NCWTS prepares for first Chase elimination race at Talladega
Saturday’s fred’s 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway is an elimination race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Two drivers will be knocked out on points after this race, leaving just six to run for the series championship.
Heading into the always unpredictable Talladega race, rookie William Byron is the only driver locked into the Truck Series Round of 6, thanks to a victory at New Hampshire earlier in the round.
Byron’s Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Christopher Bell is second in the Truck Series standings, 25 points above the cutoff line to make the next round. Then it’s two-time series champion Matt Crafton (+24), Ben Kennedy (+18), Timothy Peters (+16) and Johnny Sauter (+15).
The drivers who are currently below the Truck Series cutoff line are Daniel Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek, both of whom are 15 points behind Sauter.
Of the eight remaining drivers, Peters won the last two races at Talladega, while Sauter was victorious here in 2013. Five of the eight truck Chase drivers have never had a top-10 finish at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Expect a wild and wide-open race, with qualifying on FS1 at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The popular “NCWTS Setup” show is on FOX at 12:30 p.m. ET, with the race on FOX at 1 p.m. ET.
It should be an entertaining afternoon, for sure.“The mental aspect (of restrictor-plate racing) is just unbelievable,” said Crafton. “You try to play out every scenario – trying to put yourself in the right position, which we do every week, but Talladega, and Daytona are just so much worse.”
“The mental aspect (of restrictor-plate racing) is just unbelievable,” said Crafton. “You try to play out every scenario – trying to put yourself in the right position, which we do every week, but Talladega, and Daytona are just so much worse.”
“A lot of things are out of your control at Talladega so you have to be smart,” added Sauter. “Despite being in the last transfer spot going in, I feel really good about this. Really comfortable.”We’ll see how comfortable Sauter and the other truckers are on Saturday afternoon.
We’ll see how comfortable Sauter and the other truckers are on Saturday afternoon.
