The XPEL 225 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) represents not only the first road course event of the year for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, but the only road course event on the 2024 schedule.
Interestingly, all three previous COTA CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races have been won by the same team and truck number (38). Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland won the inaugural race, and his then-teammate Zane Smith is the two-time defending race winner. Rookie Layne Riggs is now in that truck and this weekend marks his first road course race in one of NASCAR’s premier series.
Among the fulltime championship competitors, championship leader Tyler Ankrum and reigning series champ Ben Rhodes lead the series with three top-10 efforts in as many COTA starts. Ankrum, the driver of the No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet holds a 17-point edge over Toyota’s Corey Heim in the championship and is looking to earn his first win in the series since 2019.
There is quite a list of experienced road course drivers hoping to make Saturday’s grid – from IndyCar star Marco Andretti to 17-year-old multi-discipline star Connor Zilisch, who is hoping to make his series debut just a week after winning in class at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Ross Chastain, a former NASCAR Cup Series COTA winner, will also be competing in the Niece Motorsports Chevrolet.
Practice for the XPEL 225 is this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET followed by Cometic Gasket Pole Qualifying at 4 p.m. ET – both sessions televised live on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
