The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to the Arizona desert last Friday night to settle the Championship 4. As always, the truck series action did not disappoint. Here’s a look at who topped the top five power rankings this week.
Johnny Sauter – When there is a truck race, you can always expect Sauter to be up front and challenging for the win, however, it came with a little luck. In both stages, he placed sixth, but his luck turned around when the two leaders had contact and were involved in a racing incident. Sauter did not take the lead until Lap 146 and held off a hard-charging John Hunter Nemechek, scoring back to back wins.
John Hunter Nemechek – Could have, would have, should have, was the title for Nemechek on Friday night. He started sixth and stayed in the top 10 for both stages, placing fourth and seventh, respectively. Like Sauter, however, he got a little bit of luck in the remaining laps and tried to challenge for the win late but unfortunately came up one spot short.
Stewart Friesen – Friesen continued his 2017 success by coming home sixth at Phoenix this past weekend. Even though he did not place in the top 10 in Stage 1, Friesen placed 10th in Stage 2. After all the melee was over, the No. 52 Halmar Racing team came home sixth for his fourth top 10 finish of the year.
Cody Coughlin – Coughlin placed third Friday night at the 1-mile race track. It was the best finish of his three-year career in the Truck Series, despite not finishing in the top 10 in both stages. Coughlin will look to end the season on a high note by either winning or scoring another top three finish.
Kaz Grala – If Grala was not knocked out of the championship hunt, who knows where he would have been now. In the past three races, he has finished inside the top 10. In fact, Grala’s whole round has been solid, but wrecking at Talladega and finishing 29th was the ultimate blow to his championship hopes. He will be hoping to end the season winning at Homestead after winning the first race of the season at Daytona.
As the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season continues to dwindle down, there are two races left to go to crown the 2017 champion. However, before that happens, there is one race left to go in the Round of 6 and we will see that this Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway.
Currently, there are 32 trucks on the preliminary entry list.
Starting position is important at Phoenix. In the past five races, the winner has come from the top three starting spots, with the exception of 10th which was set in 2015 by Timothy Peters. Also, in the past five races, there have been three different winners, with Erik Jones being the only consecutive repeat winner in 2013 and 2014.
Matt Crafton – Crafton is number one among active drivers statistically at Phoenix. In five races, he scored three top fives and three top 10 finishes, with 15 laps led. His best finish of second came in 2014 and finished third last year before competing for the championship the next week. Look for the two-time champion to be strong Friday night in the Arizona desert.
Johnny Sauter – Sauter is rolling off with momentum from his Texas win last weekend, advancing to the Championship 4 at Homestead. That won’t stop him from competing for another win and keeping the other playoff drivers on their feet. At Phoenix, Sauter has one top five and three top 10 finishes. He also averages an 11.4 start and a 13.8 average finish.
Christopher Bell – After finishing third last weekend in the mid-west, Bell looks to solidify his spot in the Championship 4 by winning at Phoenix. Sure, he only has one start, which came last year and earned him a top ten finish. Kyle Busch Motorsports, however, has won four out of the last five races. So, Bell has some expectation to run well here, but if he can get it done, he will have the equipment to do it in.
John Hunter Nemechek – One last shot for Nemechek to get in on a win and Phoenix just might be the place. In the last four races, he has one top five and three top 10 finishes. Although, stats will not matter because Nemechek has to win to advance, no matter where he finishes and how the other drivers fare as well.
Ryan Truex – Truex has been having a solid 2017 season and he could possibly be an upset Friday night. With just one race completed, he finished ninth after starting 11th, which came in 2012. Truex also led 22 laps during that race.It will be a busy Friday for the Truck Series superstars.Only one practice session is scheduled for 11:00-12:50 p.m. ET on FS2. Later that day, qualifying takes place at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, with the race coverage slated for 8 p.m. ET live on FS1 and MRN Radio.The green flag is set to fly at 8:49 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to the mid-west on Friday night for the JAGS Metal 350. It was the second race in the Round of 6. Here are four takeaways from the race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Johnny Sauter Continues Dominance At Texas – When the scoring pylon showed Johnny Sauter in victory lane at the end of the night, it was no surprise that he was victory lane, even with the new recent repave of the 1.5-mile track. He now has four career wins at Texas Motor Speedway. Sauter has led a career 96 laps out of a combined 608 laps. Safe to say, Texas is one of Sauter’s best track statistically. He is now locked in to compete for the championship for a second consecutive year.
Christopher Bell Posts Top Three Finish – After winning the June race, Bell had high expectations for this race to run well and that he did. He led once for 20 laps and placed top ten in both stages. With Phoenix looming, he will try to lock himself by winning but if past history is anything, they cannot take anything for granted. See, William Byron’s championship run last year, where it was cut short at Phoenix due to a blown motor.
Matt Crafton Places An Uncharacteristic Ninth – When coming to Texas Motor Speedway, you expect at least two guys to be running up front and challenging for the win. Those are Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton. Crafton had two wins prior to this race at Fort Worth, both coming in 2014 and 2015, respectively. However, on Friday night, he did not have the best truck out there. In stage 1, Crafton finished sixth and eighth in stage 2. He only led five laps but wound up finishing ninth. He sits third -31 behind. Crafton will have to win two stages at Phoenix or win the race, to be locked in the Championship 4.
Must Win For John Hunter Nemechek At Phoenix – John Hunter Nemechek has had a disastrous playoff run in 2017. It all started at Loudon, where he was sent to the garage for problems with the truck and came back out to finish 20th. Nemechek had a couple of solid runs at Las Vegas finishing sixth and eighth at Talladega, despite the damaged truck. However, he had an accident at Martinsville, which took him out of the race and wounded up 30th. And then this past weekend at Texas, Nemechek finished 19th, even though he placed top ten in both stages. It’s win or get eliminated for Nemechek at Phoenix this weekend. He sits 6th, -89 points behind.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Two weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway, John Hunter Nemechek rallied from a wreck he was caught up in to finish sixth and advance to the Round of 6. Today in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway, there was no such rally.
Entering Turn 1 on Lap 37, Nemechek got loose and spun out. His truck spun up track before the right-rear corner made contact with the outside wall in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. The force of impact brought the right-front towards and into the wall. The rear of the truck jutted outward, while the right-front clung to the wall for a few seconds.
This single-truck incident brought out the first caution of the race.
“Soft brake pedal. I don’t know. Didn’t give any warning. It never got squishy. We were just kind of riding around, biding our time there. I dove into (Turn) 1 normal, hit the brake pedal and it went straight to the floor. Sucks for our guys. Sucks for Fire Alarm Services. We had a fast truck in race trim. I felt like we had a contending-winning truck if we could’ve got some track position. It’s early on. It definitely sucks to be out of the race this early, but we dug ourself out of one hole in the first round. Hopefully, they won’t know what hit them in Texas.”
Nemechek leaves sixth in points, 62 out of the points lead and 28 out of the Round of 6 drop zone.
John Hunter Nemechek’s road to NASCAR has been an interesting one. The Mooresville, North Carolina driver is the son of two-time NASCAR XFINITY Series champion, Joe Nemechek.
Before getting his first start in NASCAR, John became interested in racing through his dad and has been involved in the sport since then.
“The first time I went to a racetrack I was two weeks old,” Nemechek said. “I’ve grown up around the sport and I always knew I wanted to race from a young age. I just didn’t know if it was cars, motocross, I had no idea what exactly I wanted to race. I always loved being around the racetrack with the guys and hearing the cars soar by, and hearing the motors run was definitely something special. I got my first go-cart when I was three-years-old and continued to progress from there and moved there from motocross.”
“I played stick-and-ball sports as well,” he continued. “I always came back to racing and stock cars was where I came back to. The motocross thing was cool, but I enjoyed being in a closed-cockpit environment and having a lot of fun.”
Growing up, there were a lot of special memories for Nemechek and it was an early one as well.
“My first real stock car win,” he said. “Had quite a few quarter-midget wins and motocross wins. The Allison legacy win was probably my most special, just because Dad was there and normally he wasn’t able to be there when I was racing. So, it was neat to have him there for the first one (win).”
Being part of a racing family, Nemechek was around with his dad at an early age.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “Being able to grow up with Motor Racing Outreach, around the racetrack and the community, outside of the racecars, everyone is one big family in NASCAR. It was definitely an experience that I’m glad and blessed to have the opportunity to be able to grow up in Dad’s footsteps and see what he did each and every weekend. Now for myself to be there growing up with Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, the guys that are racing in the cup series now. Hopefully, we’ll be there one day racing against them.”
Earlier this season, Nemechek scored two emotional wins at Gateway and Iowa and that was a huge part of his career moving forward. Important enough, that if the team didn’t win at Gateway, they possibly might not be around today.
“Gateway was definitely a huge relief for us (NEMCO Motorsports),” he said. “We didn’t know exactly how many races we would be able to get to for the rest of the year at that time. Sponsorship wasn’t there and we didn’t have all the races sold, had we not won Gateway, Iowa would have been our last race.”
“Luckily, we were able to get to victory lane there,” he said. “It was certainly emotional from the fact that we didn’t know what the future was going to hold for us. Iowa was proof that we could win back to back and it was a relief as well, but not as big as Gateway. I think Iowa was more of a statement.”
Earlier this year on throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, a couple of the truck series drivers paid tribute with a special paint scheme on their vehicle. For John, he ran the old BellSouth colors in honor of his dad, at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and it was really special for him to do that.
“We have a warehouse here in Mooresville, North Carolina and it has one of almost every car that dad has ever driven paint scheme wise or each team,” Nemechek said. “Every time we go in there, the most special one to him is the BellSouth colors, just because that’s when he got his first ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win and it was special to be able to throw it back to that, running those colors.”
“It stands out, it’s the one that’s always stood out to me,” he said. “People know dad by that in back of the days, so it was pretty cool.”
In the beginning of the 2017 season, NASCAR implemented stage racing, which broke up the races into three segments for all three series. By doing that, it has made the racing much more exciting and tougher to win.
“It’s definitely made racing more exciting,” Nemechek said. “It makes everyone stay on their toes, making every driver push as hard as they can to gain as many points as possible each and every weekend. Throughout the whole race, we used to see drivers stay back and save their stuff (equipment) for the end of the race, however, stage racing throws a different factor into it by pushing hard and leading laps, and finishing up front for each stage to gain points.”
“I know it’s helped us a few times this year and has hurt us,” he says. “I definitely think it’s a good thing from a racing perspective and to make things more exciting.”
Sometimes there are races where drivers wish they had another chance at winning a race. For Nemechek, the one race that stands out to him is Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
“At Canada, we had a shot to win and had a truck that could have won, but I ended up speeding on pit road,” he said. “We were going to come out the leader on a green flag pit stop and we were going to be way ahead, and I sped on pit road where it pretty much cost us the race.”
Retirement is a long way for the young 20-year-old, but for Nemechek, he would like to have every track crossed off his list before he retires.
“Each and every one of them,” he said. “That’s the goal before I retire. I wanna be able to win at every racetrack on the circuit in that (trucks) series, or in all three series. Just to be able to have wins at each racetrack shows that you’re diverse at what you can do. It also shows that you’re a great driver.”
The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is just about over. At this point, Nemechek has two wins, seven top fives and 10 top 10 finishes. However, he thinks he could have been a little better than that.
“At this point in the season, I would give myself a B+ or A-,” he said. “I’ve had some mistakes this year, I learned some stuff the hard way but every time you’re in a racecar turning laps, you’re always learning something. I definitely think I’ve learned things the hard way, but I won’t make the same mistake twice because it only takes once.”
“I don’t think I’ve been an A+ driver this year because of the mistakes but hopefully through these playoffs, we’re going to be an A+ team/driver making it to the Final Four at Homestead run for the championship.”
With the Round of 6 beginning this weekend at Martinsville, Nemechek is excited as it is statistically one of his better racetracks, with three top fives and three top 10 finishes and a best finish of second coming in 2015 and ’16.
“I am really looking forward to Martinsville,” Nemechek said. “Martinsville has been a great place to myself and our team. I finished second and third there in the last three out of four times, or four out of five times. It’s been a great place for us, I’ve always run well and have had fast trucks there. I’m confident in this weekend and in our team as I’m ready to get this Round of 6 kicked off.
TALLADEGA, Ala. — John Hunter Nemechek was on the brink of an early exit from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs after he was caught up in a wreck roughly halfway through the running of the Fred’s 250. But he weaved his way through a multi-truck wreck with roughly 20 laps remaining and took advantage of the trucks caught up in the final-lap melee to claim a sixth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.
Entering the day, Nemechek occupied the bottom Playoff spot. The early misfortune of Kaz Grala and Chase Briscoe, combined with a seventh-place finish in both the first and second stage, put him in excellent position to race his way in.
Unfortunately for him, restrictor plate racing is rarely that simple.
Entering Turn 3 with 35 laps to go, Ben Rhodes ran into the left-rear corner of Clay Greenfield’s truck. This sent him sliding down the track into the path of Matt Crafton, who rammed into and further turned Greenfield around.
Nemechek, who was riding behind and ran into the back of Crafton at one point, found himself trapped when Greenfield’s car slid back up the banking. He made contact with Greenfield’s truck, which forced him up into the left-front corner panel of Regan Smith, and spun down the track and into the grass.
Despite the damage, Nemechek’s team kept him in the race and on the lead lap.
He was riding behind the Lap 71 melee that collected five cars. He used just about all of the apron near the start/finish line as the hole to cleanly get through the wreck quickly closed.
He worked his way to 13th when Austin Wayne Self’s spin in Turn 4 forced overtime.
Nemechek jumped up to the top lane with two laps to go, but the top line was in disarray after race leader Parker Kligerman jumped to the bottom.
While it denied him a chance to steal the victory, it put him back far enough that when the race-ending Big One broke out in Turn 1 on the final lap, he just drove right through it and finished sixth.
“I’m pretty sure that we were in almost every wreck there was today,” Nemechek said. “I just can’t thank all my guys enough. They never gave up. My pit crew was awesome at fixing the truck. We got stage points. We accomplished everything that we wanted to, except for winning stages and winning the race. I would’ve much rather had Christopher (Bell) stay running up front, being uneventful.”
Nemechek leaves fourth in points, trailing Bell by 33.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series went to the wild west this past Saturday night in Las Vegas. The trucks are known for their exciting races and this one sure didn’t disappoint. Here are four takeaways from the Las Vegas 350.
Ben Rhodes Gets First Career Win – After coming close at Kansas earlier in the year and only coming up short due to an engine failure, Rhodes finally broke through and scored his first win on Saturday night in a last-lap thriller. Rhodes did a solid job of driving and racing his own race until the last lap came where he held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell off Turn 4 right at the finish line. With this win, Rhodes is now locked into the Round of 6 and will not have to worry about the pressures/wild card of Talladega.
Christopher Bell Has Another Strong Finish – If Bell does not end up in victory lane, then he is for sure close to it. He recorded his 12th top five of the year Saturday night. This will only help Bell further his championship chances. Surely, he will be a championship lock for the final four, if nothing goes sour for the rest of the season.
Brad Keselowski Racing Earns Top Five Finish – Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric both had strong runs Saturday night. But, it shouldn’t be surprising, since both of the BKR trucks swept the top spots in last year’s race. Both of them, however, needed the strong runs to help continue their championship chances.
Kaz Grala and John Hunter Nemechek Need Great Finish At Talladega – Two playoffs drivers are in danger of being eliminated from the Round of 8 next weekend at Talladega, but anything can happen. Grala could earn two stage wins and be safe as long as he doesn’t get collected in a wreck. Nemechek will most likely need a win in order to move on. However, there are still two drivers who will have to go home and be eliminated after all is said and done. Although, no one can predict the unpredictability of Talladega, which makes the race fun to watch for the fans.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues the on-track action this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Not only do they continue the on-track action, but the Round of 8 begins and it starts the championship run to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Here’s a look at who will be hot this weekend in Loudon.
Loudon is an interesting place for the Camping World Truck Series. The series raced there consecutively from 1996-2011. However, the series recently made its return to the track in 2014. Here’s a look at who’s hot at New Hampshire.
There are currently 30 drivers on the preliminary entry list.
Since its return in 2014, there have been three different winners in the past three races. Only a few drivers have experience here, while there will be rookies making their first start.
Johnny Sauter – Sauter is carrying momentum after his win last week at Chicago. In the past three races, he has two top fives and three top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 5.7. With the momentum, it won’t be surprising if Sauter ends up winning at New Hampshire. Sauter is also hungry as he does not have a win at this track. Look for him to be a contender on Saturday afternoon.
Christopher Bell – In one start at New Hampshire, which came last year, Bell finished a solid second. During that race, he even led 11 laps in his track debut.
Matt Crafton – Crafton will look to put his dismal Chicagoland weekend behind him and it could happen this weekend at New Hampshire. In the past three races, Crafton finished third, second and third, respectively. Not to mention, he leads all active drivers with three top fives and top 10 finishes, and an average finish of 2.7.
John Hunter Nemechek – If there is a track similar to New Hampshire, it’s Gateway Motorsports Park. Gateway was the site of his first win of the season. Nemechek may be the fourth best driver to compete this weekend. He has two top fives and three top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 6.3. New Hampshire just might be the place where Nemechek could once again set the Truck Series on fire.
Kaz Grala – Grala has one start in the Truck Series at New Hampshire. In the 2016 race, he finished seventh. Something Grala once again has to do this weekend.
On track action begins Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET with first practice and final practice taking place at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Qualifying is slated for Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m. ET and the green flag is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, all on FS1 and MRN Radio.
The Johnsonville 180 at Road America will go down as the best XFINITY Series race of 2017, if not one of the best races of the NASCAR season, period. There was plenty of on-track action, drama, spinouts, a first-time winner, and nine of the top-15 drivers scoring their season-best finishes.
One thing that was noticeably absent on a day that saw Jeremy Clements drive a nine-year-old chassis to Victory Lane were Monster Energy Cup drivers, a group that has won more races in the XFINITY Series in 2017 than XFINITY Series regulars. For that matter, it was a rare setting Sunday in which the field actually consisted more of XFINITY teams than Cup teams.
NASCAR has taken steps to try to remedy this situation for the regulars by limiting the number of XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series races in which Cup drivers can compete. For the 2018 NASCAR season, that number looks to go even lower, a move which frustrated some of the Cup contingent who regularly compete in those divisions such as Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
Early in August Harvick spoke on the matter on his SiriusXM NASCAR show Happy Hours.
“Just let them race,” he said. “Who cares? Why not just let them race. I don’t understand it. That’s what we do. We race cars, we race trucks, we race late models. That’s what we did all our life, we raced. I don’t know why all of a sudden it’s become a problem.’’
Harvick’s argument centered around the idea that up-and-coming drivers could learn a lot from the Cup drivers moonlighting in the lower divisions. This is an age-old argument used since the early days of “Buschwhacking,” when the series was the Busch Grand National Series, but it’s also an idea that some of the lower division regulars have taken issue with.
“The way you make it to the bigs in every other sport is to consistently beat everyone else at lower levels,” explained Tommy Joe Martins, Owner/Driver of the No. 44 Martins Motorsports NASCAR Camping World Truck Series entry. “Cup drivers aren’t helping XFINITY/Truck Series drivers develop. At all. They’re hurting them. They’re taking the spotlight off of them in a sport where your ability to compete comes down to your ability to draw fans and sponsors to you.”
XFINITY Series regular Joey Gase, driver of the No. 52 Jimmy Means Racing entry, is a little more generous regarding learning from the Cup drivers in the lower divisions.
“We do learn from the Cup drivers when they come down and do the lower series,” Gase said, “although, the drivers that are in equal equipment will learn more from them than the drivers who are not. I think NASCAR limiting [Cup drivers] to seven races is good because that will still mean there is at least one cup driver in majority of the races.”
However, there are drivers like Truck Series competitor John Hunter Nemechek who do believe in the education value of racing against Cup drivers in the lower divisions.
Photo by: Simon Scoggins
“Any time you’re able to race against the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup guys, or even the XFINITY Series guys, they can help you as a driver learning how to race, some of their techniques, what they’re doing better than you, where they’re faster,” said Nemechek. “It definitely helps you overall to be able to race against them and beat them and kind of show your talent.”
“I definitely think that racing against them every time that you’re on the track, whether it’s practice, qualifying, or the race, you’re always learning and as a driver you want to learn as much as you can to be able to beat them one day.”
Cup drivers racing in the lower series isn’t a new dilemma that the sport is facing, and granted, it does have its merits for Cup drivers looking for an edge on the weekend. Dale Earnhardt Sr. made 136 starts in the XFINITY Series between 1982 and 1994, winning 21 times. In that same span of years, Harry Gant made 128 starts and also earned 21 wins. Mark Martin made 25 starts in the NCWTS starts between 1996 and 2011, scoring seven wins.
Although drivers like Busch, Harvick, and Brad Keselowski have all voiced displeasure at being limited in the lower divisions, XFINITY and Truck Series regulars do seem to be happy with the new rule.
“The way I look at it is, of course, the Cup regulars and drivers that are already in top rides are against it because it will limit them from driving or they are already in top equipment so it doesn’t matter to them,” Gase continued. “If you ask a full-time driver in the XFINITY or Truck Series I’m sure at least 80 percent are happy for the rule. Brad [Keselowski] tweeted he thinks if a Cup driver wants to drive in XFINITY or Truck Series they should be in equipment they own and I love that idea. Brad is all about giving back to the sport and helping up and coming drivers and I think that is awesome. I do think Cup drivers should be able to race in the XFINITY and Truck Series but on a limited basis like we are starting to see now.”
Martins took it one step further saying NASCAR’s theory that letting top tier talent play in the lower division is good for the sport, is, at it’s core, flawed.
“[You’re] never going to hear that in any other sport,” he said. “Then be audacious enough to defend it by saying they just love to play – and then that it’s good for the whole sport for them to be down there? It’s inconceivable to me.”
This isn’t to say that Cup drivers should be banned completely from racing in the lower tier divisions. But their dominance isn’t as beneficial to the XFINITY and NCWTS divisions as one would like to believe. In 2017 only four XFINITY regulars have gone to Victory Lane for a total of six wins in 23 events, while in the Truck Series there has been more parity; five regulars have gone to Victory Lane in 14 events and have won nine times.
What does that tell the other teams looking to grow and earn their place in the sport? What kind of growth does that encourage? NASCAR is a performance-driven sport, where the better a driver is the more guaranteed their growth and longevity is. Yet there are several XFINITY-only and NCWTS-only teams who may have a dream-driver – accessible, charming, a draw for the fans, and extremely talented, only to be hindered by a Cup team stealing the show in a lower-division race.
When NASCAR announced the further limitations to Cup drivers attempting to partake in racing in the lower divisions, Busch was open in his disdain for the new limitations during an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR.
“But if we keep continuing to put the limits on it, I’m going to tell you right now, if the limits to the Truck Series go to zero, I’m done,” Keselowski stated. “So you wouldn’t see Kyle Busch Motorsports teams out on the race track. That’s just the way I’m going to make it and we’ll see how that progresses as the years go along. You know, the XFINITY Series side, I’m sure Joe’s [Gibbs] frustrated. I know I’m frustrated. We’ll just continue to race the races we’re allowed to run with the sponsorship that we have. We got great partners.”
Another popular claim used frequently in this argument is that top-tier drivers like Busch, Harvick, Keselowski, and Larson racing in the lower divisions is that their participation brings funds, sponsorship, and attention to the divisions. However, according to regulars partaking in those divisions, that’s not entirely the case.
“They do bring funds to the top teams that they are racing for but that is not the case for the smaller teams,” said Gase. “A few of the top drivers say if they couldn’t race in the lower series it would risk the [Cup affiliated teams] and they would have to shut down, but I think that would be okay. That would help equal out the rest of the field and would let smaller teams come into the sport and fill in the gaps.”
Nemechek echoed Gase’s sentiments, saying, “I think when the Cup stars come down to run Trucks or XFINITY, it does bring funds and sponsorships, but to their own teams. It doesn’t necessarily help out other teams that they don’t own or drive for. I really don’t see those funds or sponsorships from where I’m in the Truck Series, maybe if I was driving for one of them or their teams you would see those funds trickling down to help out the program, help out the team, just to be able to use more resources and funding to make your equipment better.”
Martins offered a similar, more pointed, take.
“Funds to where?” he asked. “To their teams? That’s not helping Martins Motorsports. That’s not helping me. Their teams making more money isn’t helping the NASCAR economy. If anything it’s hurting it. They use the money to further develop the trucks and drive the price up for other teams in the series.”
Considering that the involvement of Cup drivers in lower divisions piloting Cup-funded equipment affects the respective regulars more than NASCAR realizes, they should take them into account more than anything. If a Cup driver threatens to fold their lower division efforts, the sanctioning body should take into consideration that it won’t mean a loss to the sport.
Instead, all they have to do is just check social media following a race at Iowa, Gateway, Road America, or even Mosport. When a XFINITY or Truck Series event has more regulars than outsiders and has regulars running at the front and winning, it’s a plus for that division. On top of that, it encourages growth in the sport. Any fan or competitor could tell you that that is a good thing.
So the next time a rule change affects lower divisions, instead of leaning on what a Cup regular has to say, what the division regulars have to say may have more gravity in regards to competition.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to Bristol Motor Speedway after a week off and now the series will be on the road for the next four weeks. And now it’s pressure time for the bubble drivers/drivers who are on the outside looking in. Let’s take a look at who tops this week’s power rankings from Bristol.
1. Matt Crafton – After a respectable sixth-place finish last weekend at Michigan, Crafton had a career-best night at Bristol by finishing second. He finished third in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2. He also led twice for 90 laps. It was a great points night for Crafton.
“It was a really, really good race,” Crafton said. “The bottom was definitely a little preferred, but you could move around. You could at least run the second and third groove and weren’t like we were in practice. You were literally a second off the pace if you had to move off the bottom. Props to the track for what they did right there, it made for some great racing, I feel. I just wish we could’ve run that out because we were running him down there at the end, especially when he (Kyle Busch) was in lapped traffic. He picked me in lapped traffic earlier, so it was my turn there at the end, but just couldn’t quite get there whenever the yellow came out.”
2. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek had a quiet night at Bristol, but finished third after starting 14th. He didn’t finish inside the top 10 in Stage 1 but finished 10th in Stage 2. This was Nemechek’s best finish since Pocono after a disappointing weekend at Michigan. He now sits eighth in the points standings but will be racing for the championship due to wins earlier in the year, if sponsorship permits.
3. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes scored another top-five of the year at Bristol by finishing fifth. In Stage 1, he finished seventh and he finished fourth in Stage 2. He is currently fifth in the point standings but is not locked in with a win yet. He could turn that around in the two races left before the playoffs. It’s time for Rhodes to get a win after being close earlier in the year as wins are important in the playoffs to advance to the next round.
“Our Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra was fast all night tonight,” Rhodes commented. “We got pretty far back in the field, and I was actually pretty proud of our team, and how good of a Tundra we had to be able to drive from 14th, to I think fourth, all during a green flag run. You know, unfortunately, the balance actually shifted on us. The track changed a lot in that last run. We just got way too free overall. We were able to come in on that last caution and put new tires on it, mostly because we had a vibration again. It seemed to be an issue, we got some bad tires. I don’t know what was going on, but we were having a bad vibration, so we came in to make sure that nothing was corded, and went back out there, and ended up fifth – same place we came in. Overall I’m happy. It was a good solid points night.”
4. Johnny Sauter – Sauter needed a rebound after a sour finish at Michigan by finishing 18th and he got it at Bristol with a sixth-place finish. It may not sound like much, but a top 10 is better than a top 20. However, he’s lost more ground to points leader Christopher Bell. He now sits 42 behind.
5. Grant Enfinger – Just like Nemechek, Enfinger also had a quiet night at the “Fastest Half Mile.” In Stages 1 and 2, he finished fifth and ninth, respectively. He didn’t lead any laps, but picked up 41 points and is now seventh in the standings. But he will need to keep up those strong runs and possibly a win to lock himself into the playoffs.
“We had a decent restart there at the end, and we really had a good Champion Power Equipment Tundra all day,” Enfinger noted. “We weren’t great. The 46 (Kyle Busch) – he’s really good at this racing stuff. He made us all look bad. But a solid run for us. We’ll take it. We need a little bit more but very, very proud of everybody on this ThorSport Racing team. We had to battle through some adversity this week, but we still got some more to come, so we’ll keep fighting strong.”
The Camping World Truck Series has just two races remaining until the playoffs/race to the championship begins for the series. There are some drivers that are on the bubble who don’t need a bad day and there are some drivers on the outside looking in who need a win to lock themselves in. And with two wildcards remaining, it’s certainly possible we could see a major shakeup in the point standings. It’s win or go home for the Truck Series drivers that are ninth on back.
