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  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Texas II

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Texas II

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series gets back on track this Friday night in the Lone Star state at Texas Motor Speedway for race number nine of the 2019 season after a couple of weeks off.

    Normally, the summer race would be the site of the first of two races of the season with the final race taking place in November and being one in the Playoffs. However, the schedule changed this year by placing the November race in early spring and using the summer race as the final race for the Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway. It will also be the first of many standalone races for the series as well.

    The Truck Series will have a unique twist when they get on track Friday night, as the series will introduce the Triple Truck Challenge over the span of the next three races. Should a driver win at Texas Friday night, Iowa or Gateway, Gander Outdoors will award the driver an additional $50,000 bonus for winning any of these events. If the driver wins two out of three, the title sponsor awards $150,000. Win all three and the driver will earn themselves $500,000. That’s extra motivation for any driver to win throughout the upcoming races.

    With that said, there are currently 33 Trucks entered on the preliminary entry list for the SpeedyCash.com 400.

    Here are five drivers to keep an eye on Friday night.

    1. Johnny Sauter – It shouldn’t be a surprise that Sauter tops this list and there’s a reason why. He has a stellar track record at the 1.5-mile track and has always run well. Sauter has only finished outside the top-10 in five races there, while every other finish is either a win or a top-10. He has five wins (sweeping the 2012 season, 2016, 2017 and 2018). With those five wins, Sauter has collected 11 top fives and 17 top-10 finishes along with 368 laps led. He also has four poles with the last coming in the November race. His average start is 8.4 with an average finish of 6.1. Sauter has never had a DNF at Texas and has completed 100% of the laps dating back to his first start in 2005. It would be a mistake to bet against the two-time champion. Only something catastrophic or an ill-handling truck would prevent Sauter from having a great finish. Don’t be surprised if you see the Wisconsin native wheel the No. 13 into victory lane on Friday night.

    2. Grant Enfinger – Texas could be the site of Enfinger’s first checkered flag of the season. The Thorsport driver has just five starts with a best finish of third coming in his first outing in 2017 with the No. 98 team. Since then, he’s earned three top fives and four top-10 finishes with 16 laps led. In the spring race, Enfinger earned the front row starting position by starting on the pole and wound up fourth after leading eight laps. He won the first stage while finishing seventh in Stage 2. Enfinger only has one finish outside the top-10 that came in the November race last year, finishing 12th. In the summer race last year, he finished fourth after starting eighth and led seven laps. Look for Enfinger and the No. 98 Thorsport team to be a strong contender this weekend.

    3. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland only has three starts at the 1.5-mile track in the Lone Star state with a best finish of sixth in the summer race last year. The No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports driver even started on the outside pole and led 62 laps. He finished fourth in November and wound up 14th in the previous race in March of this year. At 1.5 mile tracks this year, Gilliland’s best finish came at Kansas last month with a finish of third where he challenged for the win late. Other finishes include ninth at Atlanta, seventh at Las Vegas and seventh at Charlotte. Gilliland has faced a lot of pressure to perform lately and he Triple Truck Challenge just might give him a little extra motivation to win this Friday night.

    4. Stewart Friesen – Speaking of first-time winners, there could be one this weekend and it might be the No. 52 Halmar Racing driver Stewart Friesen. He has five starts with a best finish of second twice (2018 and March of 2019). His first two outings did not go well with finishes of 22nd and 14th. However, since the summer race, Friesen finished second, eighth and second. The Canada native sat on the pole and led 13 laps last year in the summer race. Those finishes have led to 26 laps led and an average finish of 9.6 at Texas. Friesen has been close multiple times to victory lane, falling short to Kyle Busch in March. Friday night could be redemption for Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing team.

    5. Greg Biffle – When people see the entry list this week, they’ll see a familiar name making a one-off start and his first race in quite some time. NASCAR fans will see Greg Biffle entered in the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck Friday night. It will be his first Truck Series start since 2004 at Homestead where he finished eighth. Before making the jump to the Cup Series, the Washington State native used the Truck Series as a stepping stone to get to the Busch Series and eventually to the Cup Series in 2002. Biffle won the Truck Series championship 19 years ago in 2000. In his championship season, he earned five wins, 18 top fives and 18 top 10 finishes. In 1999, the year before he won the championship, Biffle set the record in the Truck Series by winning nine races, the most in a single season. Only one driver has come close and that was William Byron in 2016 when he earned seven wins that season. At his last Texas start in November of 2000, he finished 25th driving for Jack Roush. However, he won that year as well at Texas. Biffle practiced in Kyle Busch’s truck at Texas earlier this March to adjust to the truck. It will be interesting to see how the 2000 Truck Series champion performs this Friday night.

    Cory Roper will be back with his own team this week, driving the No. 04 Roper Racing Ford, Codie Rohrbaugh will be in the No. 9, Trey Hutchens will compete in the No. 14, Anthony Alfredo will pilot the No. 15, Ted Minor will be in the No. 25, Scott Stenzel will drive the No. 34 and Kyle Benjamin will be in the No. 45.

    Texas Motor Speedway has hosted 43 Truck Series races dating back to its first year in 1997.

    Johnny Sauter has the most wins with five, while former series regular Brendan Gaughan is the only driver to win four in a row and that occurred in the 2002-2003 season.

    The list of winners include Kenny Irwin Jr, Tony Raines, Dennis Setzer, Jay Sauter, Greg Biffle, Bryan Reffner, Jack Sprague, Travis Kvapil, Todd Bodine, Clint Bowyer, Ted Musgrave, Ron Hornaday, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jeb Burton, Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Justin Haley.

    The lowest a race winner has ever come from to win was 22nd set by Todd Bodine in 2004. The race winner has started on the pole five times and includes drivers Jay Sauter, Biffle, Reffner, Bowyer and Bodine, who was the last to do so in 2007.

    The Truck Series will be on-track Thursday afternoon with two practice sessions. The first occurs at 2:05 p.m. ET and the final is set for 6 p.m. ET. There will be no live TV coverage for either practice session. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 5:35 p.m. ET with no live TV coverage as well.

    The SpeedyCash.com 400 green flag will fly shortly after 9 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. The event will see three stages as usual with the first stage ending on Lap 40, the second stage on Lap 80 and the final stage on Lap 167.

  • Exclusive interview with Grant Enfinger-Part 2

    Exclusive interview with Grant Enfinger-Part 2

    In the conclusion of our interview with ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger, we discuss his career in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

    The Alabama native made his first Truck Series start in 2010 at Talladega driving the No. 95 Truck for Danny Gill. It would be his only start that year. Enfinger started 12th and finished 22nd due to a late-race crash, but he stills remembers that day vividly.

    “I can definitely believe it was seven years ago,” Enfinger told Speedway Media. “I remember the big wreck, but at the end of the day, it was an awesome experience. You know, I remember that one because that’s in the hometown state and all that, so obviously that was a memorable start and obviously a memorable memory winning there a few years ago. It’s definitely a place that holds a special place but a frustrating one too.”

    In 2017 Enfinger competed in his first full-time Truck Series season with ThorSport Racing. He ended the season with nine top fives and 10 top-10 finishes. The next year saw him win at Las Vegas in September with seven top fives and 15 top 10s by the end of 2018.

    “Man, I feel like I found a home here,” Enfinger said. “That was definitely what I was looking for, you know, surrounded by racers. All I want to do is compete and win, take whatever we got and make it better. I feel like being paired with Jeff Hensley (Crew Chief) has been a good thing, we both talk in the same language as racers. From where we have started to where we are now, I feel like we have the same core guys. To see where we were then to where we are now, it’s a good feeling. We’ve built this by growing together and being on the same wavelength. Everybody has each other’s back and I feel good about the momentum we’ve carried from the second half of last year to the overall progress we’ve made from the beginning, the mentality where we need to be legitimate to run for the championship this year.”

    Enfinger is also appreciative of teammates like Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes and Myatt Snider who work with each other throughout the weekend.

    “I honestly feel like it’s a good thing,” he said, in describing his teammates. “I mean I think if you look down on the entry blanks on any given weekend, I think ThorSport Racing is stacked. I feel like we have the talent to where any of our teams can win. I feel like our teams are capable of doing that, it’s just a matter of which one hits it that weekend. Knowing your teammate has a shot at winning, makes you work that much harder. It feels like we’ve been working together and I think it has shown that this year, more so than years past. Our F-150’s have been running more together and more consistently up front. We still obviously got work to do it, but I feel like we’ve made progress as a whole at the ThorSport organization.”

    When asked what the Truck Series would look like 20 years from now, Enfinger responded, saying, “Man, there ain’t no telling. I feel like the direction for the nearer future is to get rid of these couple of mile and half races, and go to some more short tracks. Everybody in America has been saying that for a long time and I feel like we’re finally going in that direction. But it’s changed so much in the last 10 years that I really don’t know.

    “Racing as a whole kind of goes back around to where the teams go out there and get the drivers. I think ThorSport Racing is one of the few old school teams, Duke and Rhonda Thorson do everything they can do to make it all work the way it’s supposed to, rather than a driver going to wherever he wants and bringing the funding to do that. So I feel like eventually, that cycle has to end and I feel like we’ve started to see a few examples of that in the Cup Series this year. I feel like it eventually has to come back around. I don’t know how long that will take and I don’t know where the Truck Series will be at that point. Maybe 20 years from now, but that’s wishful thinking. I’m hopeful it will come back around.”

    Introduced this year is the Triple Truck Challenge which starts at Texas Motor Speedway on June 7 and also includes Gateway and Iowa. Should any driver win one of those races, they will receive an additional $50,000 bonus.

    “I’m definitely excited about it for a lot of reasons,” Enfinger said. “Number one, that money means a lot to these Gander Outdoors Truck Series teams. That could potentially help us keep going racing at ThorSport Racing. It’s a large amount of money. What’s also huge is the notoriety the series is going to get.

    “I understand that we are kind of the third tier team in NASCAR and I get that, but I also feel like everybody you talk to will say the Truck Series is the best racing. It is the most exciting and that’s what they’re trying to model this Cup Series package around. I feel like it will be a great deal to some of the more true Truck Series fans and maybe get us some of the exposure we deserve. I think it’s great that the sponsor of the series Gander Outdoors is so involved to make that happen for everybody. That’s a win-win to everybody involved from the sponsors to the series to the teams. I think it’s huge and we’ve needed it for a while. That’s pretty exciting.”

    During a driver’s career, there are always one or more races that they wish they could do over again. Whether it’s for a shot at the win or simply getting a better finish.

    “There’s a lot of them,” Enfinger said. “You know, I would go back and change my last restart at Charlotte the other day. We weren’t going to win the race regardless, but we would have finished better. I mean, hell, I think of a hundred of them. I don’t know which one you want to know, but there’ve been some screw-ups along the way where there’s been some stuff that crap happens. A lot of could’ve, would’ve, and should’ve in racing.”

    We also discussed his goals for this season and the team’s championship hopes. Currently, Enfinger has 98 starts in the Truck Series with two wins at Talladega and Las Vegas, 22 top fives, 42 top-10 finishes plus four poles along with 337 laps led following the Charlotte race.

    The key, he said is, “definitely more wins. “We’ve got the solid finishes, but really it’s the peak that matters most. We haven’t peaked in my opinion to this point this year but we have been solid. Last year, from the last half of the second season on, we were solid then too. We stood a chance to win a few of them, winning one. We really had a terrible second stage of the Playoffs is what it boiled down to in a must-win situation at Phoenix. We were almost able to get that done but just a little short. The stars didn’t align for us. I don’t feel like it was really a lack of performance, it just wasn’t quite meant to be last year.

    “I think we’re close. We ran fast, speed wise through the entire Playoffs. We had the speed to get the job done, we were just inconsistent in the result outcome, some self-inflicted issues and some crap luck too. That’s what racing is sometimes. I feel like we’re in an even better spot this season than we were last year. Just continue following down that path further. I’ll be honest with you, I feel like we have a lot of things going for us this year.”

    Currently, Enfinger has 98 starts in the Truck Series with two wins at Talladega and Las Vegas, 22 top fives and 42 top ten finishes, and four poles along with 337 laps counting following the Charlotte race.

    For those who aren’t familiar with Enfinger, he describes himself as “the blue collar guy that’s worked his ass off to get here. I’m not the guy that someone picked up and wrote a check for me to be here. I’m living my dream, this has always been my dream. I’ve worked my butt off here to get be in the Truck Series. I’ve done the hard stuff. Like I talked about earlier in ARCA by start and parking. I was driving haulers, pulling motors, cleaning these things and doing whatever no one else wanted to do.

    “I feel like I can relate to the guy that works his butt off every day to make a living to go out on the weekends and enjoy it. I feel like I am that guy, I’m living that dream. I feel like God has let me do what I dreamed of doing. I’m just trying to live up to that, I guess.”

    You can follow Enfinger as he pursues his championship dream on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

  • Exclusive interview with Grant Enfinger-Part 1

    Exclusive interview with Grant Enfinger-Part 1

    In this week’s exclusive interview, Speedway Media catches up with ThorSport Racing driver and Alabama native Grant Enfinger.

    Enfinger entered the racing scene competing in the ARCA Racing Series before moving over to the Truck Series doing some one-off races from 2010-2017. In 2017, he was picked up by ThorSport Racing to drive the No. 98 for the full season. Since then, he has competed full time in two seasons, with one win in 2018 in September at Las Vegas.

    Like many drivers who start from a young age in hopes of racing in NASCAR one day, Enfinger always knew racing was what he wanted to do.

    “That’s where it’s always started from a young age,” he said. “My dad and me went to Talladega (Superspeedway) as a kid and kind of fell in love with it. He had a friend of his that raced at the local track there in Alabama and we would go with him, and watch him. It’s all I wanted to do, I don’t know if I ever seriously considered anything else.”

    Recalling the first time he ever sat in a racecar, Enfinger said, “It was one of those things that you thought were awesome. A friend of ours was actually running an Allison Legacy Car out of Mobile International Speedway. I don’t know when that was, but I was young. He let me sit in the car there before the race and that would be something you always remember. I said, I wanted to do it (racing) before then but yeah, I definitely remember that.”

    Enfinger also remembers his first ARCA start at Iowa in 2008 driving for Andy Belmont. It was a humble beginning.

    “As soon as I graduated college, I moved to North Carolina and just was working with teams there and started working with (Andy) Belmont,” he recalled. “From there, I start and parked his backup car, that’s what it basically boiled down to, probably three to five times that year in 2008. But yeah, Iowa was the first time for me to be in an ARCA car. Like I said, it wasn’t really racing, only did a few laps or whatever. But that’s how it all started.”

    Before he got to the ARCA Menards Series in 2008, Enfinger graduated with a Marketing degree. He explains why and how that makes him stand out from other drivers.

    “You know, I feel like you have to do something to set yourself apart,” he explained. “More than anything, you have to convince these guys who are spending all this money on racing and it isn’t returning. You have to find creative ways to get returns because a lot of times, racing is hard to make a return out of. I feel like the Marketing degree has opened my eyes to some of the creative ways, you can actually help this make sense. There are companies out there where it’s not just a benefit, but necessary for them to grow their business and to get what they’re looking for. I think it’s been necessary for me and my career. You know obviously I’ve been a hands-on guy on the racecar and race trucks, but it’s also something I take a lot of pride in that I do have that. I try to utilize that to keep myself racing. You know, at the end of the day, that was the reasoning behind that degree. None of that was coincidence, that’s all I wanted to do.”

    Enfinger went on to describe what he enjoyed the most about driving in the ARCA Series before making the jump to the Truck Series.

    “I love the ARCA Series,” he said. “I still do. You know if there is an opportunity that pops up, here or there, I’ll jump in one. If the opportunity was right I would do it. Yeah, it’s definitely an experience on those bigger tracks but all those guys from the competitors to the officials and everybody all like that, you kind of just get along with them. It’s a family atmosphere and it’s fun, but you want to do it when you be competitive, when you can be in good stuff. It’s not fun running in the back like anything else. I definitely feel like I learned a lot in the ARCA Series through the years, just to be on a lot of the same tracks that we’re running in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. I feel like that experience has definitely helped me and running for a championship, stuff like that. That’s something a lot of people can’t say and it helps our case.”

    However, nowadays it seems like most young drivers don’t take the time to develop their skills in the ARCA Series but immediately jump into an Xfinity or Cup Series car to run in the mid-30s without having any prior experience at those tracks. Enfinger believes you have to gain some experience at those tracks to see if you’re ready to compete at those high levels, but also doesn’t blame someone for taking the opportunity when it presents itself.

    “I feel like from the racers aspect, you need to take the stepping stones to get there. Now does that include ARCA or whatever? No. I think you definitely don’t jump into an Xfinity Car or a Truck for that matter. I think there are certain steps in racing that work better than others, but you have to go down the right path. In my opinion, you excel at a lower division before moving to a higher division. I think it’s obvious but yeah some people don’t always do that.

    “But from the other standpoint, you have to go where the opportunities are when you’re a racer. You don’t have opportunities to be a top-level car at a lower level. If your opportunity at a higher level in a backmarker is the only opportunity you got, I don’t necessarily blame you but that’s not the opportunity I would be looking for. It’s so tough to make it make sense in all that. I understand people trying that, but that wouldn’t be my number one position.”

    The Alabama driver adds there is really no ladder system in place.

    “You know there is no sure enough system,” Enfinger continued. “You got some of the guys that get picked up from an early age that they’ll put in 10 or 12 ARCA starts and then they’ll put them in a Truck, put them in Xfinity, put them in Cup but yeah, that’s the proper system if you have the means and resources to do that. But there’s not a set in stone system. When you see the manufacturer get behind somebody, that’s what they will do. That’s probably the way you should do it to have those series.”

    It was announced last year that NASCAR would be buying the ARCA Series and possibly merging them with the K&N Pro Series. Enfinger explains his thoughts on the merger.

    “You know, I hate that they are in the position to do that,” he said. “But, I do think they are in a position where that needs to happen. The K&N field has been low for the last few years and ARCA is getting low this year. I definitely think it will help, I feel like there’s definitely a place for the ARCA Series and I don’t necessarily think there’s a place for the K&N Series. Where it is right now, they’re going after the same type teams, same type drivers. They’re both unfortunately incredibly expensive to do.

    “I feel like ARCA has done a pretty good job within reason of keeping the cost manageable, probably more so than K&N has historically. Yeah, it cost more money to run a full season of ARCA than K&N, but you’re at a different level with tracks and stuff like that. I hope they kind of go with some of the ARCA mentality on things and how they have done it in the past, but we’ll have to see how things go. I don’t think making everyone change over all their cars is the right move and it sounds like they’re trying to find a happy medium there. It’s going to be tough to merge that stuff, but you know like I said, I have a lot of history in the ARCA Series. I may be a little biased, but I hope they don’t change the ARCA mentality to put it like that.”

    Enfinger had quite the success in the ARCA Series with 16 wins, 47 top fives and 66 top 10 finishes, along with six poles, even winning the 2015 Series championship. He explains what his biggest victory is in that series.

    “It would definitely be the home town track in Mobile (Mobile International Raceway),” Enfinger said. “Number one is my first ARCA win, I’ve run second or third for half of my ARCA starts, it feels like. We would lead a bunch of laps and end up running second or third somewhere all the time. Finally got that win in Mobile in 2013 and they came a lot more often after that. That was definitely the most special win. Friends and family were there, and it (the track) is literally 40 minutes from where I live, my home track. That was the most special. I hate the ARCA Series doesn’t go there anymore. Filled up the stands there at every show. But yeah, that was definitely the most memorable one.”

    In Part 2 of Speedway Media’s exclusive interview with Enfinger, available Tuesday, May 28, we will discuss his career in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

    You can follow Enfinger on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

  • Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Charlotte

    Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race at Charlotte

    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway located in Concord, North Carolina this past Friday night for the continuation of the 2019 Truck Series season.

    The polarizing driver, Kyle Busch was entered in his fifth and final truck race of the season in the Truck Series. And to no one’s surprise, Busch went five for five, winning in all five starts in the series this season. It’s a remarkable feat last accomplished by Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday who did it in 2009. However, he won five consecutive races that year, which means Hornaday’s record will stay intact for years to come. That is, unless, Busch decides to chase after a Truck Series title once his career in the Cup Series is done or an up and coming driver comes along (and there’s a lot out there) and starts breaking records like Busch did when he began his stellar NASCAR career. Nonetheless, despite Busch not winning in five consecutive races, it’s an extraordinary feat to win in all five starts. It’s something he tried years ago in the Xfinity Series, but he could only get half of them. The Future Hall of Famer is certainly impressive in the Truck Series this year, but will now turn his attention in trying to build his KBM team into a championship organization as they approach the Playoffs.

    While Busch continued his winning ways, other teams mourned the passing of longtime Truck Series owner Mike Mittler who had been an owner of a Truck Series team since the first year of the series in 1995. Mittler is known for giving drivers their first start. Some notables include Jamie McMurray in 1999 who made five starts that year and in 2000 where he made 10 starts. Carl Edwards made seven starts with the team in 2002 and Regan Smith made two starts the same year. Others include Justin Allgaier in 2005 and 2006, Brad Keselowski in 2006, Blake Koch in 2014, Brandon Hightower in 2015, Akinori Ogata in 2015, Bobby Pierce, who famously drove the truck at Eldora for all of his truck starts, Garrett Smithley, Spencer Boyd, the Donahue’s, Camden Murphy and Timmy Hill. J.J. Yeley was the last to drive for Mittler making the team’s last start at Chicago. The team attempted Bristol but withdrew.

    Team owner D.J. Copp took the No. 63 in order to pay tribute to Mittler. In a Facebook post by Copp Motorsports, it states that “Mittler Motorsports and Copp Motorsports officially joined as partners in early 2017. In an effort to help grow each of our programs, we operated seamlessly, however, we did have our hurdles beyond our relationship. With that, it often led to Mike telling me very simply “If it doesn’t make sense, then don’t do it…. It’s just that simple” and he so very often would repeat it back to me to make sure I understood.”

    With that in mind, here’s a look at this week’s Four Takeaways from the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    1. Rowdy Reigns Supreme In Charlotte – Kyle Busch won once again at Charlotte Motor Speedway, making it his eighth career win in the Truck Series at the 1.5-mile track in Concord. NASCAR fans saw Busch earn his 56th career win in 150 starts. To make it understandable, that’s 37% of the time that Busch has won in the Truck Series ever since his first win at, you name it, Charlotte in 2005. While the team owner was successful Friday night, leading all but 32 laps, finishing seventh in Stage 1 and won the second stage, his KBM teammates are still looking for the first win of their career/season. Todd Gilliland finished seventh, while Harrison Burton wound up 11th. If you take Kyle Busch out of the occasion, KBM has not won at all this year. Gilliland’s best finish so far came at Kansas a couple of weeks ago finishing third. His teammate Harrison Burton has a best finish of third at Dover. Both drivers sit on the playoff bubble with Gilliland in eighth and Burton in ninth, one point behind. Both are facing pressure to perform with a team that can and has won championships in the past. They only have nine races left until either driver can win in order to have a chance at the championship in 2019. And if they don’t win, their jobs could be on the line with KBM if these drivers don’t start winning soon.

    2. Anthony Alfredo Earns Top-10 Finish – The DGR-Crosley team had a miserable night with Natalie Decker wrecking out early on Lap 32 and their other teammate and Tyler Ankrum finishing 27th after facing vibration problems on Lap 111 that resulted in Ankrum and company not finishing the race. While Decker and Ankrum didn’t have the best night, their teammate Anthony Alfredo did by finishing eighth after starting 15th. It was his best finish so far this year.

    3. Young’s Motorsports Pay Tribute To Mike Mittler- As mentioned above, many teams and drivers took to social media over the week after Mittler passed away. There were many tributes and special messages displayed by drivers who drove for him or had a special connection with Mittler. One, in particular, was Spencer Boyd who made his first Truck Series start in 2016 at Martinsville finishing 28th. Boyd and the Young’s Motorsports teams paid tribute to the passing of Mittler.

    4. Texas Begins Triple Truck Challenge – When the Truck Series returns to on-track action at Texas Motor Speedway in a couple of weeks, it will see a unique twist introduced by Gander Outdoors and NASCAR that will award the winner of Texas, Iowa and Gateway a $50,000 bonus in each of those three events. Should a driver win all three, they will earn $500,000 in total after the challenge is over at Gateway. Think of it like the “Dash 4 Cash” in the Xfinity Series where drivers have a shot to win $100,000 for the highest finisher; that’s similar to how it will be in the Truck Series. Imagine what that can do to a team like Niece Motorsports or Halmar Racing if they end up winning one of the races? It would be a huge win. These races can all be seen on Fox Sports 1 the rest of the season. The RattleSnake 400 will take place Friday, June 7 at 9 p.m. ET, the M&M’s 200 at Iowa Saturday, June 15 at 7 p.m. ET and Gateway Saturday, June 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET.

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Charlotte

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Charlotte

    After taking a trip to the Midwest, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series team headed home to Charlotte Motor Speedway for their eighth race of the season.

    While some drivers consider Charlotte home, Kyle Busch and the No. 51 team found themselves home in victory lane Friday night for his 56th career Truck Series win. It was a remarkable feat winning five races in all five starts this season. The Truck Series regulars remain trying to chase down the all-time winningest driver but fell short once again. However, there is some good news for those series regulars. This was Busch’s last Truck Series race of the season due to NASCAR’s restriction on how many races in which he can compete in the series.

    So, how did the other Truck Series regulars stack up? Here’s a look at this week’s power rankings.

    1. Ben Rhodes – After coming up short a couple of weeks ago at Kansas, Rhodes and the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 was looking to carry that momentum over to Charlotte this past Friday night in hopes of a win. He started fifth and pretty much stayed in the top-10 throughout the night, finishing fourth and eighth in both stages respectively. Rhodes would even be up front to contend for the lead but only led a couple of times. However, despite a late race restart, Rhodes and the No. 99 Thorsport team finished fourth for his fourth top five of the season and equaling the fifth-place finish that he earned at Atlanta in February. Rhodes now sits fourth in the standings, 34 points behind teammate Grant Enfinger.

      Previous Week Ranking – 2nd

    2. Matt Crafton – Crafton and the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 team came to Charlotte with momentum after securing the pole at Kansas and finishing sixth there. He was also hungry and hoping to snap his long winless streak dating back to Eldora in July of 2017. When the team unloaded on Friday they were fast right out of the gate, sitting on the pole for the second consecutive week, the 15th of his illustrious career. However, Crafton was not able to keep the lead as Rhodes, Todd Gilliland and Kyle Busch would go right by him. It wouldn’t be until Lap 30, where we would see the famous No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 back out front, although, he had to pass Todd Gilliland in a thriller off Turn 4 for the stage win. Crafton and the No. 88 ThorSport team stayed consistent throughout the night finishing fourth in the second stage. Ultimately, he still found himself winless as Crafton finished in the fifth position to round out the top five finishers. You’d have to imagine that he is even more hungry for a win as we approach the two year anniversary since of his last win at Eldora.

      Previous Week Ranking – 5th

    3. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland and the No 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team had a slight setback this week after finishing third at Kansas, but it was still enough to keep them in the power rankings. He started third but lost the first stage win in a thrilling battle with Crafton, then he finished 10th in Stage 2. Still, as much criticism as Gilliland has faced this year, it looks as though things are beginning to turn around little by little for the No. 4 team. However, they will have to get going if they want to be a serious championship contender in the Playoffs, as there are only nine races until the run to the championship starts. Gilliland sits eighth in the points standings, while his teammate Harrison Burton sits one point behind in ninth.

      Previous Week Ranking- 4th

    4. Ross Chastain – Chastain was still coming off a win high at Kansas when he and the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team rolled into Charlotte Thursday afternoon. It is quite understandable considering that it was the first win for Al Niece and his team who has come a long way since their first truck entry in 2016. It was also a new truck for the team and it showed, as he qualified 13th Friday afternoon. Chastain didn’t take long to get inside the top-10, finishing fifth in Stage 1 and he even placed second in Stage 2 to Kyle Busch. He was hoping for a caution later on in the race, as he was the only one to have one set of fresh tires left. His break finally came with eight to go but it might have been a little too late. The caution came out with eight to go and it, of course, saw Chastain and the No. 45 team pit for those tires with a last chance effort. He would line up in the back on the restart with three to go, but one truck stalled on the start and Chastain was behind him. This slowed and eventually cost him the win or late race rally to finish a disappointing 10th. Chastain extended his streak, however, finishing in the top-10 in all Truck Series starts this year.

      Previous Week Ranking – 1st

    5. Brennan Poole – When fans look at the results for this past weekend’s race, they will notice an unfamiliar driver and team who just broke ground this year in the Truck Series. After missing Kansas due to sponsorship woes, Former Xfinity Series standout Poole and the No. 30 On Point Motorsports team was looking for redemption this past weekend at Charlotte and they almost did just that. They didn’t finish in the top-10 at all for either stage but found themselves restarting second to Kyle Busch with three laps to go. What a story it would have been if Poole and the small underfunded No. 30 team had pulled it off and were able to beat Kyle Busch. However, Poole fell 1.115 seconds short to Busch for his shot at the win. And to make it more impressive, Poole raced with a broken sway bar. That’s a pretty remarkable feat to accomplish especially with a small team. If they can keep this up and get more strong equipment like this, Poole and the No. 30 On Point Motorsports team will quickly become another fan favorite in the Truck Series.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

      Fell Out

      1. Grant Enfinger- Enfinger had a solid night finishing ninth after starting ninth. He finished third in both stages but it wasn’t enough to stay in the top five. Nonetheless, Enfinger and the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment Ford F-150 team can still hold their head high as they continue to be the points leader over Stewart Friesen by 15 points.

  • Brennan Poole and Stewart Friesen earn top-3 finishes at Charlotte

    Brennan Poole and Stewart Friesen earn top-3 finishes at Charlotte

    After missing the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway due to the lack of sponsorship, Brennan Poole and the No. 30 On Point Motorsports team returned with redemption in mind and wanting more after last week.

    Poole and the No. 30 team started 17th and quietly ran under the radar all night long. But when it mattered most during a late race restart with three to go, he found himself inside the top three with a shot at the upset win for a small underfunded team.

    Poole tried all he could to chase down race leader Kyle Busch, but ultimately, wound up 1.115 seconds short.

    Poole was ecstatic about his second place finish, despite not being able to chase down Busch for the race win.

    “I just gave it everything I had,” Poole said in his Fox Sports 1 post-race interview. “I found a little something there running on the top lane of the restarts and it worked out really good. I can’t thank MadVapes, Blu this weekend. It sucks that we missed Kansas last week. The work that the guys do with literally no funding is ridiculous. Ran second tonight to Kyle Busch with a broken sway bar. So, pretty proud of the effort. I know we got a lot more chances with this coming up in our future to get this Toyota Tundra to victory lane, but I’m excited tonight and I may even go grab a beer when I get home.”

    It was Poole’s first top five of his Truck Series career in over 10n starts and the best finish of his Truck Series career.

    After a heartbreak last weekend in Kansas, Stewart Friesen, driver of the No. 52 Halmar Racing Chevrolet was looking to rebound this weekend at Charlotte and he almost did just that.

    Friesen started second and ran inside the top-10 most of the night, finishing fifth and sixth in both stages. He was up front and found himself in the top five late in the race, but had to settle for another top-five finish, finishing third for his fourth top five of the year.

    “These guys work so hard,” Friesen said to MRN Radio. “All of these guys work so hard. Thanks to Chris Larsen, Team Chevy and GMS Fab Shop. They got their heads down and working hard, we’re catching them. Kyle (Busch) ended up spanking us at the end here. I know he got out and had that good run there, but we got some good notes. We’re going to keep working on it and get them at the end of the year when the money is on the line. Speaking of money on the line the next three weeks, thanks to Gander Outdoors. That’s pretty badass. We put up a lot of money to race our modified in modified country in the northeast. We’re going to go to our two favorite tracks, Texas and Iowa, and this is not my favorite track, so I’m ready to get out of here.”

  • ThorSport Racing places three drivers in the top-10

    ThorSport Racing places three drivers in the top-10

    It was a solid night for the Ohio based ThorSport Racing team with three of their four drivers finishing inside the top-10 with the exception of Johnny Sauter who wound up 17th after stalling on a late race restart.

    Ben Rhodes, the highest finisher among his teammates, earned a fourth-place finish. Rhodes was up front for most of the race. He led the first couple of laps before settling into the top five for most of the race. In the first stage, Rhodes and the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 finished fourth after leading a couple of laps early. However, in Stage 2, the Kentucky native fell back a little bit after pit stops and finished eighth.

    Rhodes would find himself near the front again as the race continued to wind down. On a late race restart with three to go, he had the chance to run down eventual race winner Kyle Busch for a shot at the win and what would have been his first victory since Kentucky of last year. However, the No. 99 ThorSport team wound up fourth, the highest of the ThorSport finishers.

    “Yeah, a little bit up and down,” Rhodes told MRN Radio describing his night at Charlotte. “Kind of missed the, I guess the audible that everyone pulled when me and Todd (Gilliland) stayed out. We had to drive through the field tonight. I’m wore out, that was a lot of work. I mean we had a fast Carolina Nut F-150. The guys at ThorSport, everyone back at home, Duke and Rhonda Thorson did an amazing job getting all their ThorSport trucks fast. Matt Crafton got the pole and I thought we were going to get second, but we were having a few issues with looseness. We know how to fix it, we’ll have to go home and do our homework, and we’ll be ready for the big money race at Texas.”

    Crafton, in the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150, finished one spot behind his teammate Rhodes to round out the top five finishers.

    Crafton’s day started off well by collecting the pole for the second straight week in a row and even winning the first stage. After winning the first stage, however, Crafton could not catch the leaders. He would fight in the top five, but could never get back to the front. Crafton was good enough to finish fourth in Stage 2. But alas, his winless streak is still intact as Crafton would earn his fifth top five of the year.

    “We were actually really, really tight in the first half of the race, three-quarters of the race,” Crafton said to MRN Radio. “We were able to free it up in the end. Still needed a little bit more. The 51 (Kyle Busch) was definitely class of the field. All in all, I mean it wasn’t bad. We still have room for improvement, this group keeps getting better and better each week. As bad as we struggled last year, it feels good to run top five and top three and lead laps again.”

    After finishing third in both stages, Enfinger, the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment driver, finished inside the top-10 in the ninth position.

    “Not the finish we deserved but had a good truck all night,” Enfinger said in his post-race tweet. “These guys have been great all year on pit road and everyone who works for ThorSport Racing has brought us great F-150s. Hungry to get us a win.”

    Sauter would be last of the ThorSport teammates finishing 17th after stalling on a late race restart.

  • The Kyle Busch Show reigns supreme at Charlotte

    The Kyle Busch Show reigns supreme at Charlotte

    Kyle Busch returned to the Truck Series after a short hiatus to race in the fifth and final event in which he is allowed to compete and went straight to victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It wasn’t easy for Busch, however, as he had to hold off the field in a late race restart with three to go including a hard-charging Brennan Poole for the 56th win of his career.

    “Our truck was really, really good,” Busch told MRN Radio. “These guys prepared such a fast Tundra for me and I wanna thank Cessna Beechcraft, Toyota TRD, Rowdy Manufacturing. You know, it takes a whole group effort. Rudy (Fugle) and these guys are awesome at what they do, give me great pieces each and every time we come out here. We have not ever this year not unloaded great, but we really work on our stuff and improved it through practice and even into the race. You know there at the end, I didn’t want to have that last restart at the end. I knew being on older tires were going to be a handful for me. It looked liked it was for a couple of the other guys. Not a very good restart, but I was still able to hold them off thankfully.”

    The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 got underway shortly after 8:30 p.m./ET. Matt Crafton qualified on the pole for the second straight week in a row and the 15th of his career.

    There were three stages of 30/30/74 laps to equal the 134 lap race. Todd Gilliland took the lead after the start, but Ben Rhodes took the lead from Gilliland on Lap 2.

    The first incident of the night happened early with Natalie Decker who had right side damage after making contact with the wall. Matters only got worse for the No. 54 DGR-Crosley team as they would bring out the first caution of the night on Lap 23 when Decker wrecked off Turn 2. During the pit stops, Angela Ruch was penalized a lap for pitting outside the box.

    The restart for Stage 1 came with two to go and featured a thrilling finish. Pole sitter, Crafton, was able to rocket back to the front and pass Todd Gilliland off Turn 2 to win Stage 1.

    Stage 2 began on lap 36 and went to lap 60. It was a relatively clean stage and saw no cautions. Eventual race winner, Busch took the lead on Lap 40.

    There was a minor incident that involved Dover winner Johnny Sauter, as he barely wrecked off Turn 4. However, there were no issues for the all-time wins leader Busch, as he would go on to win Stage 2 which ended on Lap 60.

    There was an issue with Chad Finley who slowed and was way off the pace. It was later reported that Finley was out of gas at the end of the stage, which eventually cost him a top-10 stage finish. Grant Enfinger also stalled on pit road as well during pit stops.

    Stage 3 was restarted with 67 to go with two Truck Series veterans Kyle Busch and Matt Crafton.

    With 62 to go, Codie Rohrbaugh smacked the wall off Turn 2 to bring out the fourth caution. Another caution took place with 57 to go, as rookie Gus Dean hit the wall off Turn 2 as well. Korbin Forrister and Ruch were also involved. During the caution, Ross Chastain, Enfinger and Gilliland, among others, went in to pit while Busch and the front half of the field stayed out.

    The sixth caution came out for the No. 49 of Stefan Parsons who hit the wall. Parsons would wind up 24th.

    After the restart with 44 to go, there was a wide variety of leaders. Sauter, who had issues earlier with his truck found himself in the lead for a short while before Busch would take the lead once again with 39 to go.

    The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 would go on a long green flag run of 37 laps until the final caution broke out with eight to go for last year’s champion Brett Moffitt, who had a right rear tire come apart.

    This would eventually set up a late race restart with three to go. Two-time champion, Sauter could not get going on the restart and jacked up the field who was behind him. Busch did not get a great restart either as he found Poole chasing him down for the upset win. However, Busch would continue his winning streak by going five for five this year.

    “No, no I don’t think so,” Busch told MRN in regards to having such a dominating streak in 2019. “You know, a couple of years ago, I shot for it and wanted to have it, but only got two or three (races). Overall, I wish I could do more. It’s frustrating that you’re limited because you’re too good at what you do. I would love to be able to come out here some more and be able to win with this team, and all my guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports and for our partners here at Toyota, Cessna Beechcraft and everybody else.”

    There were seven cautions for 31 laps with nine leaders among 19 lead changes during the race. Busch led five times for 102 laps and collected his eighth Truck Series win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and his fifth of 2019.

    This will be Busch’s last Truck Series race of the 2019 season.

    Up Next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will take two-weeks off before returning to on-track action on Friday, June 7.

    Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 8
    Race Results for the 17th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 200 – Friday, May 17, 2019
    Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC – 1.5 – Mile Paved
    Total Race Length – 134 Laps – 201. Miles

    Fin Str No Driver Team Laps S1Pos S2Pos Pts Status
    1 8 51 Kyle Busch(i) Cessna Toyota 134 7 1 0 Running
    2 17 30 Brennan Poole Madvapes Toyota 134 0 0 35 Running
    3 2 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Chevrolet 134 6 6 44 Running
    4 5 99 Ben Rhodes Carolina Nut Ford 134 4 8 43 Running
    5 1 88 Matt Crafton Ideal Door/Menards Ford 134 1 4 49 Running
    6 20 16 Austin Hill United Rentals Toyota 134 0 0 31 Running
    7 3 4 Todd Gilliland Mobil 1 Toyota 134 2 10 40 Running
    8 15 15 Anthony Alfredo # STEELSMITH/Friends of Jacelyn Toyota 134 0 0 29 Running
    9 9 98 Grant Enfinger Protect the Harvest/Curb Records Ford 134 3 3 44 Running
    10 13 45 Ross Chastain(i) TruNorth/Paul Jr. Designs Chevrolet 134 5 2 0 Running
    11 4 18 Harrison Burton # Safelite AutoGlass Toyota 134 9 9 30 Running
    12 10 2 Sheldon Creed # Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet 134 8 7 32 Running
    13 25 2 Tyler Dippel # Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet 134 0 0 24 Running
    14 22 97 Jesse Little JJL Motorsports Ford 134 0 0 23 Running
    15 28 3 Jordan Anderson Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet 134 0 0 22 Running
    16 23 56 Timmy Hill(i) Southern Freight Services Chevrolet 134 0 0 0 Running
    17 12 13 Johnny Sauter Tenda Heal Ford 134 10 0 21 Running
    18 18 42 Chad Finley Strutmasters.com/Air Lift Chevrolet 134 0 0 19 Running
    19 6 24 Brett Moffitt JuniorJohnsonMidnightMoonMoonshine Chev 133 0 5 24 Running
    20 7 4 Cory Roper Preferred industrial Contractors Inc Ford 133 0 0 17 Running
    21 29 22 Austin Wayne Self GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet 133 0 0 16 Running
    22 30 20 Spencer Boyd 1A Auto Chevrolet 133 0 0 15 Running
    23 31 44 Angela Ruch FOX Nation/The Ruch Life Chevrolet 132 0 0 14 Running
    24 16 49 Stefan Parsons Charlotte Strong Chevrolet 132 0 0 13 Running
    25 27 7 Korbin Forrister All Out Toyota 129 0 0 12 Running
    26 19 12 Gus Dean # LG Air Conditioning Technologies Chevrolet 123 0 0 11 Running
    27 11 17 Tyler Ankrum # May’s Hawaii Toyota 111 0 0 10 Vibration
    28 32 33 Josh Reaume HertzKompressoren/P&BCompressor Chev 98 0 0 9 Running
    29 14 9 Codie Rohrbaugh Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 72 0 0 8 Accident
    30 26 8 Camden Murphy Chevrolet 40 0 0 7 Suspension
    31 21 54 Natalie Decker # N29 Technologies LLC Toyota 32 0 0 6 Accident
    32 24 87 Joe Nemechek ROMCO/TMS Titanium Chevrolet 19 0 0 5 Rear Gear
  • Full schedule for Charlotte All-Star weekend

    Full schedule for Charlotte All-Star weekend

    For one night a year, throw the points out the window as the Monster Energy All-Star teams take to their hometown track for the Annual All-Star Race. The Xfinity teams have one final week off before Charlotte but the Truck Series is back in action Friday night under the lights. Here is how you can watch all of the action.

    All times are Eastern.

    Friday, May 17

    9:05 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series first practice – NASCAR.com/live

    10:35 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series final practice – NASCAR.com/live

    11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice COMBINED Open and All-Star – NASCAR.com/live

    1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series OPEN final practice – NASCAR.com/live

    2:05 p.m. – 2:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series All-Star final practice – NASCAR.com/live , FS1 (Delayed)

    2:35 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 1) NASCAR.com/live

    2:45 p.m.: Pit road speed practice (All-Star Group 2) NASCAR.com/live

    4:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Pole Qualifying (Single Vehicle/One Laps All Positions) – FS1

    6:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying OPEN teams – (Single Vehicle/Two Laps) – FS1

    7:00 p.m.: NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying All-Star teams – (Single Vehicle/Three Laps All Positions, Mandatory Pitstop) – FS1/PRN

    8:30 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series North Carolina Educational Lottery 200 (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 MILES) – FS1/MRN

    Saturday, May 18

    6 p.m.: Monster Energy Open Race (Stages 20/20/10 laps) – FS1/PRN

    8 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (Stages 30/20/20/15 laps) – FS1/PRN

    All-Star Race – Rules, Format, Eligibility

  • NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Charlotte

    NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Charlotte

    After visiting the heartland this past weekend in Kansas, the NASCAR Truck Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway, home for most of the teams, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

    The Digital Ally 250 presented another exciting race last week at Kansas Speedway with fan favorite Ross Chastain winning the event last Friday night. Chastain took the lead with three to go and never looked back to earn his first Truck Series win and quite possibly, Chastain’s biggest win of his career.

    While Chastain’s win was certainly popular, one thing that caught the eye of racing fans was that the entry list was noticeably smaller. Just 28 Trucks were entered in the race, one of the smallest fields in the Truck Series season thus far. Only 11 trucks finished on the lead lap for the Digital Ally 250.

    This week, however, the Truck Series preliminary entry list is quite large with 37 trucks entered so far and it sees the return of the all-time wins leader Kyle Busch who is slated for his final Truck Series race of the season.

    While Busch will be making his 150th Truck Series start, some will be making one of their limited start of the season.

    Some of these include Camden Murphy in the No. 8 Nemco Motorsports Truck and Trey Hutchens who will try to make his first Truck start since 2017 at Iowa where he finished 16th. After announcing the team would be cutting back their races due to sponsorship, Cory Roper returns to the track with his No. 04 Roper Racing team. Anthony Alfredo will pilot the No. 15 DGR-Crosley machine as Chad Finley Racing returns to the track with Chad Finley behind the wheel in the No. 42. Stefan Parsons will carry a UNC Charlotte Tribute and will try to make the field in the No. 49 truck owned by Ray Ciccarelli, Timmy Hill will be in the No. 56, Timothy Peters returns in the No. 92 Ricky Benton truck and Jesse Little will compete in the No. 97.

    Update- It was announced Wednesday that the No. 1 Truck team of Mark Beaver has withdrawn from the race. Bayley Currey was originally slated to be behind the wheel.

    With that in mind, here’s a look at who might pull into victory lane Friday night in the annual running of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200.

    1. Kyle Busch – Surprise, surprise. It’s hard to count out the all-time wins leader of the Truck Series who is looking to go five for five. The last time someone went five straight in the Truck Series was NASCAR Hall Of Famer Ron Hornaday who accomplished the feat in 2009. Hornaday won at Milwaukee, Memphis, Kentucky, IRP and Nashville. However, those were five consecutive races in a row. So despite the fact that Busch may win on Friday night, Hornaday’s record of five straight wins will remain intact should Busch win. Nonetheless, Busch’s stats at Charlotte in the Truck Series are impressive. He has won seven times in 12 starts which is 58.3 percent of the time. Busch has won every time he has entered a Truck Series race at Charlotte. But the last time he won was two years ago in 2017. However, the Charlotte track has been kind to the polarizing driver who won in his first time out in 2005. The lowest Busch has ever finished was 11th in 2007. Other than that, it’s a win or second place for the KBM owner. His average finish is 2.7 with 662 laps led along with 10 top fives and 11 top-10 finishes. When he won in 2017, Busch led 90 laps of the scheduled 134-lap race. It’s hard to imagine counting Busch out of having a shot at the win.

    2. Ben Rhodes – After falling short of the win last week at Kansas and finishing second, Rhodes and the No. 99 Carolina Nut Company Ford F-150 will look to carry their momentum to Charlotte Motor Speedway in hopes of a win this Friday night at the 1.5-mile track. He has just three starts here, all in a ThorSport truck with a best finish coming in last year’s race, where Rhodes finished fifth after starting seventh. His other finishes include an eighth in 2017 and 17th in his first time out in 2016. Rhodes has been strong this season with three top fives and five top-10s with 46 laps led. He has been winless well over a year and he is hungry to get back to victory lane soon.

    3. Ross Chastain – Chastain has been riding high since his famous victory last week in Kansas. He’ll be looking to carry that momentum over this coming week. But, Chastain only has three starts at Charlotte, his last coming two years ago in 2017 where he finished 19th. The only top-10 finish Chastain received was way back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski Racing entry and finishing ninth. In that race, he started seventh and led three laps. That’s the only race he has finished on the lead lap. Chastain also came here in 2012 for his first start and wound up 35th. However, Chastain and the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team have been a strong contender this year finishing in the top-10 in all the races he has entered before winning at Kansas last week. At 1.5-mile tracks thus far, Chastain has finished sixth at Atlanta, 10th at Las Vegas, seventh at Texas and of course, the win last week at Kansas. Look for Chastain and the No. 45 Niece Motorsports team to continue their race winning high this week at Charlotte.

      4. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland has made strides toward a turn around for the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team after finishing third last weekend in Kansas. Gilliland has one start here at Charlotte coming in 2018 where he finished 10th. However, if you ask him, he would probably tell you that he should have finished higher. Gilliland was involved in an incident on Lap 119 that ultimately cost him a better finishing position. Looking at the loop data, the No. 4 KBM team ran as high as third, ran sixth mid-race and finished eighth, and fourth in both stages in last year’s race. To note, Gilliland will use chassis KBM-057 which has had one outing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year with Gilliland behind the wheel. He started 13th and finished seventh. The Sherrills Ford, North Carolina native turned 19-years-old this week and what a birthday present it would be if Gilliland could get the No. 4 truck to victory lane Friday night.


      5. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has two starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a best finish of fourth in last year’s race after starting in the sixth position and leading 28 laps. He even won Stage 1 and finished third in Stage 2. His other start came with the Red Horse Racing team in 2017, where Moffitt finished 18th after starting seventh.

      Who To Watch:

      1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is the defending race winner but is coming off a poor finish at Kansas after a mechanical issue. He has three top fives and five top-10 finishes. Don’t be surprised, however, if Sauter and the ThorSport team race their way into victory lane Friday night.

      2. Matt Crafton – Charlotte could be the place Crafton breaks his long winless streak. He has the most active starts of any driver with 16 and even has two wins with the last coming in 2016 and his first in 2008. Crafton has six top fives and 12 top-10 finishes.

      3. Timothy Peters – Peters returns to the Truck Series piloting the No. 92 Ricky Benton Racing machine. It will be his first Truck start since Las Vegas driving for Al Niece where Peters finish 12th. He has 12 starts with a best finish of fifth (twice, 2014 and his last outing in 2017.) The Providence, North Carolina native has 58 laps led and three DNFs with an average finish of 17.7.

      The Truck Series has competed here since 2003 and has seen 16 races since then. Kyle Busch has the most wins here with seven coming in 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017. Ted Musgrave was the first winner in 2003. Since then the names of Dennis Setzer, Ron Hornaday, Crafton, Justin Lofton, Kasey Kahne and Sauter have all visited victory lane. To note, Crafton scored his very first Truck Series win here in 2008. Since then, he has won 14 races and has amassed two championships.

      Thrilling Finish – The track has seen a number of thrilling finishes including the race in 2015 when Kasey Kahne barely edged out Erik Jones by half a second for the win. It is most likely one of the most underrated finishes in recent Truck Series history.

      The Toyota-Chevy show – There has been a trend growing since 2009, where it is either a Chevy or Toyota going to victory lane. Toyota currently leads the way with six manufacturer victories while Chevy only has four.

      Qualifying is important at Charlotte Motor Speedway where the winner has come inside the top-10 13 times with the pole sitter winning three times in 2010, 2014 and 2018. The lowest a race winner has come from was 20th in 2006 set by none other than Kyle Busch. The most recent to ever come from a low starting spot was Matt Crafton in 2016 where he started 17th.

      It will be an all-day show once again for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. There will be two Truck Series practice sessions with the first at 9:05 a.m. ET and the final practice at 10:35 a.m. ET. Both sessions will be live streamed at nascar.com. Qualifying for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 is scheduled for 4:35 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1.

      The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will be broken up into three stages of 40/80/134 laps. Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio will broadcast the action with the green flag flying shortly after at 8:30 p.m. ET.

      This will be the last Truck Series race before the series goes on a short hiatus. The next time they’re on track will be at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, June 7.