The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is going back to it’s roots by returning to the dirt on a Wednesday night. Though NASCAR history was also made when Ken Schrader scored the pole for the Mid Summer Classic, becoming the oldest NASCAR pole sitter at the age of 58.
Dirt racer Jared Landers qualified second in his first truck start, followed by Timothy Peters, Kenny Wallace and Jeb Burton.
Usually NASCAR would line the trucks up for the main event based on the qualifying results. However, things were changed. NASCAR went with a dirt track format with five heat races that took three locked in drivers and one non-locked in driver per race, followed by a last chance qualifier that took the top five.
As a result, Ken Schrader would start on pole in the first heat and led all eight laps to take the victory. He’ll start pole come tonight’s A-Main.
Jared Landers would start on pole in the second heat and lead seven of the eight laps after being challenged by series regulars Darrell Wallace Jr. and Matt Crafton. Darrell Wallace Jr. pressured Landers for the lead, though spun with three laps to go; Wallace Jr. would get back to fourth. After the restart for Wallace’s spin, it was Crafton was pressuring Landers and using the very bottom of the track, however he would come up short and finish second.
Timothy Peters would lead all the laps in the third heat.
In the fourth heat, Kenny Wallace led the field to green and like those before, led all of the laps.
The last chance qualifier saw Brennan Newberry pick up the win. However, behind Newberry, the excitement was on in a battle for fifth between Norm Benning, Jimmy Weller III and Clay Greenfield. The three of them bumped and banged for the second half of the event with Benning bouncing off the wall coming to the line grabbing the final spot.
“I’ve been looking forward to this race since the day they announced it!” Benning said.
Known as the underdog story, Benning is a series regular, however is not known for running upfront as he typically runs near the back of the pack with his unsponsored No. 57 truck.
