What’s Happening?

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the final race before a two-week break. It also marks the 2nd intermediate track race of the season, while also starting a stretch of 6 intermediate tracks in 7 races. Who are the drivers to watch this weekend?

• Texas Motor Speedway opened in 1997, and the Craftsman Truck Series has raced there at least once per season ever since the track opened. The track hosted 2 races per year from 1999 to 2020 before being reduced back to one date per season.
• Texas is a 1.5-mile track located in Fort Worth, Texas. Originally a symmetrical track, it was reconfigured in 2017 to reduce banking in turns 1 and 2 to 20 degrees, keeping turns 3 and 4 at 24 degrees.
• Fans are excited to see the Truck Series back on track this weekend. Last year’s Texas race left a lot of people talking, and it will be interesting to see what this season brings.

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The Favorites

Nick Sanchez is looking for redemption this weekend at Texas. He led a race-high 168 of 172 laps last season before being taken out in a last lap incident with Carson Hocevar. Sanchez is looking to prove last year was not a fluke, and he’s coming off of a top-5 run at Martinsville.

Rajah Caruth is a driver to watch due to being the winner of the only intermediate track race of the season so far. Caruth and Spire Motorsports figure to be tough to beat this weekend, and Caruth has fought to get solid results in recent weeks.

Ty Majeski is sneakily very good on intermediate tracks. He led the most laps and won both stages at Las Vegas earlier this season, and his 2nd place run at Martinsville shows that ThorSport is starting to show some life. Look out for Majeski to potentially surprise this weekend.

Who Needs a Boost

The fact that Corey Heim finished 10th, yet, it still felt like a disappointment shows just how good Corey Heim has been. Thankfully for Heim, Texas is a perfect track for him to rebound. He finished 7th at Texas 1 year ago, and he finished 3rd after starting 25th at Las Vegas earlier this year.

Stewart Friesen has been involved in post-race altercations two times in 3 weeks, and his performance has been lackluster too. He is 15th in points, 28 points out of the Playoffs. While it seems strange to talk about the Playoffs, the Truck Series has only 10 races left until the Playoffs start.

Grant Enfinger finished a disappointing 20th at Martinsville, which was a race he felt he could perform well. He finished in 9th at Las Vegas earlier this year, so, CR7 has a solid enough intermediate track program. Can Enfinger keep that trend going this weekend?

Rookie Watch

Layne Riggs was spun out by pretty much everyone in the field last weekend at Martinsville, a race he qualified 3rd. He’s still searching for his first Truck Series top-10 of the season. However, he holds a 41-point lead in the Rookie of the Year standings.

Thad Moffitt overcame mechanical problems in practice and an early spin to finish on the lead lap at Martinsville. He finished 25th earlier this season at Martinsville, so, we’ll see what he can do this weekend.

Conner Jones returns this weekend after a few races off. He might have a sneakily fast ThorSport truck this weekend. Jones figures to be a potential dark horse for a top-10.

Notable Entrants

Kyle Busch makes his 4th Truck Series start of the season at Texas this weekend. He has one win, coming at Atlanta, and he finished 2nd in his last start at Bristol. Busch did struggle at Las Vegas, an intermediate, however, finishing 15th. That shouldn’t stop him from being a threat for the win.

Zane Smith looks to give Bill McAnally his 3rd win in 4 races. Smith has made 2 Truck Series starts this season, finishing 8th at Las Vegas and 3rd at Bristol. Watch out for Zane Smith.

The Truck Series is set for another exciting weekend of action this weekend at Texas. Who will take home the win?