After a week off, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action for a mid-week showdown on dirt at the famed Eldora Speedway Wednesday night.
There are thirty-four entries on the preliminary entry list.
This will be a tough race for many of the rookies. It will take them awhile to adapt to the dirt. Nonetheless, experience pays off and this will fall right into the hands of the dirt track stars.
Since its inaugural event in 2013, there have been four different winners in the last four races. Let’s take a look at who has the best shot of winning this year’s Eldora Dirt Derby 150.
- Christopher Bell – Bell is the defending winner of this race. Other stats include two top fives and two top ten finishes, with a 1.5 average finish. Bell has also competed in some dirt races after Kentucky, picking up a USAC win, an All Star Sprints win and a World of Outlaw Series win at Eldora this past weekend. Oh, and Bell won the Midget Chili Bowl earlier this year. So yeah, expect Bell to be up front.
- Rico Abreu – Abreu is back for a one race deal with Thorsport Racing. He is a dirt track standout star with more than 20 dirt track wins. Abreu also has a 2015 Chili Bowl win on his resume. At Eldora in his only Truck Series start, he has one top five with a third place finish in 2016. Expectations will be high for this dirt track superstar.
- Ken Schrader – The 62-year-old veteran is a dirt track specialist. With championships in the USAC Silver Crown and Sprint Car Series, Schrader has numerous dirt track wins. He has competed in the Truck Series at Eldora since 2014. In that time, he has one top five and finishes of 11th and 12th, respectively. Schrader also won the first ever heat race in 2013 and won a heat race the last two years.
- Matt Crafton – Crafton has competed in all four races at Eldora. During that time, he had four top 10 finishes, with an average finish of 9.0.
- Bobby Pierce – Pierce is another favorite when it comes to dirt track racing, especially the last few years, even though the results might not show it. In the last two years that Pierce has competed at Eldora, he battled for the win in the late going. In the 2015 race, he came up one spot short and finished second to race winner Christopher Bell. Last year, he was competing for the win with Cup star Kyle Larson, until he crashed on lap 126, ending his day with a disappointing 25th place finish. Will the third time be the charm for Pierce?
There will be two practices Tuesday, with the first practice at 7 p.m. ET followed by the final practice at 9 p.m. ET. Single Truck vehicle qualifying is slated for 5 p.m. ET on FS1. Qualifying heat races are scheduled for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS2 with the Eldora Dirt Derby to cap everything off at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fox Business Channel and MRN Radio.
