While the NASCAR Cup Series will be racing on dirt this weekend for the first time in more than 50 years, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned to the surface in 2013 at Eldora Speedway in Ohio.
Although the 2020 edition of the Eldora race was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trucks will race on dirt twice this season – this weekend in Saturday night’s Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and later this season at Knoxville Speedway in Iowa.
Of the seven races run on the dirt at Eldora between 2013 and 2019, five of the race winners will try to qualify for this weekend’s race – Bubba Wallace (2014), Kyle Larson (2016), Matt Crafton (2017), Chase Briscoe (2018) and the most recent winner in 2019, Stewart Friesen.
In addition to Wallace (driving the No. 11 Toyota for Spencer Davis Motorsports) and Larson (No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet), several other NASCAR Cup Series regulars will be taking a turn on the dirt with the Camping World Truck Series.
Daniel Suarez (No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet), Kevin Harvick (No. 17 Team DGR Ford), Ryan Newman (No. 39 Diversified Custom Concepts Ford), and Martin Truex Jr. (No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota) will all be attempting to make the main event Saturday.
In total, there are 22 drivers entered (half the field) who have raced at least once at Eldora Speedway on the dirt in the Camping World Truck Series. Crafton and Johnny Sauter are the only drivers who competed in all seven Eldora races between 2013 and 2019.
And on top of Eldora dirt experience, a pair of drivers in the field have won an ARCA Menards Series West race on dirt – in the pair of races held on the dirt at Las Vegas. Sheldon Creed won there in 2018 while Hailie Deegan won the race in 2019. Derek Krause also won his qualifying race in each of those two years on the Las Vegas dirt.
NASCAR PR
