Take a good look at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points standings, and enjoy them while they last. That rundown may look vastly different come Lap 200 on Saturday afternoon.
Austin Dillon and James Buescher, the frontrunners, have little experience at the tiny Martinsville Speedway paper clip, site of Saturday’s Kroger 200. And the races they have run … well, they could’ve been better.
Dillon owns a tenuous three-point advantage over Buescher.
Then there’s Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday Jr., 14 and 16 points behind Dillon, respectively. They have combined to win the last two races there.
Don’t be surprised if the chasers become the chased once the checkers fly on Saturday. Here’s a rundown of the four contenders with three races to go.
Dillon: The sophomore driver made a rookie mistake at Talladega, stalling during a late caution. Dillon’s error led to a seventh-place finish that probably should’ve been higher (his Driver Rating ranked third in the race). Now he heads to Martinsville, a track at which he has yet to score a top-five finish. In three starts there, Dillon has two 16th-place finishes and a seventh (last April). It’s the only track where Dillon has three or more starts, yet no top fives. He’ll make his 50th series start on Saturday.
Buescher: Buescher feels Dillon’s pain. Last April, he finished 35th in a 35-truck field thanks to a red-flag-inducing accident on Lap 137. The finish was just another in a string of Martinsville outings that have resulted in results outside the top 10 for the Texas native. Prior to the April DNF, Buescher finished 12th and 11th, twice. Buescher finished third at Talladega to cut his deficit to Dillon from seven points to three.
Sauter: Perseverance is the only thing keeping Sauter alive right now. Typical Talladega tough luck left him with a 15th-place finish and knocked him down to third in the points (but it could have been much worse). Sauter won the April Martinsville race, besting NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. If he can win again this weekend, he’ll join Mike Skinner as the only drivers to sweep Martinsville since the series went to two races a year in 2003. Skinner swept in 2007.
Hornaday: With 22 short-track victories, Hornaday is the king of this style of racing. Only one of those wins came at Martinsville – in this race last season. You can almost guarantee a top-five finish out of Hornaday; the four-time champion has finished inside the top five at Martinsville in five consecutive races, including a third in April. Hornaday’s trek up the standings is nothing short of amazing. After race 12, he was 69 points out. In the 10 races since, Hornaday has finished outside the top 10 only once, and has scored more points than any other driver (391).
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