I started to think about this post a few weeks ago. At the time, Germain Racing, for the second season in a row, was threatening to shut down Todd Bodine’s #30 team for a lack of sponsorship. It was stunning to think the reigning series championship was about to be parked for a lack of sponsorship. The troubles at Germain though are nothing new for Series champions. Consider the following cases.
NASCAR veteran Ted Musgrave won the 2005 Truck Series championship driving for Jim Smith and Ultra Motorsports. The two had a long and fruitful run together including 16 wins, 12 poles and that one championship. Not long after winning in ’05 though the team closed the doors after losing support from Mopar and failing to get support from Ford.
Musgrave was lucky enough to find another ride with Germain for the following two seasons, but never matched his success with Ultra. He had a short stint with HT Motorsports before exiting the sport mid way through the 2008 season.
Ron Hornaday, Jr. won championships in 2007 and 2009 and has undoubtedly had a very successful run with Kevin Harvick Inc. and Dale Earnhardt Inc. before that. It was after Hornaday’s 2009 championship that his long time crew chief Rick Ren left KHI for the newly created Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Since then Hornaday has won just three races (compare that to six each in 2008 and 2009) and has just 17 top-fives (compare to 15 in 2009 and 14 in 2008) and 20 top-tens (compare to 20 in 2009 and 18 in 2008).
Certainly winning the championship hasn’t been devastating to Hornaday’s career, but the once dominant team is no more. Losing Rick Ren was nothing short of very bad luck.
The saddest case of all is Johnny Benson who won the 2008 Truck Series championship with Bill Davis Racing. Benson joined the team in 2004 and together they scored 14 wins, 50 top-fives and 72 top-tens. Benson though faced a fate similar to his contemporary Ted Musgrave when the team shut down shortly after the end of the season.
Tom Deloach and Red Horse Racing brought Benson on in 2009 but he made it just eight races before the team was shut down due to a lack of sponsorship. Just a week after that Benson was seriously injured in a SuperModified race.
It looked like Benson may have a chance to return in 2010 with Kyle Busch Motorsports, but sponsorship never materialized and Benson raced just a few times for various organizations.
That brings us back to Todd Bodine. He received a reversal of fortune after Randy Moss Motorsports, on its last legs but with a very lucrative sponsorship deal, agreed to a “partnership” with Germain to keep Bodine in a ride through the end of the season.
Is there a curse? Maybe not. But in the last six seasons at least, it’s undeniable that there are some strange instances of bad luck for the series’ championship winner.
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Over the last several seasons, the Camping World Truck Series has been dominated by the old guard. Names like Ron Hornaday, Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, Ted Musgrave, and Bobby Hamilton have been inscribed on the championship trophy at years end. This season however, the landscape of the Truck Series may be changing.
I want to start off by giving you an interesting stat. Through the first ten races of the 2010 season, Ron Hornaday is winless. It’s the longest opening stretch of races he’s ever gone in his CWTS career without winning a race. For Hornaday and KHI, that’s a very big deal. While Hornaday still sits third in the points standings, this winless streak appears to have taken its first victim. Jayski is reporting that crew chief Doug George has left KHI. Harvick expects the #33 Chevy to be competing for wins every week, so this move doesn’t come as a shock. No word yet on who might replace George.
The other moderate surprise this season has been the struggles of Mike Skinner. After winning three races in 2009, Skinner currently sits sixth in the standings and his best finish was fourth at Texas. On top of that, he hasn’t been a real threat to win in any race this season. I say moderate with Skinner, because on some level his performance isn’t surprising. His #5 Randy Moss Motorsports team has been in disarray since it lost crew chief Eric Phillipsto Kyle Busch Motorsports before the season started.
So who has been winning races while Hornaday and Skinner struggle? Besides at least one win by Todd Bodine, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch, the story of 2010 has been the new faces. Aric Almirola, Timothy Peters, Austin Dillon, and Johnny Sauter have all scored at least one victory, and any of these guys could legitimately challenge for the championship.
Starting last weekend at Iowa Speedway, the Truck Series now starts into a summer stretch of races that will go nine straight weeks. With only ten races currently in the books, a lot can and will change over the next nine weekends. While you can never count the veterans out, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Truck Series had a first time champion in 2010.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for this weekend! Both the Nationwide Series and Cup Series are headed to Darlington, and if you are like me, you can’t get enough of the “Track Too Tough To Tame.” Don’t worry though, this week’s round of reader questions shouldn’t be too tough to tame. If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From Ella:
What has happened to Carl Edwards and his team this year? Seems he has been lagging behind his teammates as well as other top drivers. Will he stay with the same crew chief?
Jack Roush is a big fan of moving crew chiefs when things aren’t going right. I’m not saying I’ve heard anything, but if Bob Osborne doesn’t turn things around soon he may very well be out of a job. Roush as a whole had performance issues last season and Carl just hasn’t overcome his slump. It’s hard to say exactly what the issue/s is/are, but something is wrong. If their performance doesn’t improve soon, expect changes on that team. – Journo
2. From Kevin:
TC, regarding Woogeroo’s question about impound races, is Richmond (my favorite track – bit biased on that) an impound race too. If so, why? I guess I will find out in a couple of days.
I don’t know if you found out during the race broadcast or not, but Richmond is not an impound race. I believe only the Talladega races and the July Daytona races are impound races. – T.C.
3. From Mike:
I’m wondering if you can tell me if Marcos Ambrose will be back in the #47 car next year, 2011?
I don’t see him going anywhere. JTG and Waltrip are certainly pleased with him and there aren’t really any open rides for him to go to, so I’d expect him back there next season. – Journo
4. From Brad:
Any discussion of the Dale Jr. story in the National Enquirer? I’m interested to know if you guys have any scoop….
We don’t know anything more than what was reported. While it certainly could be classified as “inside” info, even if we did know something more, we wouldn’t share it. Both myself and my partner leave that type of stuff alone when it comes to writing for the site. Want rumors and info about the sport and the competition? We are the right place to stop by. Rumors and gossip about people’s personal lives is probably best left alone. – T.C.
5. From Allen:
Do you think the Camping World Truck Series is going to eventually become the IROC Series? (i.e disappear)
I don’t think NASCAR will abandon the series, but I do think they need to consider making changes to it. If you remember 10 years ago the stands would be packed at races (that was partly because they were racing at smaller venues in smaller markets), not the case today. The TV audience is good, but the series has its issues. It’ll be interesting to see if NASCAR is willing to try and breath new life into it. – Journo
6. From Marcus:
Is the Air National Guard really sponsoring the #26 Latitude 43 Motorsports car driven by David Stremme? I remember when they 1st ran it at Bristol they said it was for showing what the Air National Guard can do. But 5 races later the decals are still on the car and they have pit suits and everything. Also they are starting to run full races. Just wondering if you guys know because i’m curious. Thanks!
As far as I know, the Latitude 43 team is still not being sponsored by the ANG. The “tribute” that was run at Bristol was officially extended to include Martinsville as well, but no further announcement has come out regarding their involvement. You would think that if the ANG did in fact come on board as a sponsor that the team would put out some sort of release, and they haven’t done so. Maybe they are hoping that by showing some good will towards the ANG that eventually they will help out. – T.C.
7. From BJ:
Watching the truck race on Sunday, with Johnny Benson & his glasses, got me wondering if any other drivers in the big 3 NASCAR divisions have less than 20/20 eyesight. Are there drivers there with contact lenses or laser-corrected vision? What about other kinds of everyday impairments that they have to deal with like diabetes, severe allergies, hearing loss? (I’m not asking you to ‘out’ anybody; just curious if things like that tend to winnow down the talent pool.)
The two examples that come immediately to mind in terms of any kind of impairments are John Wes Townley and Steve Wallace. Townley used to wear glasses when he drove, but doesn’t anymore. I believe he has had laser surgery. And Wallace suffers from Tourrette’s Syndrome. I’m sure there are many others, but as you might imagine, making that kind of info public would be a tough thing to do. When it comes to these types of conditions, if it’s something that severely limited a driver’s ability to perform, or could potentially be life threatening, I doubt they would have made it to this level. - T.C.
8. From Michael:
Two questions for you guys: 1) Why do the COTs sometimes have white plastic pieces sticking up from the splitter at times, mostly during practice? What purpose do these plastic pieces serve? 2) Why does Darlington have two pit roads? Thanks TC & Journo!
Those white plastic pieces you see are wear indicators. It helps the team figure out how low the nose of the car is getting in the corners. Teams will also spray paint the bottoms of the splitters, so they can see if and where it’s rubbing through the turn. And Darlington used to be like Bristol is today. Some cars would pit on the frontstretch, and some on the back. But in between the 1999 and 2000 seasons, the track extended the frontstretch pit road to include all 43 stalls. When they did that, they just didn’t take out the old pit road. – T.C.
9. From windowlicker:
As we get close to our first Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I wonder about some of the inductees. In baseball there are tons of Hall of Famers who are considered to be jerks. What do people in racing think of Richard Petty? Is he a nice guy? Good to work for?
I’ll say this, there are people that love Richard Petty and there are people that don’t. I’ve never worked for the man, so I can’t say how that is. He’s certainly a fan favorite, and very good at glad handing. I think it’s important to point out though that Richard Petty isn’t getting into the Hall of Fame because he is universally liked; he’s there because of what he has done in the sport and done for the sport. I don’t think you’ll find anybody who’ll disagree with his inclusion in the first class. – Journo
10. From BJ:
Everyone at my workplace knows who my driver is. I am definitely not a neutral observer of NASCAR. My question is: Do the journalists who cover NASCAR have favorites? I don’t mean does a writer skew his/her pieces to favor a particular team. I mean that with 10 laps to go and a GWC looming do journalists turn into fans? What’s it like to walk that line between remaining an unbiased reporter & secretly needing to stand and cheer for your guy to take the checkers? Without blowing your cover, Journo, can you share any anecdotes of your experiences in balancing work vs. being a fan.
After you’ve been in this sport, or any sport for any length of time athletes lose their luster. In reality they’re pretty normal people. Personally I love NASCAR, and racing in general, so I like a good show and a good story. I can’t speak for everyone, but I think that’s pretty universal. Certainly there are teams and drivers that are more pleasant to work with, but as far as people rooting for someone in particular, that kind of goes out the window. As a result I can’t say I personally have any anecdotes. Sorry. – Journo
11. Neon:
How many more TNI followers were hatched after the Mike Joy plug?
You know, that’s a tough question to answer. We definitely saw a traffic spike after the mention, and we’ve had several folks send emails and leave comments saying they came to the site because of the mention, but it would be difficult to put a number on it. Even if it’s only one or two, we’re glad they are here! – T.C.
And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!
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After the 2008 season, we decided to look back over the season and see how we did in terms of reporting on rumors and breaking some news. In the end, we got eight correct, had two pushes, screwed one up, and had three rumors outstanding. With 2009 behind us, I thought it would be fun to again do the same thing. I’m going to start with the three bits we had outstanding, and then we’ll move into 2009.
Fastenal to RCR: After the info we heard, we thought this one was in the books. Even Jayski reported at one point that this was going to happen, even mentioning a driver lineup. But in the end, Fastenal ended up at JR Motorsports for the ‘09 season. Scratch this one.
Rule Changes Coming to the Truck Series: NASCAR did indeed make changes to the Truck Series rules for 2009, and we were close. We first reported they were only going to allow only four crew members over the wall and that they would initiate a hard card limit. They did indeed limit both, but we missed the crew limit by one. It was five members over the wall and not four. I’m still giving us the point here. Plus one for the Insiders.
BDR Employees Laid Off: This indeed was true, and what was left of BDR was turned into Triad Racing Technologies. TRT supplies teams with Toyota engines, chassis, and some other services. Plus one for the Insiders.
First Crew Member Tests Positive: In my post following the Daytona 500, I let you know that I’d heard NASCAR had caught it’s first offender of the new substance abuse policy. We found out a short time later that it was a Mayfield Motorsports employee, and he was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR. It was strange foreshadowing for the summer to come and drug testing. Plus one for the Insiders.
RMM Cuts Salaries: Early in the season, we heard that Randy Moss Motorsports had cut it’s employees salaries by as much as 35%. While no official announcement was ever put out, this was indeed true. The budget for the #5 Tundra for Mike Skinner was limited at best, which led to the cuts. Plus one for the Insiders.
Trouble At Trail: 2009 was supposed to be the first season for minority owned Trail Motorsport. But what started off with much fan fare and press, fizzled before it ever got started. We first told you in April about the problems internally at Trail. On it’s own, the team never fielded a race car at a Truck Series, Nationwide Series, or Cup Series event. Plus one for the Insiders.
Kyle Busch, Team Owner in 2010: We were the first to tell you about Kyle Busch’s plans to start his own NASCAR team for the 2010 season. In July, we reported that construction was ongoing on a new race shop for Kyle and that he, Johnny Benson, and Brian Ickler may drive for the new team. Busch will indeed have a team in 2010, with two full time trucks. One for himself and Brian Ickler, and another for Tayler Malsam. If sponsorship can be found, Benson may run a third truck. Plus one for the Insiders.
Parker Kligerman, Wyler Racing, & Michael McDowell: In September we told you that ARCA driver Parker Kligerman would run some NNS races for Penske, that Wyler Racing may be closing up shop, and that Michael McDowell would run at New Hampshire for Thorsport Racing. Kligerman ended up running at Kansas and Homestead for Penske Racing. Wyler did make it to the end of the season, but from what we know just barely. As of today, there is no word on Wyler Racing’s 2010 plans. And finally, McDowell did run at NHMS for Thorsport. He ran the #98 truck, that was painted up like a police car. We will call that plus two and minus one for the Insiders.
Your Favorite Team and a Funded Driver: While we did write a post mentioning a rumor, we wrote the post more as commentary then actually reporting the rumor. The post itself was about John Wes Townley and his impending move to Richard Childress Racing. Townley will indeed race for RCR in 2010, and will compete full time in the NNS in the #21 Zaxbys Chevrolet. Since we didn’t call the driver out, nor did we get anything wrong, I’ll give us a push.
Rick Ren Gone from KHI: We told you before Homestead that Kevin Harvick Inc. crew chief Rick Ren was leaving at the end of the season, possibly to take a managerial role at Kyle Busch’s new team. This rumor was actually denied publicly by Kevin Harvick, but in the end turned out to be true. Ren will serve as the Director of Operations for KBM this season. Plus one for the Insiders.
Eric Phillips to KBM: To add to this stout lineup for 2010, we were the first to tell you about Eric Phillips leaving Randy Moss Motorsports for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Phillips will serve as crew chief for the #18 truck piloted by Busch and Brian Ickler for this season. We were certainly all over the KBM stuff in ‘09. Plus one for the Insiders.
Biffle and Baker Curb: And last but not least, after it was reported by SceneDaily.com that Baker Curb was working on a deal with a Cup driver for the 2010 NNS season, we told you that Cup driver was Greg Biffle. Biffle will pilot the #27 Red Man Ford Fusion for Baker Curb this season in an undetermined number of races. Plus one for the Insiders.
Looking back over all the rumors, I think we had another pretty good year. We got eleven right, missed two calls, and had one push. So over the last two years, that makes us 19-3-3 on the scoreboard. We certainly don’t know it all or hear it all, and we also won’t report every rumor we hear. But I think this shows that when you hear a rumor from TNI, odds are pretty good it’s true. What do you think?
It’s a home game this week, as both the Nationwide and Cup cars take to the 1.5 mile Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord. But while the season starts winding to a close, ATIW keeps chugging along. If you don’t know what this post is, until further notice, we will be answering any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From Justin:
Are wheels weighed by NASCAR? Never heard anything about teams lightening wheels so I’m assuming the answer is yes.
I’ve never seen a wheel weighed personally, but the rule book says they must weigh a minimum of 27 pounds uncoated and without valve hardware. – T.C.
2. From Ricky:
What really makes me mad is the fact that Dave Blaney is a great racer, and yet he drives a Start & Park car… I remember the spring race at Talladega where he led quite a few laps….and then he got spun out and parked it! I believe if he would have stayed out there he would have had a good chance at a good finish! I was so angered by the situation! The whole deal of Start and Parks angers me. If you are going to race in NASCAR’s top series, then race! Don’t go out and be whimps and park it. What do you think about this? How did you feel when Blaney put that car up front, then parked it just because of a lousy spin? I really thought that was a bonehead move… I am a big fan of Dave Blaney. Please help cool heads prevail and tell me… WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!
The answer is they were taking the money and running. That’s the whole purpose of the start and parks. Instead of running the risk that they’ll wreck their equipment by running the whole race, they make a few laps and take the guaranteed money. For their intended purposes and the strength of their equipment it really wasn’t a bonehead move. Whether you agree with it or not, they’re becoming a fact of life. Trust me though, NASCAR is not a fan. – Journo
3. From Dot:
Regarding burning and scraping tires. How do you know when to stop scraping? What happens if you go to far? Regarding loose/missing lugnuts. If one is loose or missing (and missed by the official), wouldn’t the other ones hold the tire on?
Scraping a tire after a race run is done to get any excess rubber and garbage off the tread so an accurate tread depth reading can be made. The tire specialist only scrapes that excess off. I’m not even sure you could go too far and scrape any of the tread off. And yes, if there are only four lugs tight they will probably hold the tire on for a while. But would you really want to take the chance that they don’t hold? I know I wouldn’t. – T.C.
4. From Jason:
What is the typical amount that a business pays to sponsor a truck in the Camping World Truck series? I’ve read things like $20 – 30 million for Cup and $15 – 8 million for Nationwide. But I have never heard any number for the truck series. Thank you!
For a full season with a decent team you’re looking at $2 million to $5 million. As far as your Cup Series number goes, many are below that $20 million mark. – Journo
5. From David:
Why do the tires have red stripe on the side wall?
Tires have colored tape on the sidewalls for the tire carriers. They use that mark to line up the stud holes when they are indexing a tire during a pit stop. See more about this here. – T.C.
6. From PrincessStewart14:
It has been reported tonight, by Marty Smith, Jim Utter and Jeff Gluck to name a few, that Tom Logano had his hard card pulled for ‘gesturing at Greg Biffle postrace’ [via Marty Smith on Twitter] What are some other things NASCAR would take your hard card? Just what they would deem bad behaviour or harmful?
NASCAR could probably take a hard card for whatever reason they wanted. Hard cards are technically owned by NASCAR, and they can use the taking of one as punishment. I’m sure John Darby, Joe Balash, and/or Wayne Auton could probably answer this one better then I can. – T.C.
7. From Michael:
Whatever happened to Fatback Mcswain?
You know that’s a good question and one I don’t have an answer for. Does anyone know anything about Fatback’s whereabouts?
8. From Jeff in SoCal:
Ok so I have to say it! The Nationwide series race was way more entertaining than the Sprint cup race at Auto Club this week. What gives? Also what would you guys do to tighten up the field in a very cool(love how huge it is), yet boring race track?
I think because we saw more cautions during the NNS race, the field was bunched up more. When that happens, there is bound to be more side by side racing and more action. Double file restarts have helped too. And I have no idea how to fix the racing at Auto Club Speedway. Maybe tear it down and start over again? – T.C.
9. From Stephen:
I listened to AJ Allmendinger’s post race interview with ESPN at California and to me it sounded like he was trying to throw someone under the bus for his lack of preformance, but he never really came out and said who. I got the feeling that he was trying to say that Kahne gets the better engine’s. Do ya’ll have any insight on what Allmendinger was trying to get at?
I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to, but it’s very possible he was referring to the engine situation at RPM. With the trouble’s they’ve had of late, plus the move to Ford, it’s not doing him, or any other member of the team, any favors in the performance department. And certainly Kahne is going to get the best engines, he’s the only member of the team with a shot at the Championship. – Journo
10. From Ric:
I’ve seen drivers / crew / TV personalities put on and take off the steering wheel. It looks like they just throw it on, no trying to align anything. There must be something to slide the steering wheel into the correct spot.
The steering column has splines on it, and the wheel itself fits onto those splines and has a quick release. Teams will help their driver line up the wheel prior to the race. Sometimes you will see drivers pull to the inside during pace laps, and what you are seeing is them setting their wheel. A tape mark at 12 o’clock tells a driver if the wheel is straight. - T.C.
11. From Neon:
Just as the drivers in Cup have their personal motorcoach delivered to each race, which of the crew chiefs have their motorcoach on the premises? Owners or other crew members?
Most owners have motorcoachs, some crew chiefs do and some team executives do to. Ultimately the guys most likely to have them are the ones who make the most money. You have to figure you’re probably spending $500,000+ on a coach, $30,000+ a year on a coach driver, and then thousands of dollars more on fuel, and upkeep. With the small number of spaces available it’s a pretty restrictive thing for those who are not drivers. – Journo
12. From Larry:
What does the announcement, by Con-way Freight, that they are moving to the Nationwide Series, with Colin Braun, do to the rumored sponsorship of Johnny Benson, in the Truck Series?
This means that Johnny won’t be sponsored by Conway. Beyond that I unfortunately can’t really offer any more insight into the situation. Does this mean Johnny won’t be back to the truck series next year? Absolutely not. Beyond the initial rumors of him going to Kyle Busch’s team next year though I really haven’t heard anything else. – Journo
Filed under: NASCAR Crashes, NASCAR Videos, Camping World Truck Series
Johnny Benson Crash Video: Truck Series Champion Survives Close Call originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sponsorship, or lack thereof has been on the mind of just about every team executive in NASCAR this season. While the year has been rough for the sponsorship market as a whole, in no place has it hit harder then in the Truck Series.
The biggest anomaly in the series are the amount of experienced, winning drivers that have been affected.
Take defending champion Johnny Benson. He became the latest victim of the economy this week after Red Horse Racing shut down his unsponsored team. I believe the only time the team actually had any deal was at Daytona with K&N. The rest of the time the truck has remained white.
Now he hear Timothy Peters is joining Red Horse from his own fledgling organization. Peters’ biggest asset is the Strutmasters sponsorship he brings with him.
Todd Bodine doesn’t quite know Johnny’s plight, but he has been driving race-to-race all season. Every time Bodine has been on the cusp of reaching his final race, sponsorship has come through and they have been able to continue. The brilliant thing this team has been doing is publicizing their struggle and they have gotten a lot of great exposure as a result.
Germain ran several very small sponsors early on in the season (which were plugged heavily during the broadcasts), and then signed Copart for the last several races. Copart has three races remaining with the team this season. After that the team finds itself in a familiar situation.
Another former champion feeling the pinch is 26-time winner Mike Skinner. He joined Randy Moss Motorsports this season after Bill Davis Racing folded. Skinner brought with him a partial sponsorship from Exide and some support from Toyota, but he and most especially his wife Angie have been working very hard to put together smaller deals for the holes in his schedule.
They have had everything from Daytona Beach law firm Rue & Ziffra to Bad Boy Mowers on the truck. Mike and Angie, instead of waiting and hoping on others to find deals, took the initiative and are keeping Mike’s career alive and still very vibrant.
Unfortunately NASCAR has been less than enthusiastic about furthering the Truck Series. It has become the overlooked series, almost an after thought by the sanctioning body. If you want an example of this look at purse money. Just something to consider; the top grossing driver, in terms of purse money, in the Cup Series is Tony Stewart. He has pulled in $3,459,120. In the Nationwide Series, Kyle Busch is tops; he has earned $506,620. In the Truck Series Todd Bodine holds the crown with $286,875 in winnings. He is not the norm either. The points leader at the moment, Matt Crafton, has pulled in $130,000 less than Bodine. While it is true it’s a little cheaper to run in the Truck Series, it’s not that much cheaper.
Another big issue the series faces is a lack of media exposure. While they have been making ratings strides on Speed, the untapped market is very large. Despite the extensive amount of programming that covers the other series, the Truck Series has very often left out in the cold.
And now we have reached the point where fewer than 30 trucks will even actually finish the race. At Texas there were only 22 trucks running at the end. This weekend there are 32 on the entry list and I counted at least six start and parks.
It’s hard not to commend the teams who are actually fighting and going the distance. I can’t say enough times how much I love the Truck Series. It is the most fun to be around and the best racing you’ll see most weekends. Unfortunately NASCAR has been slow to give the series the credit it deserves. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the season plays out for those sponsor-challenged teams.