Camping World Truck Series drivers head to Chicagoland Speedway for the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 on Friday, September 13th. Television coverage begins at 8pm ET with radio coverage on MRN, Sirius XM, channel 90. The green flag waves at about 8:30pm for 225 miles and 150 laps of racing action.
Will history repeat back-to-back for James Buescher?
Similar to last season, the second half of the season is proving 2012 series’ champion James Buescher’s time of the year. Buescher picked up his first win at Iowa Speedway on Sunday and now he returns to Chicagoland Speedway where he won last year. With his second victory in the last four races, the Texas native now sits just 37-points behind points leader Matt Crafton.
Buescher’s path to his first title was similar in that he was in the same spot in the standings (third) last year entering the last third of the season. The Katy, Texas native has enjoyed a mid-season turnaround with an average-finish over the first half of 11th to now fourth over the past four races. That’s quite an improvement, thanks to a pair of wins (Michigan and Iowa) over that span of time.
With the help of his recent surge in the standings, Buescher has improved from a season-low of 12th-place in the standings heading into Kansas Speedway to his more recent second-place points standing after the Iowa race.
Two of Buescher’s four wins last year came at Kentucky Speedway, a track that has already hosted its lone truck race this season back in June. If Buescher is going to catch Crafton, his ability to run up front in the four 1.5-mile tracks left on the schedule could be the key.
In addition to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend, the teams will also compete on intermediate tracks at Las Vegas, Texas and Homestead-Miami Speedways.
Darrell Wallace Jr has endured a roller coaster season and it seems the NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate is slowly making his way toward the top of the point standings.
Wallace has a pair of top-five finishes over the past two events and heads to Chicagoland as a strong contender to join the other first-time winners in the series this season.
Wallace is the first African-American to compete full-time in the Camping World Truck Series in more than six years, and has already built an impressive resume.
Wallace has won poles in both the Camping World Truck Series and last season in the Nationwide Series and has a career-best Truck Series finish of fourth at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the first road course event for the series in over a decade.
Wallace has scored two top-tens in a row after suffering 21st and 28th-place finishes at Michigan and Bristol.
Brad Keselowski will make another start in his No. 19 truck this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. Ross Chastain won the pole at Iowa Speedway last weekend and finished second. Ben Kennedy scored another respectable finish as the K&N Pro Series East regular finished 15th at Iowa in his second career truck start. Kennedy will make his first start on a 1.5-mile track Friday night. Two-time Chicagoland series winner, Kyle Busch, will do triple duty this weekend, beginning with Friday night’s stint in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck.
