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Camping World Trucks
DUNLAP: Rare Runaway Points Race
Todd Bodine has held a commanding points lead since about the 15th race of the season, an anomaly in the Truck Series...
Ray Dunlap, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Reporter. (Photo: SPEED)
Todd Bodine currently has a 216-point lead on Aric Almirola in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. No other driver has ever had this kind of lead with three races to go in the season; however, I wouldn’t expect anything similar this time next year.
Bodine has held a commanding lead since about the 15th race of the season, but a differential of that magnitude is an anomaly in the Truck Series. Most Truck championships go down to the wire in the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and have been determined by the finishing order of those in the hunt.
We don’t witness blow-outs in the Truck Series points race too often, so this year begs the question as to what happened to drastically change the landscape of the competition? Why couldn’t the other guys keep pace with the No. 30 Germain Racing team?
First and foremost, it boils down to bad luck on the part of Bodine’s closest competitors. Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton, who we predicted would have a shot at hanging with Bodine, have had some terrible luck. They’ve run well – scoring top-five finishes throughout the season – but those strong showings have been peppered with DNFs or finishes in the 30s. That’s where Bodine got his gargantuan lead.
Are you surprised that Ron Hornaday wasn’t much of a factor this year? I believe the downturn was because of a shift in leadership within his team. Rick Ren left Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) following the conclusion of Hornaday’s 2009 championship season to assume the director of competition position at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Hornaday now is paired with his third crew chief of the year and the duo seems to finally have begun to figure out their program and chemistry. Additionally, KHI’s trucks just haven’t been as competitive as they were last year, which, when coupled with personnel shakeups, has taken the four-time champion out of the mix.
Mike Skinner, the 1995 Truck Series champion and one whom many thought would be up front all year, has had some question marks within his team as to whether they’d even finish the year out. Add all these oddities up and you can see why “The Onion” is so far out in front of everyone else.
Despite the runaway point race this year, I still argue that we do not need a Chase format in the Truck Series because it’s only a 25-race schedule and the title races are so tight 95-percent of the time. Just give it a few months and when we roll into Daytona for the 2011 season, I truly think we’ll embark on the most competitive season in the history of the series based on the sheer quality of teams and drivers. Look for the Truck Series to be more competitive than the Nationwide Series, which still is in limbo as NASCAR decides whether or not the Sprint Cup guys can earn points when they pull double-duty in the Nationwide races. Additionally, the Nationwide teams all must build new equipment as their division makes the fulltime transition to the COT cars, and I don’t think a lot of teams will go along for that pricey ride.
Richard Childress Racing is adding a second Truck entry to its stable for 2011 and rookie Austin Dillon, who has been outstanding in his first season this year, should be a championship contender in his sophomore season. Turner Motorsports is changing over to a three-truck organization, while Eddie Sharp Racing brings two new entries to the table. Although they won’t yet confirm it, Ford is returning to the Truck Series in 2011 with two factory-backed trucks, one of which will be driven by a veteran with the intent of chasing the championship.
If these additions and enhancements materialize as anticipated, there will be at least 20 trucks that legitimately could win in each race next season. The Truck Series has never had that depth of competition before but we’ve still managed to put on a hell of a race most weeks, so imagine what the on-track product could be with this elevation of the competition. Considered within the framework of the challenging economic times, that scenario is pretty incredible.
So, don’t look for a 216-point lead this time next year. If I was a betting man, I’d look for something closer to 16 points and I’d wager we’ll have four or five drivers with a legitimate shot at the championship heading into the homestretch at Homestead. That sure beats the heck out of one, doesn’t it?
Ray Dunlap is a veteran pit road reporter for SPEED in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a host for NASCAR Race Hub. Dunlap also reports for The SPEED Report, NASCAR Live and other programs on SPEED. Dunlap has covered the Truck Series since 1997 and has served as a play-by-play announcer and pit road reporter for several series, including the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, IPower Dash Series and ARCA Series. He was honored in 1997 as the Electronic Motorsports Media Personality of the Year and enjoys scuba diving and woodworking in his spare time.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Bodine has held a commanding lead since about the 15th race of the season, but a differential of that magnitude is an anomaly in the Truck Series. Most Truck championships go down to the wire in the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and have been determined by the finishing order of those in the hunt.
We don’t witness blow-outs in the Truck Series points race too often, so this year begs the question as to what happened to drastically change the landscape of the competition? Why couldn’t the other guys keep pace with the No. 30 Germain Racing team?
First and foremost, it boils down to bad luck on the part of Bodine’s closest competitors. Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton, who we predicted would have a shot at hanging with Bodine, have had some terrible luck. They’ve run well – scoring top-five finishes throughout the season – but those strong showings have been peppered with DNFs or finishes in the 30s. That’s where Bodine got his gargantuan lead.
Are you surprised that Ron Hornaday wasn’t much of a factor this year? I believe the downturn was because of a shift in leadership within his team. Rick Ren left Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) following the conclusion of Hornaday’s 2009 championship season to assume the director of competition position at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Hornaday now is paired with his third crew chief of the year and the duo seems to finally have begun to figure out their program and chemistry. Additionally, KHI’s trucks just haven’t been as competitive as they were last year, which, when coupled with personnel shakeups, has taken the four-time champion out of the mix.
Mike Skinner, the 1995 Truck Series champion and one whom many thought would be up front all year, has had some question marks within his team as to whether they’d even finish the year out. Add all these oddities up and you can see why “The Onion” is so far out in front of everyone else.
Despite the runaway point race this year, I still argue that we do not need a Chase format in the Truck Series because it’s only a 25-race schedule and the title races are so tight 95-percent of the time. Just give it a few months and when we roll into Daytona for the 2011 season, I truly think we’ll embark on the most competitive season in the history of the series based on the sheer quality of teams and drivers. Look for the Truck Series to be more competitive than the Nationwide Series, which still is in limbo as NASCAR decides whether or not the Sprint Cup guys can earn points when they pull double-duty in the Nationwide races. Additionally, the Nationwide teams all must build new equipment as their division makes the fulltime transition to the COT cars, and I don’t think a lot of teams will go along for that pricey ride.
Richard Childress Racing is adding a second Truck entry to its stable for 2011 and rookie Austin Dillon, who has been outstanding in his first season this year, should be a championship contender in his sophomore season. Turner Motorsports is changing over to a three-truck organization, while Eddie Sharp Racing brings two new entries to the table. Although they won’t yet confirm it, Ford is returning to the Truck Series in 2011 with two factory-backed trucks, one of which will be driven by a veteran with the intent of chasing the championship.
If these additions and enhancements materialize as anticipated, there will be at least 20 trucks that legitimately could win in each race next season. The Truck Series has never had that depth of competition before but we’ve still managed to put on a hell of a race most weeks, so imagine what the on-track product could be with this elevation of the competition. Considered within the framework of the challenging economic times, that scenario is pretty incredible.
So, don’t look for a 216-point lead this time next year. If I was a betting man, I’d look for something closer to 16 points and I’d wager we’ll have four or five drivers with a legitimate shot at the championship heading into the homestretch at Homestead. That sure beats the heck out of one, doesn’t it?
Ray Dunlap is a veteran pit road reporter for SPEED in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a host for NASCAR Race Hub. Dunlap also reports for The SPEED Report, NASCAR Live and other programs on SPEED. Dunlap has covered the Truck Series since 1997 and has served as a play-by-play announcer and pit road reporter for several series, including the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, IPower Dash Series and ARCA Series. He was honored in 1997 as the Electronic Motorsports Media Personality of the Year and enjoys scuba diving and woodworking in his spare time.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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