Four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regulars have hogged most of the glory this year, setting up a potential scramble for the last six Playoff spots.
Corey Heim has three victories to his credit, followed by Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez with two each and Rajah Caruth with one. The other three wins in the series have gone to NASCAR Cup regulars Kyle Busch with two and Ross Chastain with one.
Over the next five races, the final six Playoff berths will be filled, starting with Saturday’s Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (1:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). As always, the surest path to the postseason is by winning a race.
That could be good news for Grant Enfinger, currently ninth in the standings and 33 points above the current Playoff cut line. Enfinger is the defending winner of the event at Gateway, where he led a race-high 65 laps and beat Eckes to the finish line by 0.256 seconds.
In all probability, Enfinger will get stiff competition from hard-luck Ty Majeski, who led 55 laps in last season’s race, finished second in both stages and fell victim to a crash with seven laps left.
The Toyota 200 is the second race in the Triple Truck Challenge, with a $50,000 bonus available to the winner of each event. Sanchez, who won the first race in “The Trip” May 24 at Charlotte, will increase his prize to $150,000 if he wins a second straight race.
The final event in the Triple Truck Challenge is scheduled for June 28 at Nashville Superspeedway. The bonus for winning all three Trip races is $500,000.
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
