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Let’s sling some dirt, y’all.
This week, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Rossburg, Ohio and Eldora Speedway for the fifth annual “Mudsummer Classic,” the Eldora Dirt Derby 150.
After an off-weekend, 34 trucks are on the preliminary entry list for the mid-week dirt race from the half-mile clay dirt track owned by three-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart. As expected, there are a fair amount of new faces that will be behind the wheel this weekend.
Brandon Hightower, Max Johnson, Chris Windom, JR Heffner, Jeffrey Abbey, Josh Reaume, Bobby Pierce, Ken Schrader, Caleb Holman, Justin Shipley and Rico Abreu are among the new notable faces that’ll be racing this weekend.
Abreu will pilot the No. 89 truck for ThorSport Racing. He was let go by the organization at the conclusion of last year as his inaugural NCWTS season didn’t go as well as planned. But to say that Abreu is an accomplished dirt track racer would be an understatement. The came can be said for Pierce.
Pierce has led 141 laps and been a force to be reckoned with in the past couple races at Eldora. He might be remembered for coming to a stop right in front of Kenny Wallace, who, while working for FOX, was screaming at Pierce to get the engine cranked back up and rolling. Pierce’s No. 63 truck will be undoubtedly be up front once again.
So will the No. 66 team with Schrader driving. Schrader, along with Norm Benning, will be the elder statesmen of the event. Whereas Harrison Burton, Kaz Grala, Noah Gragson and Austin Cindric will be the new kids on the block, trying to learn from the veterans who know dirt racing like the back of their hands.
There is one Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver in the field, with Ty Dillon pilot the No. 99 Chevrolet for MDM Motorsports. Christopher Bell, who will pilot his No. 4 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, also earned his first career NCWTS victory in this race three years ago.
Qualifying races will take place beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET and the green flag for the main event is scheduled to fly at 9:30 p.m. ET. Television coverage can be found on FOX Business Network with radio coverage on MRN. Kyle Larson is the defending winner of the event.
| Entry | Car Number | Driver | Sponsor | Manu | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Korbin Forrister | TBD | Chevrolet | Jennifer Jo Cobb |
| 2 | 1 | Brandon hHightower (i) | TBD | Chevrolet | Tracy Lowe |
| 3 | 02 | Max Johnson | Chevrolet | Randy Young | |
| 4 | 4 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | Kyle Busch | |
| 5 | 06 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | Norm Benning | |
| 6 | 8 | John Hunter Nemechek | Chevrolet | Joe Nemechek | |
| 7 | 10 | TBA | Chevrolet | Jennifer Jo Cobb | |
| 8 | 13 | Cody Coughlin | Ride TV/JEGS | Toyota | Duke Thorson |
| 9 | 16 | Ryan Truex | TBD | Toyota | Shigeaki Hattori |
| 10 | 18 | Noah Gragson | Switch | Toyota | Kyle Busch |
| 11 | 19 | Austin Cindric | Fitzgerald Glider Kits | Ford | Brad Keselowski |
| 12 | 20 | TBA | Young's Building Systems | Chevrolet | Bryan Hill |
| 13 | 21 | Johnny Sauter | Allegiant Airlines | Chevrolet | Maurice Gallagher Jr. |
| 14 | 24 | Justin Haley | Fraternal Order of Eagles | Chevrolet | Maurice Gallagher Jr. |
| 15 | 27 | Ben Rhodes | Safelite Auto Glass | Toyota | Duke Thorson |
| 16 | 29 | Chase Briscoe | Cooper Standard | Ford | Brad Keselowski |
| 17 | 33 | Kaz Grala | 15-40 Connection | Chevrolet | Maurice Gallagher Jr. |
| 18 | 36 | Chris Windom | BALDWIN BROTHERS/FOX PAVING/CENTRAL ABRASIVES/GOTTA RACE | Chevrolet | Beverly Mittler |
| 19 | 44 | JR Heffner | TBD | Chevrolet | Shane Lamb |
| 20 | 45 | Jeffrey Abbey | Black Riffle Coffee Company | Chevrolet | Al Niece |
| 21 | 49 | Wendell Chavous | TBD | Chevrolet | Jay Robinson |
| 22 | 50 | Josh Reaume | TBD | Chevrolet | Mark Beaver |
| 23 | 51 | Harrison Burton | Hunt Brothers Pizza | Toyota | Kyle Busch |
| 24 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar International | Chevrolet | Chris Larsen |
| 25 | 57 | TBA | TBD | Chevrolet | Norm Benning |
| 26 | 63 | Bobby Pierce | GOTTA RACE/866 GET A PRO METAL ROOFING | Chevrolet | Mike Mittler |
| 27 | 66 | Ken Schrader | K&L Ready Mix/Midwest Logistics Systems | Chevrolet | Jeff Bolen |
| 28 | 75 | Caleb Holman | Food Country USA/Lopez Wealth Management | Chevrolet | Charles Henderson |
| 29 | 80 | Justn Shipley | Roger's | Ford | Tracy Wallace |
| 30 | 83 | JJ Yeley (i) | Fr8Auctions.com | Chevrolet | DJ Copp |
| 31 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Ideal Door/Menards | Toyota | Rhonda Thorson |
| 32 | 89 | Rico Abreu | Curb Records | Toyota | Duke Thorson |
| 33 | 98 | Grant Enfinger | Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records | Toyota | Mike Curb |
| 34 | 99 | Ty Dillon (i) | K&L Ready Mix | Chevrolet | Matthew Miller |
About the author
Davey is in his fifth season with Frontstretch and currently serves as a multimedia editor and reporter. He authors the "NASCAR Mailbox" column, spearheads the site's video content and hosts the Frontstretch Podcast weekly. He's covered the K&N Pro Series and ARCA extensively for NASCAR.com and currently serves as an associate producer for SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and production assistant for NBC Sports Washington. Follow him on Twitter @DaveyCenter.
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Why doesn’t Kyle steal the money in this event?
Good question. Kyle does have a win at this track. So does Austin Dillon. If Kenny Schrader is racing, so could Tony Stewart, Dave Blaney, Tyler Walker, Sammy Swindell and Steve Kinser. All have big wins at Eldora and NASCAR history and have raced this year except Kinser, who is the King of Eldora.
Its on FOX BUSINESS.. Probably the most interesting Nascar race of the year, and this is the
first mention I’ve seen of it. And its on FOX BUSINESS…
Sounds like the networks are just mailing it in and not even trying to get an audience, this
would be an AWESOME race to put on FOX(proper)..
Soccer on FS1, the sport where you have to wear a shirt with a collar, and shin pads.
And bull riding from 5 days ago on FS2 (though FS2 apparently has the qualifying races)…
When these next TV contracts are up.. Nascar is DONE!!
This is a “BUSINESS” decision for FOX. Shows just how far down the pecking order Brian’s product is at Fox.
Bingo. If they are pulling in more of an audience for soccer or rodeo (why else would they move the race to FBN), that tells you all you need to know about Brians product.
Although, FS1 and FBN are on the same tier for most cable packages, where FS2 is on a higher one, so that could have factored into the decision as well. Most people just need to find where FBN is and they can see the race.