This Saturday the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to the very format that made them famous back in 1995: short track racing. NASCAR’s definition of a tail gate party will make it’s annual return to the Memphis Motorsports Park for the running of the Memphis Travel.Com 250 an event that is guaranteed to be loaded with paint scraping, bumper banging, action.
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SERIES NOTES.
Before the green flag falls on Saturday there’s one thing that we already know for sure: who is not going to win the race. That would be Kyle Busch who normally drives the Toyota prepared by Billy Ballew Motorsports. The “Rowdy” one is busy in New Hampshire where he will race in the Nationwide Series Saturday night followed by the Sprint Cup event on Sunday.
That means that Brian Ickler, Ballew’s development driver and Busch’s stand in, will behind the wheel of the #51 truck. Ickler has been impressive in the truck series this year and could very well be a factor in Saturday’s race.
Needless to say all eyes will be on three times series champion Ron Hornday Jr and his Chevrolet prepared by Kevin Harvick Inc. Hornaday literally beat up the competition last weekend in Milwaukee and re established himself as the series points leader. He’s equally as good at Memphis Motorsports Park. He’s the defending race winner and also won this event back in 1998.
By the way, Hornaday leaving Milwaukee as the new points leader marked the fifth change in points leadership in ten races. It’s another viable sign of how competitive the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is going to be this year.
Also expected to be a major factor Saturday is Matt Crafton. Despite the fact that he’s still looking for his first win in 2009, Crafton has been a model of consistency this year and held the points lead prior to Hornaday’s Milwaukee dominance last week. He will arrive in Memphis 36 points out of first. This is exact type of track that Crafton cut his racing teeth on during the early days of his career in his native California and that will be another major plus for him.
Never to be overlooked is the presence of another former series champion. Todd Bodine, aka “The Onion”, has a very strong Toyota fielded by the Germain Brothers. This team is also re fired by the presence of new sponsorship from Copart. He’s currently third in the championship standings only 88 markers behind Hornaday. Look for the “Onion” to be strong at Memphis.
The same goes for former series champion Mike Skinner the driver of the Toyota team owned by NFL football great Randy Moss. Skinner was the only truck who could run with Hornaday last week but, unfortunately, got caught on pit road when a caution flag came out. He went two laps down and took a hit in the points standings. He goes into Saturday fourth in the championship rankings only 89 points from the top.
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