It’s old home week for most of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series teams competing in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
All but two of the teams in the series are based in the Charlotte area. The exceptions are ThorSport Racing from Sandusky, Ohio, and Rackley W.A.R. from Centerville, Tenn.
If you’re looking for a favorite for Friday’s race, it might be wise to stay close to home, specifically at TRICON Garage in Mooresville, N.C. That’s home base for Corey Heim, who has won four of the last eight Truck Series races on intermediate speedways.
Unfortunately for the driver of the No. 11 Toyota, Friday’s Truck Series event will be the last on a 1.5-mile intermediate track this season.
A three-time winner so far this year, Heim is the only driver to have led laps in all 10 Truck Series races this season. With 14 career victories, he needs one more to tie three-time series champion Matt Crafton for 10th on the all-time win list.
Standing in Heim’s way are full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. Busch’s record at Charlotte is unassailable—he has eight wins and 12 top-two finishes in 15 Truck Series starts at the track.
Driving the No. 44 Chevrolet for Niece Motorsports, Chastain hopes to reprise his 2022 victory at the track.
“I think Charlotte is a great track for us to race on,” Chastain said. “The pavement is wore out and bumpy, so we’re always searching around for grip. With how short the truck race is (134 laps) compared to the other series, we all know that we have to make moves quickly to get track position.
“When we were able to win here a few years ago, it felt so rewarding because we had been close so many other times. I’m hoping we can have another chance at doing that again this week.”
— NASCAR News Wire —