A historic weekend for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) began Friday with the first of two practice sessions at Rockingham Speedway and if practice was any indicator of what we can expect for Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance presented by Cheerwine, then the fans will be in for a significant treat.
On Friday morning, shortly after the conclusion of the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Tour, the one-mile oval was opened up to the stars of NASCAR with Wes Burton in the No. 28 FDNY Chevrolet Silverado etching himself into the record books as becoming the first truck to officially tackle the place known as “The Rock.”
Through the session’s first practice, no on-track incidents were reported and only 34 of the 41 trucks registered took practice times but there were some familiar faces at the front and at the back.
Joey Coulter, the Richard Childress Racing development driver led the first practice overall in his No. 22 Strutmasters.com / RCR Chevrolet Silverado by negotiating a time of 24.923 seconds at 144.445 miles per hour. The lap occurred on Coulter’s second tango with Rockingham of the 25 he completed during the session.
Timothy Peters led the Red Horse Racing brigade in second driving the No. 17 Toyota Tundra, also sponsored by Strutmasters.com. James Buescher carrying a new sponsor for Turner Motorsports in Koike.com busted the third quickest lap overall. Parker Kligerman, a former ARCA winner at Rockingham nestled himself in fourth while Nelson Piquet Jr., whose raced at Rockingham Speedway, just not in the United States rounded out the top-five.
Todd Bodine, the only previous two-time Rockingham NASCAR winner in the field was seventh overall in the first practice session carrying sponsorship from Toyota Care in his No. 11 Tundra. Closely in-toe with Bodine was Justin Lofton, who sits third in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships standings after a strong start to the season guided his Eddie Sharp Racing to eighth while Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday Jr. comprised the remainder of the top-10.
Ty Dillon, the most recent ARCA winner at Rockingham (October 2010) was 13th overall with Brad Sweet in the No. 4 Rockwell Tools Chevrolet Silverado gently behind in 14th. Sweet driving for Turner Motorsports is setting up the No. 4 machine for Kasey Kahne who’s expected to compete in Sunday’s contest following his duties in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway.
Other notables in the first practice included: Cale Gale (16th), John Wes Townley (19th), Ross Chastain (20th), Tim George Jr. (22nd), Jeb Burton (24th), Dakoda Armstrong (26th), most recent Rockingham Speedway winner Bryan Silas (27th), points leader John King (29th) and Chris Fontaine (32nd).
A break allowed the drivers and teams to confer with each other before leaning back into another round of practice from 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. with the overall rundown looking very much different.
Nelson Piquet Jr., driver of the No. 30 Qualcomm / Auto Trac Chevrolet Silverado for Turner Motorsports led the way Friday afternoon after negotiating his bow-tie around the facility in 25.112 seconds at 143.358 miles per hour on his 40th and final lap of competition for the day.
Series’ veteran Matt Crafton in one of three ThorSport Racing entries this weekend was second, followed by Miguel Paludo in another Turner Motorsports entry in third followed by John Wes Townley driving the No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota Tundra and former CARS Pro Cup Series driver Jeff Agnew whose sponsorless rounding out the top-five.
Bodine was sixth while Chastain boosted himself impressively into seventh while first-session leader Coulter landed eighth in this practice followed by teammate Ty Dillon and Jason Leffler comprised the top-10.
Caleb Holman, another star from the CARS Pro Cup Series is vying for his first NCWTS start of the season and produced a very competitive 12th Friday afternoon. Paulie Harraka seems like he’s another rookie we’re going to have to watch on Sunday after circling his No. 5 Send A Solider To The Rock Ford F-150 to 13th with Johnny Sauter and Brad Sweet knocking out the top-15.
It appears that some of the veterans in the 16th – 20th bracket were competing on scuffs during the session as Tim George Jr., Parker Kligerman, James Buescher, Dakoda Armstrong and David Starr rolled out the top-20.
Brennan Newberry who made his NCWTS debut a few weeks ago at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway is back again for battle and was 21st. Tyler Young, another newcomer to the series’ was 23rd. Both have to make the field on time during qualifications Saturday afternoon.
Jeb Burton, a fan favorite and son of former Daytona 500 champion and Rockingham winner Ward Burton continues to try and find the right setup for his No. 27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet Silverado as he was only 25th quickest. Lofton and Hornaday Jr. were right behind in 26th and 27th respectively.
Bryan Silas, driving the Rockingham Speedway sponsored entry placed 32nd. Point’s leader John King is another driver looking for more out of his No. 7 Consol Energy Toyota Tundra as he was only able to muster the 33rd quickest time with Chris Fontaine, Jennifer Jo Cobb and Brian Weber bringing up the tail of the field of the 36 trucks that took time.
Timothy Peters who was second quickest in the first practice session opted out of participating in the second run today.
With two practice sessions left for Saturday morning (9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.); four teams must get their machines onto the track in order to have a chance at earning a starting berth for the third race of the season. Johnny Chapman (No. 07), Norm Benning (No. 57), Grant Enfinger (No. 60) and Chad McCumbee (No. 92). All but McCumbee will be locked into the field via their car owner standings.
Read my other daily commentary from Rockingham Speedway this weekend by clicking here.
