If you’re looking for where the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is racing on this weekend’s schedule, you won’t find it.
The series is on yet another off-week following its visit at Nashville Superspeedway last Friday (June 28). That race took place after a whopping three weeks of downtime for the series. Before Nashville, the last time the series was on track was at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 1.
That three-week “halftime break” really didn’t do wonders for the series upon its return at Nashville. It only took three turns before a seven-truck crash broke out before the field could even complete a lap.
Six more cautions followed in just a 150-lap event, including one for Dawson Cram spinning after a stack-up on a restart.
It’s easy to blame such a disjointed race on the fact on the way the Truck Series field races a lot of the time – in fact, you wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that. However there is reason to believe that after three weeks off in a series that doesn’t race much to begin with, there is some sort of ‘rust’ to shake off in the first race back.
But now we’re back to an off-week before returning to Pocono Raceway next Friday (July 12). Luckily, it’s only one off-week, but we’re still far from done from multi-off-weeks.
Following Pocono, the series will head to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 19 before taking another two weeks off – though that break is arguably the most forgivable. That’s the Olympic break, and it will affect all three of NASCAR’s premier series at the end of July and beginning of August.
The series returns on Aug. 10 when it heads to Richmond Raceway, but then it immediately takes another week off. Again, this is another one that is excusable when you consider that the playoffs start the week after at the Milwaukee Mile – quite frankly, I’m in favor of all three premier series having an off-week before their respective playoffs, but I digress.
After Milwaukee, there is yet again another two weeks off for the Truckers. Then the series has a rare three-race stretch before taking yet another two weeks off. Then the Truck Series finishes the season with three straight races.
Not to mention that preceding the three weeks off after Gateway was an other-worldly five-race stretch in five weeks, the longest consecutive run in the Truck season.
What an inconsistent schedule.
With a stop-and-go schedule like that, it’s no surprise that drivers can’t seem to figure out a rhythm. Team owners seem to agree too.
Nearly two years ago, I wrote on this very column that the Truck Series calendar is too short compared to the Xfinity and Cup schedules. While I’m still a proponent in expanding the schedule, at the very least, there needs to be some form of consistency.
Aside from the Olympic break, there’s really no good justification for running essentially one race within a one-month span. This is the case for four different races this season: Nashville (only race between June 2 and July 11), IRP (only race between July 13 and Aug. 9), Richmond (only race between July 20 and Aug. 25), and Milwaukee (only race between Aug. 11 and Sept. 18).
Now granted, with the exception of Milwaukee, every Truck Series race is a companion race with at least the Cup Series. Those races would be impossible to shift around without bringing Cup with it (because apparently standalone races are not something NASCAR wants to consider again).
This is where expanding the schedule comes into play. Sure, you could run some standalone races here and there, such as a race in Connecticut (I would love to see the Truckers run at Lime Rock Park) or a return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, but there are other times that the Truck Series ought to join Cup and/or Xfinity.
For example, why did the Trucks ever leave New Hampshire Motor Speedway? That should be a track that the series still visits. Or how about Dover Motor Speedway? Michigan International Speedway? There’s three racetracks that the series used to race at within the last decade that aren’t on the calendar currently.
Or what about sending the Trucks to Chicagoland Speedway while the Xfinity and Cup series are off at the Chicago street course, a la IRP and Indianapolis Motor Speedway weekend?
Don’t get me wrong, off-weeks are very important for the physical and mental health of drivers and teams. But having a three-week break like the one the series just came off of is going to throw everyone out of their rhythm upon return like what we saw at Nashville.
It certainly doesn’t help drivers that want to work their way up the NASCAR ladder to get used to having an inconsistent schedule or several off-weeks in a row; because when they move up to the next rung, they might be in for a rude awakening of how often the grind of the upper series works.
It’s more than likely why we see drivers like Corey Heim and Taylor Gray go race Xfinity machines on their off-weeks from truck racing. If they want to move up, they just have to get used to racing almost every week (the experience in another car helps too).
Obviously there would be a lot of logistics to moving around entire race weekends. However, NASCAR has shown us in recent years that it is willing to be bold with the schedule to keep things interesting. Maybe for 2025, the schedule could have some sort of basis around the Truck Series so there is a nice balance of taking time off and racing fairly consistently. Whether it’s by expansion of the schedule (which would be my vote) or by way of shifting the slate around so off-weeks fall more evenly.
And for goodness sake, add more standalone races! (Though that’s a story for another time.)
Truckin’ Tidbits
- In the penalty report following Nashville, Jon Leonard (crew chief of Matt Mills) and Jeriod Prince (crew chief of Matt Crafton) were each fined $2,500 as both trucks were found with one loose lug nut after the race.
- Luke Fenhaus will return to ThorSport Racing’s No. 66 for the next two races at Pocono and IRP. Fenhaus made his debut at Gateway, finishing 10th. Rookie of the Year contender Conner Jones, who is on a part-time schedule, will return to the seat at Richmond. The No. 66 has also been driven twice by Repco Supercars Championship driver Cam Waters.
About the author
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and secondary short track writer. He also serves as an at-track reporter and assists with social media when he can. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
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