The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be making their own major contribution to the gala all star weekend, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, by staging one of their very special tail gate parties this Friday night. The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 is expected to produce plenty of action between series veterans and eager newcomers looking to take another step up the NASCAR ladder.
THE STORY BREAKDOWN
This race will have somewhat of an international flavor when Brazil’s Nelson Piquet Jr makes his return to the series as he continues his quest to make the jump from open wheel racing to NASCAR. Piquet will be making the first of three consecutive starts in the series Friday night. His debut was last February at Daytona where he finishes a very impressive ninth. He will be driving the #15 Qualcomm Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports.
Adding to the international flavor will be India’s Narain Karthikeyan who will be making his second series start in the #60 Safe Auto Insurance Chevrolet for Wyler Racing.
We could see the possibility of a Charlotte Motor Speedway sweep Friday night. There are two drivers in the field who has won at Charlotte in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series and will be looking for a win Friday to complete the track trifecta.
One of those drivers is veteran Elliot Sadler who will be driving the #2 Best Buy/Insignia Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. The other is a series owner/driver. Brad Keselowski will be driving his self owned #29 Brad Keselowski Racing Dodge. Both drivers will also be doing double duty when they compete in the Sprint Cup events Saturday night.
SPEED Television broadcaster Hermie Sadler will be making his second series start of the season in the #48 TNA Wrestling Chevrolet for Fast Track Racing. This may turn out to be a rather interesting presentation because the truck’s paint job was designed by TNA Wrestling superstar Jeff Hardy. If you’ve seen Hardy’s wrestling attire, including the body paint and hair color, then you can expect a very colorful truck.
It’s very sad to note that the element of substance abuse has once again struck the NASCAR community. On May 17th NASCAR announced that two crew members, from the Camping World Truck Series, were placed on indefinite suspension for violation of the sanctioning body’s strict drug policy. The crew members are Clint Carter, from the #46 team, and Jeremy Wilbert, from the #95 team. Both teams are owned and operated by Team Gill Racing.
It will be interesting to see how the schedule works for the series’ teams this Friday. All activities, from practice to qualifying to the race itself, are all compressed on the same day to accommodate the very busy NASCAR All Star Challenge weekend in Charlotte. This schedule will definitely be a cost cutting measure for team owners and perhaps something to explore in regards to future races.
THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 is 134 laps/200 miles around the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s 1.5 mile oval.
The race has 42 entries vying for the 36 starting positions.
17 of the entries are on the go or go home list meaning they do not have a guaranteed starting berth in the race because they’re currently outside of NASCAR’s top 25 in owner’s points. These teams will have to earn a starting berth based solely on qualifying speed.
The defending race winner is Ron Hornaday Jr driver of the #33 Longhorn Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc.
The SPEED Channel will be providing quite a bit of single day coverage of the series this Friday. The schedule begins with practice at 9am eastern time, final practice at 10 am et, qualifying at 330 pm et and the pre race show at 730 pm et.
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