It’s really a shame that we have to have another conversation about the lack of respect in NASCAR.
For a couple years now, the sport has devolved into complete anarchy when it comes to respect. Drivers have started to run through others to win races, make dumb moves on an overtime restart thinking they can win from eighth, or just flat-out wreck someone when they feel they weren’t raced the way they wanted to be raced.
If you’re thinking that the Craftsman Truck Series is the primary culprit of such lack of respect, I wouldn’t be able to fault you based on the way that last season spiraled out of control with intentional crashes or disrespectful driving.
This season, however? Surprisingly, the Truck Series has not seen a ton of dirty driving. Most of the rough driving has come in the Cup Series, in part thanks to the rigid construction of the Next Gen.
The 2023 championship race at Phoenix Raceway for the Truck Series was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, with paybacks, crashes and just plain poor driving from the drivers, resulting in 29 additional laps of overtime before Ben Rhodes could capture his second championship.
That seemed to be a wake-up call to the entire field, because, while there have been wrecks of natural cause, there have been limited cases of purely intentional disrespectful driving.
It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, though. Naturally, there have been cases of drivers frustrated with each other, resulting in short tempers and hurt feelings.
Perhaps the most prominent incident came at Nashville Superspeedway, when Layne Riggs and Stefan Parsons engaged in a fierce, contact-filled battle for several laps throughout the race. The battle ended when a frustrated Riggs ended up sending Parsons up the hill and into the wall to bring out a caution.
Riggs was then held two laps for rough driving, then talked through the incident with Parsons after the race.
The only other rivalry of note in the Truck Series has been between the two championship leaders this season, Christian Eckes and Corey Heim. A combined eight wins on the season has solidified them as the favorites for the title this season. As such, their battles on the track have been quite fierce.
Fortunately, the two have raced each other cleanly and with respect for most of the season.
The key word there is “most”. They did have a little dust-up at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park while battling for position.
A squeeze from Eckes put Heim in the wall, putting the No. 11 team behind the 8-ball for the rest of the night. Despite both drivers racing each other relatively clean up to that point in the season, Heim still wasn’t too happy with Eckes over the move.
However, aside from these two incidents, there haven’t really been a lot of flare-ups in the Truck Series. As mentioned earlier, most of the conversations around respect this season have revolved around the Cup Series.
And honestly, that says a lot about the maturity of the Truck Series drivers this season. Last season had way too many instances of drivers unhappy and overaggressive moves for position that resulted in too much bent sheet metal.
Now, five races before the end of the 2024 season, the field has turned it around. The newcomers to the series haven’t ruffled too many feathers, and there hasn’t been the need to have a “come to Jesus” moment to set anyone straight.
A year ago, that would have been unthinkable. As the site’s primary Truck Series writer, it makes me so happy to write about positive stories throughout the garage, not continuing to criticize the racing between competitors.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a conversation that needs to be had about respect in NASCAR.
Fortunately, at this moment, the Truck Series is not at the epicenter of that conversation.
Let’s finish the season strong, Truckers.
Truckin’ Tidbits
- Nick Sanchez will depart his Rev Racing No. 2 at season’s end to drive Big Machine Racing’s No. 48 Xfinity Series car full-time in 2025. Sanchez, who has made six of his eight career Xfinity starts with Big Machine in 2022, replaces the outgoing Parker Kligerman. That leaves another seat open in an already wild 2025 Truck Series silly season – though it’d be shocking if anyone other than Rev’s ARCA driver, Andres Perez, takes the team’s truck seat.
- Dawson Sutton will replace Ty Dillon in Rackley W.A.R.’s No. 25 for the remainder of the 2024 season. Dillon will remain with the team as a driver coach and mentor to Sutton while he works out his 2025 plans (he is rumored to replace Daniel Hemric in the Cup Series next season). Sutton is the son of Rackley W.A.R. co-owner and Rackley Roofing CEO Curtis Sutton.
- Matt Mills will return to Niece Motorsports next season, remaining behind the wheel of the No. 42 with sponsorship from JF Electric and Utilitra. Mills is only the third driver to lock down his 2025 Truck Series plans – Grant Enfinger and Riggs signed multi-year deals with CR7 Motorsports and Front Row Motorsports, respectively, prior to this season.
- Nathan Byrd and Justin Mondeik have been tapped to drive Young’s Motorsports’ two full-time trucks this weekend at Kansas. Byrd, making his Truck Series debut, will drive the No. 02 (previously driven full-time by Mason Massey), while Mondeik, making his second straight career start, will drive the No. 46 in place of Rookie of the Year candidate Thad Moffitt. Mondeik drove the No. 02 last week in his debut at Bristol, while Tyler Tomassi drove the No. 46.
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 serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. 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.