NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – It may have taken four overtimes to get there, but for the second time in the last three years, Ben Rhodes is a champion in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. As the laps wound down in regulation, it was shaping up to be a race between Grant Enfinger and Rhodes to see which of the two would walk away with the title, but with three laps to go, everything changed. Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar, who had been involved in an incident earlierRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. — Track time is everything for a NASCAR driver and Carson Hocevar could have an advantage over his Championship 4 competitors heading into Friday’s Craftsman 150 at Phoenix Raceway. Not only Hocevar will have a shot of winning the Craftsman Truck Series championship, he’ll also run his ninth Cup Series race of the year with all but one being for Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 squad. In fact, the Michigan racer will go from qualifying the No. 42 truck for Niece Motorsports to partakingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be the first title fight of the weekend to be settled, as the four remaining drivers in the Playoffs will duke it out Friday night at Phoenix Raceway for the right to hoist the championship trophy when the checkered flag falls. Eight drivers started the Playoffs with a berth in the championship race in mind, but half of them fell by the wayside, leaving Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar and 2021 series champion Ben Rhodes asRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Friday night at Phoenix Raceway will mark the end of an era with GMS Racing closing its doors at season’s end and Grant Enfinger is looking toward giving the team the sendoff it deserves. After a nine-year run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, GMS Racing announced in early August that it would be ceasing operations following the conclusion of the 2023 season and since that time, Enfinger, who drives the team’s No. 23 Chevrolet, has stayed alive in the championship fight andRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Carson Hocevar secured his first NASCAR CRATSMAN Truck Series Championship 4 appearance with a victory Saturday in the Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway earning all four of his career series wins this season – the trophy Saturday most impactful among them. Hocevar put his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead with 11 laps remaining and held off the hard-charging Zane Smith by 2.705-seconds to claim the win over the reigning series champion, whose runner-up effort was disqualified by NASCAR after a post-raceRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Superspeedway racing usually delivers plenty of drama on-track, but in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega, the drama spilled off the track and into the garage. It all began with a wreck coming to two laps to go in regulation when Nicholas Sanchez and Matt Crafton made contact in the tri-oval, triggering the “Big One,” a crash involving 10 cars that brought out the second red flag of the day and sent the race into overtime. Sanchez was able to continueRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Zane Smith will have three weeks to ponder his current position in the NASCAR Truck Series Playoff standings after early trouble in Saturday’s Love’s RV Stop 250 at Talladega leaves him in danger of elimination with one race remaining to decide the Championship 4. Entering the day some 14 points behind the cut-off line, the defending Truck Series champion needed to steer clear of trouble to be able to keep himself and his team within striking distance of the top-four, but it wasRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Brett Moffitt made it a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start to remember pulling off an amazing three-wide move to the front during an overtime restart to claim the victory in Saturday’s Love’s RV Stop 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – the former series champion’s first series race of the 2023 season ending in his first superspeedway victory. It was a typically dramatic day on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks, taking an overtime restart to settle the busy day of competition. MoffittRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – After stealing a victory last Saturday at Kansas Speedway, Christian Eckes got his pocket picked by Corey Heim on Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.  On Lap 195 of 200 of the UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics, Heim forced his way beneath Eckes’ No. 19 Chevrolet—with the lapped truck of Eckes’ TRICON Garage teammate, Tanner Gray, to the outside—took the lead and claimed the victory by .218 seconds over his disappointed rival.  With his third NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victoryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS City, Kan. – Christian Eckes grabbed the lead on the final restart and stole a victory in Friday night’s Kansas Lottery 200, the Round of 10 elimination race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In a three-wide battle for the lead against Corey Heim and Zane Smith, Eckes led only the final two laps to secure his third victory of the season, his first at Kansas Speedway and the fourth of his career. In a last-lap scramble that saw Smith get loose, turnRead More