The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads north of Daytona this weekend for the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be the second race of the 2018 season for what has already been an exciting start for the Truck Series. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at who will be hot and might end up in victory lane.
There are 34 trucks currently entered on the preliminary entry list.
In the last three races, there have been three different winners. And there is a high possibility that there could be a fourth different winner this Saturday.
- Kyle Busch – Busch will be competing in his first truck race of the season this weekend. It will be the first of five races on the schedule for the Las Vegas native. However, the last time Busch went to victory lane was eight years ago in 2010. Since the truck series returned to Atlanta in 2015, he has competed in one race which came in last year’s Active Pest Control 200. During the race, Busch ran second in both stages. Unfortunately, issues arose late in the race and relegated him to a 26th place finish. Although, you can never really count him out in any race that Busch races in. Be sure to keep an eye on him all weekend long. He also scored wins in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
- Matt Crafton – After a somewhat forgettable Daytona finish last weekend, Crafton is heading to one of his favorite race tracks statistically. In 16 races, he has one win (2015), five top fives and nine top 10 finishes, along with one pole and 173 laps led. Crafton also has an average starting position of 13.7 and an average finish of 12.0. He also will be using a truck that has three wins, especially at Atlanta. Crafton is the highest active driver statistically. In 2017, he finished runner-up. The previous year, Crafton was taken out in a multi-vehicle accident late in the race which put him 30th and he won the year before that. The No. 88 Menards driver will be up in contention for victory this weekend at Atlanta.
- Johnny Sauter – Sauter is carrying momentum to Atlanta after scoring the victory last weekend at Daytona. In two of the past three races, he has a finish of third and sixth respectively. In 2016, he was caught with issues late in the race thus relegating him to a 28th place finish. Surprisingly enough, Sauter does not have a win in the past seven races at Atlanta. He has collected one top five and three top 10 finishes, with no laps led. His average starting position is 11.1 and he has an average finishing position of 14.7. Regardless of what the stats say, Sauter could use the momentum from Daytona and catapult for his first ever track win at the 1.5-mile speedway.
- Joe Nemechek – Nemechek will be back once again competing for the Nemco Motorsports team. This time, however, he will adorn the No. 8 Chevy. In two races, he has one top 10 finish which came in 2015 when Nemechek finished 10th. In his only other start that came last year, he ended up finishing 24th, two laps down. However, Joe’s son, John Hunter, took the truck to victory lane two years ago for his first ever victory. Joe finished third in the truck race last Friday night at Daytona.
- Grant Enfinger – Enfinger could be a surprise winner this weekend. In two races, he has one top five and two top 10 finishes, and four laps led. The No. 98 Tundra driver finished ninth in Stage 1 before coming home eighth in the final running order.
Last year’s winner Christopher Bell, who will not be competing, started first and finished first, and also led 99 of the scheduled 130 laps. In the past three races, the lowest a driver has ever won from a starting spot was John Hunter Nemechek who started 18th when he went to victory lane in 2016.
Live coverage for the truck series starts Friday afternoon with two practice sessions scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET and final practice slated for 4:05 p.m. ET all on FS1. Qualifying will be held early Saturday morning at 10:35 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, with race coverage starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. The green flag will wave at 4:49 p.m. ET.
