Last year when NASCAR rolled out the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule, there were some new dates added – a dirt race at Eldora Speedway and a road course race in Canada at the famed Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Both of those dates turned out to be a success and will remain for the 2014 season – no surprise to fans of the series.
Since the announcement of the schedule, Canadian NASCAR fans have discussing their plans in heading into CTMP once again in 2014 to witness another race. Those who didn’t attend the race are even talking of going this year, based on the success of those who attended.
While NASCAR is an American sport for the most part, there are many Canadians who follow the series, watching each of the races every week on TV and discuss them among the fans. There’s always been the fact that if you wanted to see a race, you had to cross the border. Though for some fans, there’s not enough money to pay for the tickets, the hotel and the fuel to get down there – along with other costs. That’s why having a race in their backyard is a welcome addition.
Also by doing it ‘Labour Day’ weekend, it allows fans to camp out for the weekend, enjoying all the practice sessions and the race, along with the Canadian Tire Series race – with having Monday off work to re-cooperate. For Canadian fans, it’s the perfect storm. The race drew in a crowd of well over 75,000 as fans lined the front stretch grass seating area, as well as some of the turns to witness the action only NASCAR can deliver. While a road course race with other divisions may be exciting, the trucks seemed to find a way to kick it up a notch. The entire course saw close, tight racing throughout the field – including some fireworks.
Last year’s race also included everything that a NASCAR fan wants in a show – close racing throughout, strategy and fireworks at the end. From the contact between eventual race winner Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon to the contact with Mike Skeen and Max Papis followed by the slap, the race was full of fireworks from top to bottom.
Though beyond all the positives that come with having the race, there is the simple fact – the trucks deserve to have a road course on their schedule. Both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series run at least two road courses a year so why would the trucks be different?
When the truck race was added to the schedule last year, it was a welcome addition by many fans and drivers alike.
“I think it’s long over due for the truck series,” 2012 series champion James Buescher commented back in September. “You look at every NASCAR series – K&N, Cup, Nationwide, Canadian Tire Series, Mexico, Europe – every series was racing on the road courses except the trucks. I thought it was quite overdue.”
“I love it,” Coulter said of the diversity late summer. “When I was racing in the ARCA Series, one of my favourite parts was running all those different race tracks within a month basically. So when I heard where the trucks were going to race this weekend with dirt and road courses, I was pretty excited about it. I like having it mix-up and really adds another level of challenge to the drivers and show people what kind of drivers they are, whether they’re just short track drivers or have their hands on the whole spectrum.”
The long NASCAR schedule is supposed to test a driver’s ability to the full extent and the driver that can be the most consistent over the season is the one who is rewarded with the biggest prize at the end of the year. While it’s important to see who will run well at the plate tracks, the short tracks and the intermediate tracks – its also neat to see who will run well on the road courses and on dirt. The driver who masters the whole package is the driver who normally comes out on top, as Matt Crafton did this past season with his consistency throughout the whole year.
