is so much fun. Charlotte is a track that we come to. ThorSport Racing, we’re based in Sandusky, Ohio. We come to the North Carolina guys’ house and we like to win.”
“I’ll take the championship right now,” Rhodes added. “The whole season is so hard to put together. It’s unbelievably hard and it’s only gotten more difficult over the years. I started running this series in 2016 and I’ll tell you, I keep getting better every year and so does the competition. The harder I try, the harder it is to win a race, so a championship, being locked [into the Playoffs], I’ll take that. The last three races have been so unbelievably hard on my team. We’ve been wrecked in the last three and haven’t had any good showings because of it. I’ll take the points. Thank you.”
Heim, who led four times for a race-high 49 laps, settled in second place for the second time this season but managed to extend his lead in the regular-season standings with five regular-season events remaining on the schedule.
“Me and [Hocevar] and [Thompson] were probably the best trucks,” Heim said. “[Rhodes] just came along really strong, and once we got to second on the restart, where [Hocevar] got put in the middle there, I really thought we had a shot at it. It just proves that clean air is king here, but I feel like if I did a better job of getting by as soon as possible rather than waiting on a run, we might have had a better opportunity.”
Dean Thompson, Heim’s teammate at TRICON Garage who qualified seventh, had a career night as he claimed third-place results in both stages before settling a career-best third-place in the final running order for his first top-five result in the series.
“This season, so far, has been so up and down,” Thompson said. “We’ve had such good runs. We had [good runs at] Texas, Kansas, and it just ends up wrecking. To have this turned around like this is just massive. Not just for me, but for my team too. This plays a lot in my confidence so we can carry it to Gateway.”
Hocevar, who led five times for 43 laps, came home in fourth place followed by Grant Enfinger while Eckes, Majeski, DiBenedetto, Sanchez and Taylor Gray finished in the top 10.
There were 12 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 32 laps. In total, 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 11th event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Corey Heim continues to lead the regular-season standings by 26 points over Ty Majeski, 43 over Zane Smith, 63 over Grant Enfinger and 76 over Ben Rhodes.
Results.
1. Ben Rhodes, 37 laps led
2. Corey Heim, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Dean Thompson
4. Carson Hocevar, 43 laps led, Stage 2 winner
5. Grant Enfinger
6. Christian Eckes
7. Ty Majeski
8. Matt DiBenedetto
9. Nick Sanchez
10. Taylor Gray
11. Rajah Caruth
12. Matt Crafton
13. Bayley Currey
14. David Gilliland
15. Jake Garcia
16. Chase Purdy, two laps led
17. Lawless Alan
18. Jack Wood
19. Daniel Dye
20. Colby Howard
21. Bret Holmes
22. Stewart Friesen
23. Zane Smith
24. Tyler Hill
25. Mason Maggio
26. Ryan Vargas
27. Tanner Gray, one lap down, three laps led
28. Tyler Ankrum, two laps down
29. Josh Reaume, three laps down
30. Matt Mills, three laps down
31. Spencer Boyd, three laps down
32. Kris Wright, four laps down
33. Hailie Deegan six laps down
34. Justin Carroll, 12 laps down
35. Armani Williams – OUT, Accident
36. Keith McGee – OUT, Fuel pump
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is the series’ annual visit to Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, which will serve as the second site of this year’s Triple Truck Challenge program. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
NASCAR heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a triple-header schedule of events on Memorial Day weekend. The NASCAR Salutes Together with Coca-Cola program will also be back for the ninth season to pay tribute to the U.S. military members and their families.
The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competes Friday evening followed by the Xfinity Series on Saturday, culminating with the main event on Sunday with the Cup Series Coca-Cola 600. The ARCA Menards Series will also precede the Truck Series race with the General Tire 150 at 6 p.m. on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. Multiple race winners include Jimmie Johnson with eight wins, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick have won three times, and Brad Keselowski has won twice.
JR Motorsports driver, Josh Berry, is the defending Xfinity Series race winner and is hoping to score his first checkered flag of the season. But, it may be a difficult feat to accomplish as there have been 10 different winners at Charlotte in the previous 10 races.
Austin Dillon was the last repeat winner, winning both races in 2015, followed by Denny Hamlin (2016), Joey Logano (2016), Ryan Blaney (2017), Alex Bowman (2017), Brad Keselowski (2018), Tyler Reddick (2019), Kyle Busch (2020), Ty Gibbs (2021) and Josh Berry (2022).
The 20 previous Truck Series races at Charlotte have produced 11 different race winners. Kyle Busch leads all drivers with eight trophies and has won seven out of the last 13 races.
NASCAR Press Pass will be available after the Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series races.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, May 26
11:40 a.m.: ARCA Practice – No TV 12:40 a.m.: ARCA Qualifying – No TV 1:35 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – FS1 2:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1 3:35 p.m.: Xfinity Practice – FS1 4:05 p.m.: Xfinity Qualifying – FS1
6 p.m.: ARCA General Tire 150 – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
8:30 p.m.: Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps) Stages end on Lap 30, Lap 60 and Lap 134 The Purse: $767,542
Saturday, May 27
Noon: Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 300 – Postponedto Monday, May 29 at Noon FS1/PRN/SiriusXM Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps) Stage 1 ends on Lap 45, Stage 2 ends on Lap 90, Final Stage ends on Lap 200 The Purse: $1,317,391
7:05 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM – Canceled 7:50 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – FS1/PRN/SiriusXM – Canceled
Sunday, May 28
6 p.m.: Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 FOX/PRN/SiriusXM Distance: 600 miles (400 Laps) Stage 1 ends on Lap 100, Stage 2 ends on Lap 200, Stage 3 ends on Lap 300, Final Stage ends on Lap 400 The Purse: $9,421,275
In his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start in two years, Kyle Larson made the most of the opportunity by scoring a dominant victory in the third-ever running of the Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, on Saturday, May 20.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led two times for a race-high 138 of 252 over-scheduled laps, including the final 15, and prevailed in an overtime shootout amid a series of late carnages to win in the series return to North Wilkesboro while piloting the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Corey Heim won his second consecutive pole position in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap at 112.096 mph in 20.072 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Carson Hocevar, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 111.629 mph in 20.156 seconds and was the fastest during Friday’s lone practice session.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Heim launched ahead with the lead on the outside lane before he quickly transitioned to the inside lane entering Turn 1. With the field behind running two lanes deep, Heim was able to cycle back to the frontstretch and lead the first lap ahead of Hocevar as William Byron, Ty Majeski and Bret Holmes were scored in the top five.
During the second lap, Heim retained the lead over Hocevar and Byron while Kyle Larson, who was piloting the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, had fallen back to 12th as he was struggling for grip on the outside lane. Shortly after, Colby Howard, who started in the top five and was running sixth in the early stages, lost spots to Grant Enfinger and Christopher Bell before settling in front of Kaden Honeycutt in eighth place. Amid the early battles through the first five laps, Heim continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hocevar while third-place Byron trailed by more than a second.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hocevar followed by Byron, Majeski and Bret Holmes while Grant Enfinger, Bell, Howard, Kaden Honeycutt and Christian Eckes were in the top 10. Behind, Matt DiBenedetto was in 11th ahead of Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Hailie Deegan and Tyler Ankrum while Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Bubba Wallace, rookie Jake Garcia and rookie Rajah Caruth occupied the top 20, with rookie Nick Sanchez running in 21st. Meanwhile, Zane Smith, who did not post a qualifying lap due to his truck failing pre-race inspection three times, was up in 24th.
On Lap 23, the first caution of the event flew when Timmy Hill turned across the front nose of Johnny Sauter, which sent Hill spinning into Turn 4 as he was dodged by oncoming traffic. By then, Heim, who started to approach lapped traffic, among which included Stewart Friesen, had retained the lead by half a second over Hocevar as Majeski moved up to third. Byron fell back to fourth in front of Bell, who carved his No. 61 Toyota Tsusho Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the top five over Holmes while Enfinger, Howard, DiBenedetto and Larson were in the top 10.
During the first caution period, names that included Byron, Bell, Colby Howard, Christian Eckes, Tyler Ankrum, Jake Garcia, Lawless Alan, Sauter, Chase Purdy, rookie Daniel Dye, Chris Hacker and Friesen pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Sauter was penalized for speeding on pit road.
When the race restarted on Lap 31, Heim retained the lead followed by Hocevar while Enfinger battled Majeski and DiBenedetto for third place. Majeski and DiBenedetto would overtake Enfinger as the Alabama native fell back to fifth while stuck on the outside lane before settling in front of Holmes and Larson as the field fanned out, bumped and jostled for positions.
Then on Lap 43, Hocevar seized an opportunity entering Turn 2 as he overtook Heim and assumed the lead for the first time. Hocevar then started to extend his advantage to more than a second over Heim while Larson worked his way up to third as he trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Majeski and DiBenedetto were in the top five while Bell and Byron, both of whom pitted during the first caution period for fresh tires, moved up to sixth and seventh.
At the Lap 50 mark, Hocevar extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim followed by Larson, Majeski and Byron while Bell, Eckes, DiBenedetto, Chastain and Honeycutt were running in the top 10. A few laps later, however, Byron and Bell moved up to third and fourth on fresh tires with Larson moving up to second while Heim fell back to fifth.
During the event’s caution period on Lap 57, where Hailie Deegan spun in Turn 1 amid contact with Johnny Sauter, Hocevar surrendered the lead to pit as he led a bevy of competitors to pit road while the rest led by Byron and Friesen remained on the track.
With seven laps remaining in the first stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron retained the lead over Howard and Friesen as the field fanned out again for on-track positions. A lap later, however, the caution quickly returned when Timmy Hill, who was running towards the rear of the field, got loose entering Turn 1 and clipped Deegan before spinning and coming to a stop sideways between Turns 1 and 2 with damage to his truck. During the caution period, a few drivers, including Jake Garcia, Honeycutt and Hill pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.
When the race restarted with a single lap remaining in the first stage, Heim, who restarted alongside Byron on the outside lane on the front row, capitalized on fresh tires to overtake Byron’s No. 51 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST through Turns 2 and 3. The momentum was enough for Heim to cycle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro back to Turn 4 and capture the first stage victory and his third of the 2023 season on Lap 70. Byron settled in second followed by Bell, Howard and Hocevar while Friesen, Zane Smith, Larson, Chase Purdy and Ankrum were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, names that included Byron, Howard, Friesen, Purdy, Chris Hacker, Sauter, Kris Wright and Holmes pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
The second stage started on Lap 80 as Heim and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Heim rocketed with the race leader on the inside lane while Hocevar battled Bell for second in front of Larson, Zane Smith and DiBenedetto. With the field battling amid two tight-packed lanes during the proceeding laps, a three-wide action and contact occurred between Chris Hacker, Connor Jones and Kris Wright, with all three battling for spots in the top 30. Amid the tight racing, Heim retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Hocevar.
By Lap 90, Heim was leading by three-tenths of a second over Hocevar while third-place Bell trailed by a second. Larson and Zane Smith occupied the top five ahead of DiBenedetto and Majeski while Ross Chastain, Ankrum and Ben Rhodes were in the top 10. Behind, Bubba Wallace was in 11th ahead of Enfinger, Nick Sanchez, Eckes and Byron.
At the Lap 100 mark, Heim continued to lead by more than a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Larson, who overtook Bell and Hocevar less than 10 laps earlier, while Zane Smith retained fifth. Meanwhile, Byron was mired in 12th behind Wallace, Eckes was in 15th ahead of Matt Crafton and Friesen was back in 18th.
A lap later, however, Larson battled and overtook Heim to assume the lead for the first time as the leaders approached lapped traffic. Hocevar would overtake Heim for second a few laps later while Bell trailed in fourth place by more than a second.
At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Larson extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Hocevar while third-place Zane Smith trailed by four seconds. Heim and DiBenedetto were in the top five followed by Heim, Wallace, Chastain, Enfinger and Byron while Majeski, Bell, Crafton, Friesen, Rhodes, Purdy, rookie Taylor Gray, Honeycutt, Howard and Garcia occupied the top 20.
Eight laps later, the caution flew when Dean Thompson, who got bumped by Rajah Caruth entering Turn 1, spun in Turn 2 amid contact with Josh Williams. During the caution period, the field led by Larson peeled off the track to pit for fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Larson exited first followed by Zane Smith, Hocevar, DiBenedetto, Heim and Chastain.
When the race restarted with a single lap remaining in the second stage, Larson peeked ahead with the lead alongside Hocevar and amid two tight-packed lanes through Turns 1 and 2. Despite being locked alongside Hocevar through Turn 2, Larson was able to muscle ahead and clear the field through Turns 3 and 4 as he claimed the second stage victory scheduled for Lap 140. Hocevar settled in second followed by Zane Smith, Heim and Byron while DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Chastain, Wallace and Ankrum were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a few names that included Majeski and Holmes pitted while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
With 99 laps remaining, the final stage started as Larson muscled ahead with the lead ahead of Zane Smith and Hocevar. As Larson retained a steady advantage over Hocevar, Heim moved back up to third while Zane Smith fell back to fourth while battling Enfinger and Byron. As the on-track battles ensued, the caution returned with 95 laps remaining when Josh Williams, who was battling Kris Wright, Spencer Boyd, Connor Jones and Tanner Gray, was bumped by both Wright and Jones as Williams was turned off the front nose of Gray through the backstretch. Williams then clipped the barriers towards the pit road entrance before spinning across the track towards the inside wall.
With the race restarting with 88 laps remaining, Larson muscled ahead with the lead over the field as Hocevar made his way around Grant Enfinger for second.
With 75 laps remaining, Larson was leading by more than a second over Hocevar and more than three seconds over third-place Heim while Zane Smith and Bell were in the top five. Enfinger was back in sixth ahead of Byron, DiBenedetto, Wallace and Crafton while Ankrum, Friesen, Taylor Gray, Chastain and Purdy were mired in the top 15.
Then with 67 laps remaining, the caution flew when Deegan bumped and sent Dean Thompson for a spin in Turn 1 as Thompson backed his No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the outside wall and sustained significant rear-end damage. In the ensuing chaos, Deegan slapped the outside wall while trying to regain her momentum while Kris Wright hit both the wall and Thompson’s damaged truck while trying to lock up his front tires. During the caution period, the field led by Larson pitted and Larson retained the lead after exiting first followed by Heim, Hocevar, Byron, Zane Smith and Enfinger. During the pit stops, Zane Smith was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.
With the race restarting with 59 laps remaining, Larson retained the lead on the inside lane as Heim made his way to second over Hocevar. Two laps later, the caution returned when Eckes bumped and sent Ben Rhodes for a spin in Turn 1, though Rhodes managed to keep his No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 off the outside wall.
During the proceeding restart with 51 laps remaining, Larson retained the lead ahead of Heim while Byron was locked in a battle with Hocevar and DiBenedetto for third. The caution, however, returned a lap later when Ankrum, who was locked in a tight three-wide battle against Eckes and Purdy within the top 15, got shoved and squeezed into the outside wall through Turn 2 as he slapped the wall. Ankrum’s incident ignited a chain reaction as Rajah Caruth ran into him along with Rhodes and Zane Smith, with all four competitors wrecking while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage. During the caution period, Chastain and Deegan pitted while the rest of the field led by Larson remained on the track.
With the race restarting with 35 laps remaining, Larson rocketed with the lead followed by Heim while Hocevar battled and overtook DiBenedetto for third. As the laps proceeded and with late battles ensuing around the circuit, Byron made his way up to fourth over DiBenedetto while Larson extended his advantage to a second over Heim.
With 28 laps remaining, the caution returned when Connor Jones came to a stop on the track, a move that resulted in NASCAR holding Jones for two laps in the pits as a penalty. During the caution period, Wallace, Chastain and Deegan remained on the track while the rest led by Larson pitted. Amid the caution period, Colby Howard was penalized for speeding on pit road.
During the following restart with 23 laps remaining, Wallace retained the lead while Majeski, the first competitor with fresh tires, carved his way up to second as the field fanned out and jostled for late positions. Wallace would continue to lead on old tires over Majeski as the event reached its final 20-lap mark.
Then with 15 laps remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as Larson, who carved his way back up to second, intimidated Wallace for the top spot. After bumping and remaining in a tight side-by-side match against Wallace during the proceeding laps, Larson managed to reassume the lead for good with 12 laps remaining as Majeski challenged Wallace for second.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Larson was leading by a second over Majeski as Wallace trailed by more than a second. Four laps later, the caution flew when Eckes spun in Turn 3 after making contact with Chase Purdy. Eckes’ spin was enough to send the event into overtime.
When the field restarted for the first overtime attempt, Larson rocketed with the lead on the inside lane while Wallace spun the tires on outside lane, which jumbled the field and allowed Majeski to move to second followed by DiBenedetto. As the field fanned out through the first two turns, Larson started to pull away from Majeski and his rivals.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by more than six-tenths of a second over Majeski. With the clean air to his advantage, Larson was able to cruise away from the field and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag and win by nine-tenths of a second over Majeski.
With the victory, Larson notched his third career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series and his first since winning at Eldora Speedway in July 2016. He joined Mike Bliss and Mark Martin as the only competitors to win a Truck event at North Wilkesboro Speedway and he recorded the second Truck career victory for Spire Motorsports.
The victory occurred nine days after Larson was announced to drive the No. 7 entry for Spire Motorsports in place of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, who remains injured with a fractured vertebra stemming from a sprint car accident in late April.
“[That was] A really fun track there, especially in the truck,” Larson said on FOX. “You can use the apron and such, and both ends there. [I] Had a good time. That was a lot of fun on the long runs there, lapping trucks. Huge thank you to [crew chief Kevin] Bono [Manion], everybody on this team.
I wasn’t supposed to run [this event]. Unfortunately, Alex [Bowman] got hurt and allowed me the opportunity to run this. Thanks to everybody at Spire Motorsports for allowing me to race their truck, HendrickCars.com, [Cup owner] Rick Hendrick for also letting me run.”
Majeski finished in second place for the second time this season followed by Matt DiBenedetto while Hocevar and Bubba Wallace finished in the top five. Heim, the pole-sitter, ended up in sixth place while Crafton, Chase Purdy, Ross Chastain and Enfinger finished in the top 10.
There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 85 laps. In total, 25 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 10th event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Corey Heim leads the regular-season standings by seven points over Ty Majeski, 16 over Zane Smith, 41 over Grant Enfinger and 60 over Christian Eckes.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 138 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Ty Majeski
3. Matt DiBenedetto
4. Carson Hocevar, 16 laps led
5. Bubba Wallace, 13 laps led
6. Corey Heim, 75 laps led, Stage 1 winner
7. Matt Crafton
8. Chase Purdy
9. Ross Chastain
10. Grant Enfinger
11. William Byron, 10 laps led
12. Chris Hacker
13. Stewart Friesen
14. Daniel Dye
15. Bret Holmes
16. Christopher Bell
17. Kaden Honeycutt
18. Tanner Gray
19. Lawless Alan
20. Hailie Deegan
21. Taylor Gray
22. Kris Wright
23. Jake Garcia
24. Colby Howard
25. Christian Eckes
26. Tyler Ankrum, two laps down
27. Spencer Boyd, two laps down
28. Josh Williams – OUT, Water pump
29. Connor Jones – OUT, Electrical
30. Nick Sanchez, 39 laps down
31. Timmy Hill, 41 laps down
32. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident,
33. Ben Rhodes – OUT, Accident
34. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident
35. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident
36. Johnny Sauter – OUT, Electrical
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is another North Carolina event as the series will travel southeast from North Wilkesboro to Concord to compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, May 26, at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
NASCAR returns to the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time since 1996 to host the All-Star Race where 24 drivers will compete on the 0.625-mile track. The speedway joins an elite group as the fifth different track to host the exhibition race.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is the defending race winner in what will be the 39th running of the All-Star Race.
There are 21 drivers who have already earned their spot in the All-Star Race by winning a race in 2022 or 2023 along with past winners of the All-Star Race and past Cup Series champions who currently competing full-time in the series.
Those drivers include Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace.
Sunday’s Open will precede the All-Star Race and determine the rest of the field. The top two finishers and the fan vote winner will advance to the All-Star Race for a total of 24 drivers.
There are 16 competitors who will compete in the Open including AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Josh Berry, Josh Bilicki, Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, Ryan Preece, Chandler Smith and J.J. Yeley.
The starting lineups for the two heat races on Saturday and the All-Star Open on Sunday will be determined by the Pit Crew Challenge on Friday – the faster the pit stop, the higher starting position for the team. The fastest pit crew team will also receive a $100,000 bonus
Saturday’s heat races will feature the 21 drivers already locked into the All-Star Race and will set their starting positions. There will be two 60-lap heat races with Heat 1 setting the inside row and Heat 2 setting the outside row.
Saturday afternoon preceding the All-Star heat races, the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series will take to the track to compete in the Tyson 250.
NASCAR Press Pass will be available throughout the weekend.
Friday, May 19 3:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – FS1 4 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS1/MRN/SiriusXM 5:45 p.m.: Qualifying (All-Star Pit Crew Challenge)
Saturday, May 20 10:30 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1 1:30 p.m.: Truck Series Tyson 250 156.25 miles (250 Laps) Stages end on Lap 70, Lap 140, Final Stage ends on Lap 250 Fox/MRN/SiriusXM Purse: $696,922
Competing in his fourth full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Tyler Ankrum is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s series’ return to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the driver of the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota Tundra TRD Pro will be making his 100th career start in the Truck circuit.
A native of San Bernardino, California, Ankrum made his first career start in the Truck Series at Martinsville Speedway in October, where he piloted the No. 54 Toyota Tundra for DGR-Crosley. By then, he had achieved the 2018 ARCA Menards Series East championship on the strength of four victories and 12 top-10 finishes in 14-scheduled starts. Starting 19th, Ankrum finished 18th in his series debut. He would return for the penultimate event of the season at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he drove DGR’s No. 17 Toyota to a strong sixth-place result after starting 15th.
In December 2018, Ankrum was named a full-time competitor for DGR-Crosley for the 2019 Truck season. He, however, was forced to miss the first three events on the schedule due to age restrictions, with his first start occurring at Martinsville in March as he finished 19th. During his next five scheduled starts, he racked up a total of three top-10 results, including a career-best third-place run at Texas Motor Speedway in June. For the following two events, however, Ankrum competed for NEMCO Motorsports after initially losing his ride at DGR due to sponsorship issues. After reuniting with DGR at Chicagoland Speedway in late June, he then achieved a breakthrough moment by notching his first Truck career victory at Kentucky Speedway in July after overtaking reigning series champion Brett Moffitt, who ran out of fuel, prior to the final lap. With a guaranteed spot to the 2019 Truck Playoffs, Ankrum finished in the top 10 in two of the final three regular-season events before the Playoffs commenced. With three consecutive top-20 results during the Round of 8, he managed to claim the final transfer spot to the Round of 6 by a mere margin. His title hopes, however, came to an end after finishing no higher than seventh during the Round of 6. With a 22nd-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, Ankrum capped off the 2019 season in eighth place in the final standings. He also emerged as the 2019 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year recipient.
Prior to the championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2019, Ankrum announced that he will be joining GMS Racing for the 2020 Truck season. Piloting the team’s newly formed No. 26 Chevrolet Silverado, the Californian commenced his sophomore season with a 27th-place result at Daytona International Speedway in February after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck before notching three consecutive top-15 results. He then backed up the results by finishing in second place at Homestead in June before proceeding to finish in the top 10 six times during the final 11 regular-season events. The results were enough for Ankrum to make the 2020 Truck Playoffs, which he managed to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8 before being eliminated prior to the finale. With an eighth-place result in the finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, Ankrum concluded his second season in ninth place in the final standings. While he concluded the season winless, he tied his top-five results from the previous season (three), but earned two additional top-10 results (10) and improved on his average-finishing result from 15.3 to a career-best 13.4
Remaining at GMS Racing for the 2021 Truck season, Ankrum’s season commenced on a rough note by finishing no higher than 18th during the first five scheduled events before racking up his first top-five result of the season at Richmond Raceway in April. Another three races later, he achieved a strong run in the series’ inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas after finishing third while starting on pole position for the first time in his career. With only three additional top-10 results during the final six regular-season events, Ankrum failed to make the 2021 Truck Playoffs. By finishing no higher than 14th throughout the Playoffs, he concluded his junior campaign in 15th place in the final standings.
Following a two-year run with GMS and while driving a Chevrolet, Ankrum returned to the Toyota camp for the 2022 Truck season as he took over the No. 16 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Hattori Racing Enterprises. Commencing the season with a 28th-place run at Daytona after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck, he achieved a total of six top-10 results during the 16-race regular-season stretch, which were not enough for him to make the Playoffs for a second consecutive season. He, however, rallied by finishing no lower than 14th on the track throughout the Playoffs as he capped off the season in 12th place in the final standings. With a total of eight top-10 results throughout the 2022 campaign, Ankrum’s overall average-finishing result ended up being 14.6.
Through 99 previous Truck starts, Ankrum has achieved one victory, one pole, 10 top-five results, 35 top-10 results, 144 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.9. He is currently ranked in 14th place in the driver’s standings and has finished in the top 10 three times, including a fourth-place result at Circuit of the Americas in March, through the first nine scheduled events.
Ankrum is scheduled to make his 100th career start in the Craftsman Truck Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday, May 20, with the event’s coverage to commence at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Christian Eckes led the most laps, 82 of 158, and held on through two overtimes Friday night to claim victory in the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway. The win was even more rewarding after lackluster finishes in the previous five races this season of three 30th place and two 15th place results.
“I don’t really feel that excited, because the truck was so good it drove itself,” Eckes said, adding, “It’s been a really, really rough couple of weeks.”
“To come back and win shows the resilience of this team, and how we had to win it just shows the fight in this team. I was really determined. It’s really, really fun to be here, man, and when you have a truck like this, you’ve just got to finish it out.”
“We needed a little bit longer runs, I think,” he said. “Our truck was strong on longer runs – we just had too many medium to short runs, and it was hard to get track position there to advance forward.
Stewart Friesen finished second posting this third top-10 result of 2023. Tanner Gray, William Byron, and Carson Hocevar completed the top five at Darlington. Rajah Caruth finished sixth and was the highest-finishing rookie.
Full-time Cup Series driver Bryon, was piloting the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, and won Stage 2, but had to settle for a fourth-place finish.
“Hopefully, we learned some stuff for the Cup race. We usually run really good here, so it’s just a matter of trying to put it all together and learn some nuances with the race track, so hopefully we did that.”
Zane Smith currently leads the driver standings with 338 points, followed by Ty Majeski (-9), Corey Heim (-15), Ben Rhodes (-37) Christian Eckes (-39), Grant Enfinger (-39), Matt Crafton (-78), Tanner Gray (-84), Nick Sanchez (-105) and Stewart Friesen (-111).
The first two stages of the race were caution-free, excluding state breaks, but the final stage had six cautions with two overtime attempts to finish under green flag conditions.
Next weekend the Truck Series travels to North Wilkesboro Speedway. Television coverage will be provided by FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Corey Heim will start on the pole for the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200 after a qualifying lap of 168.048 mph in the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota. It’s his first pole of the year and the third of his career.
Chevrolet will occupy the next four positions with Grant Enfinger in second (167.710 mph followed by the fastest qualifying rookie Nick Sanchez (167.676 mph) starting third in a throwback truck scheme that pays homage to Mario Andretti. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes (167.197) and rookie Jake Garcia, (167.106 mph) completed the top five.
There will also be four Cup Series drivers competing in the Truck Series race. William Byron was the fastest and will start eighth followed by Bubba Wallace in 15th, Ross Chastain in 16th and Corey LaJoie in 29th.
The Buckle Up South Carolina 200 will be broadcast Friday night with the green flag set for 7:42 p.m.
It’s time for Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway as all three NASCAR national series compete to tame the Lady in Black. On Sunday afternoon the Cup Series Goodyear 400 takes center stage. Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven will serve as the Grand Marshalls as the FOX television team continues the Throwback theme with Richard and Kyle Petty joining the broadcast booth for Stage 1. Carl Edwards will step in during Stage 2 as Bill Elliott takes us to the checkered flag at the conclusion of Stage 3.
Denny Hamlin leads all active Cup Series drivers with four wins at the 1.366-mile oval followed by Kevin Harvick with three. Joey Logano is the defending race winner.
The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series headlines the action Friday night with the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 followed by the Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 on Saturday afternoon.
There have been 10 previous CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Darlington and Matt Crafton has been there for all of them with seven top-10 finishes. Four Cup Series drivers will also attempt to qualify and compete for the Truck Series race – William Byron, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie and Bubba Wallace.
Three Xfinity Series drivers entered in Saturday’s race have been to victory lane at Darlington, led by Justin Allgaier with two wins (2021 and 2022), Brandon Jones (2020) and Cole Custer (2019).
All times are Eastern and Press Pass is available after each race.
Friday, May 12 3:05 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – FS1 3:35 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying – FS1 Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) FS1 5:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – All entries – FS1 5:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) FS1
7:30 p.m.: Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200 Stages: 45/90/147 Laps = 200.8 Miles The Purse: $690,259 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
Saturday, May 13 10:35 a.m.: Cup Series Practice – Groups A & B FS2 (moves to FS1 at 11 a.m.) 11:20 a.m.: Cup Series Qualifying Impound (Groups A & B/Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds) FS1/MRN/SiriusXM 1:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 Stages: 45/90/147 Laps = 200.8 Miles The Purse: $1,399,187 FOX/MRN/SiriusXM
Sunday, May 14 3 p.m.: Cup Series Goodyear 400 Stages: 90/185/293 Laps = 400.2 Miles The Purse: $7,722,261 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
