The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action Friday night with the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway (8 p.m. ET on FS2, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – the first race for the series since June 1 when TRICON Garage driver Corey Heim claimed his season-leading fourth win of the year.
That victory moved him to within 31 points of championship leader McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes and places him 22 points ahead of third place Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez with only four regular season races remaining to set the 10-driver Playoff field.
Eckes, Heim, Sanchez and Rajah Caruth are the only championship-eligible drivers with wins and automatic Playoff bids to date.
None of the series championship contenders have ever won a truck series race on the 1.33-mile Nashville oval. NASCAR Cup Series rookies Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith finished 1-2 last year with Sanchez in third place after winning pole position and leading 37 of the 150 laps. Heim was fourth.
Eckes, with wins at Bristol, Tenn. and Martinsville, Va. this season, didn’t lead a lap at Nashville last year and finished 23rd after being involved in two accidents in the closing laps of the race. The 23-year-old New York native does bring an impressive statistic to Nashville, however.
At tracks measuring between 1.25-1.5-miles – like the 1.33-mile Nashville oval – Eckes is a perfect 6-for-6 in top-10 finishes; four of those have been top-five efforts. He was runner-up to Heim at the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway.
Friday marks the conclusion of the exciting Triple Truck Challenge with $50,000 to a new race winner or $150,000 paid to either Nick Sanchez (Charlotte) or Cory Heim (WWTR) – winners of the first two races in the incentive program.
Of note, popular FOX Sports NASCAR broadcaster Clint Bowyer will make his first race start since retiring from fulltime NASCAR competition in 2020. A race winner in all three of NASCAR’s national series, Bowyer will steer the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200.
Popular Hollywood actor-turned stock car driver Frankie Muniz is hoping to make his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut this weekend in the No. 22 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford. Former Motocross star, Japanese racer Akinori Ogata, 50, is also hoping to make the field driving the No. 20 Young Motorsports Chevrolet.
There have been 13 different winners in the 16 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Nashville. Seven times the pole-winner has hoisted the trophy.
Practice is Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET and televised on FS2 with Cometic Gasket Pole Qualifying following at 5 p.m. ET.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
