NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams are preparing for 200 miles of racing action over 200 laps of the JACOB Companies 200 at Dover International Speedway tonight, May 13th. FOX Sports 1 starts their pre-race coverage at 5 pm ET with a green flag around 5:30 pm ET and radio coverage is on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Will. I. Am.: Byron Gets it Started with First Career Win
William Byron had a ‘good night’ last Friday.
The Kyle Busch Motorsports driver captured his first win in only his fifth career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start. Byron, who led the first 33 laps of his career earlier in the race, retook the point on the last go-around of NASCAR Overtime to take the victory that virtually guarantees him a spot in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase.
“This is a dream come true,” Byron said. “I was six-years-old watching Truck races and I didn’t start racing until I was 14, and just to be in a KBM Toyota Tundra like this is amazing.”
After starting the season slow with finishes of 13th at Daytona and 32nd at Atlanta, Byron has hit his stride with the Kansas win and a third-place showing in the previous race at Martinsville.
Byron ranks seventh in the Truck Series points standings, 16 markers behind frontrunner Timothy Peters.
The 19-year-old Charlotte native leads the Camping World Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by ten points over Ben Rhodes. Coincidentally, they are the last two NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champions (Byron, 2015; Rhodes, 2014), as well as NASCAR Next alumni.
Dover Devil: Reddick Readies to Defend Dover ‘W’
One of the early season favorites to capture the Camping World Truck Series championship, Tyler Reddick has struggled with a high finish of 13th in his first four starts of 2016.
He’ll attempt to turn his season around in Friday’s JACOB Companies 200 where he is the defending race winner.
In Reddick’s only other start at the Monster Mile in 2014, he placed eighth. The No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing driver is the lone driver in the field with a Dover victory.
At the moment, Reddick ranks 15th in the series’ standings, 34 points off the lead. A win would be a cure-all for the Brad Keselowski Racing driver since it would essentially qualify him for the Camping World Truck Series Chase.
Reddick finished runner-up in the series last year.
Crafton Back in Form
Matt Crafton couldn’t pull off his race-win defense at Kansas Speedway on Friday, but he accomplished what NASCAR fans have grown accustomed to seeing him do – compete for victories.
The No. 88 ThorSport Racing driver recorded his highest finish of the season with a runner-up showing in the Jayhawk State. Crafton sits sixth in the series’ standings, just 15 points off the lead, on the strength of a series-high-tying three top-tens.
Since the 2013 season when he won his first of two consecutive Truck Series championships, Crafton has finished at least second 20 times and his won nine races.
Crafton has never won in 15 previous starts at Dover International Speedway, but does have four top-fives and nine top-tens there.
He leads the series this season with a 104.3 driver rating.
Hemric Off to Hot Start
Daniel Hemric has to be enjoying his first season with Brad Keselowski Racing.
In his first four starts for his new team, Hemric boasts two top-fives along with three top-tens and finds himself perched second in the Camping World Truck Series standings, eight points behind leader Timothy Peters.
Coming off a career-best third-place finish at Kansas, Hemric heads to Dover where he placed fourth in an NTS Motorsports machine last year.
Ogre-Achieving: Truex Tries To Continue Momentum At Hometown Track
Arguably the biggest surprise in the Camping World Truck Series through the first four races this season, Ryan Truex ranks third in the points standings (ten markers behind Timothy Peters) on the strength of one top-five and two top-tens, including a sixth-place result in last Friday’s race at Kansas.
The Mayetta, New Jersey native, and younger brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Martin Truex Jr., will attempt to continue his success at his home track – Dover International Speedway – in tonight’s JACOB Companies 200.
Truex earned his career-best NASCAR national series finish in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Dover in 2012 when he placed runner-up. He matched the result in this season’s Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytona.
The Hattori Racing Enterprises driver has produced a positive place differential in three of the four races this season: +13 at Daytona, started 20th and finished second; +6 at Martinsville, started 18th and finished 12th; +15 at Kansas, started 21st and finished sixth.
Peters Ascends Atop the Standings
Nyquist wasn’t the only horse with a big day last weekend.
Red Horse Racing’s Timothy Peters ascended to the top of the Camping World Truck Series standings with an eighth-place finish at Kansas on Friday night. He sits eight points ahead of second-place Daniel Hemric (-eight), followed by Ryan Truex (-ten), Tyler Young (-14), John Hunter Nemechek (-15). Matt Crafton (-15), William Byron (-16), Spencer Gallagher (-18), Brandon Brown (-20) and Parker Kligerman (-21) round out the top-ten.
Nemechek, Byron and Johnny Sauter have virtually clinched berths to the Camping World Truck Series Chase with wins.
Peters heads to Dover where he placed 20th last season and has finished no higher than sixth.