NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
DUNLAP: Summer Musing
Here are some of my random thoughts and observations on the 2011 season to-date and what is yet to come...
Ray Dunlap  |  Posted June 01, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Ray Dunlap, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Reporter. (Photo: SPEED)
Now that June is here and school is almost out for summer break, it’s time for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to settle into a more regular schedule of its own.

I always look forward to this time of the season because it’s so hard for those of us on the SPEED broadcast team to get into any kind of rhythm with races spaced out every two or three weeks early in the year. However, our next three races will be held at mile-and-a-half speedways beginning Saturday at Kansas Speedway, which should help all of us in the Truck Series garage begin to find our groove. With 10 races total on these “cookie cutter” tracks this year, all the Truck teams better be ready with their best stuff this weekend.

Since we’ve had several weekends off here and there since Daytona, I’ve had plenty of time to dissect the series and its competitors. With that in mind, following are some of my random thoughts and observations on the 2011 season to-date and what is yet to come:

We have had a different winner at every Truck Series event at Kansas. Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch make their first-ever Truck starts at the speedway on Saturday, so you can go ahead and make that 11 different winners.

The No. 51 truck did not compete at Charlotte, marking the first race it sat out since Las Vegas in 2007. I don’t think the new owners at Vision Aviation had any clue how to run a race team when they arrived on the scene, and I really miss having Billy Ballew and Richie Wauters in the mix each week.

Kyle Busch has won four of seven races this year and Kasey Kahne claimed the checkers at Darlington for Kyle Busch Motorsports. That makes KBM the winner of eight of the last 11 events in this series. I am amazed at the talent of Busch, a kid nonetheless, who has assembled a great team, but this dominance may not be healthy for the series. As much as I enjoy watching him, someone please find a way to beat him … soon.

No driver has ever repeated as series champion in back-to-back years and that stat is in no danger in 2011. Todd Bodine had one good race (Darlington) but overall, terrible luck. Watch for some big changes in that team. They need to focus only on winning now with no regard to how the points land.

Cole Whitt is the first rookie to lead the points in the Camping World Truck Series history (I do not count the inaugural race at Phoenix when Mike Skinner, and every other driver, was a rookie). Cole said that had team owner Stacy Compton not believed in him, he would be installing toilets right now instead of setting himself up for a great opportunity in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Watch for the middle part of this season to be extra training for his Red Bull Cup ride, and don’t be surprised if he stays in this title fight all year.

It appears to me that Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday are the two best candidates for the championship in 2011. I picked Austin Dillon in my pre-season predictions this year, but they just do not seem to have all the parts working in order as well as last season. Crafton can’t win the title without winning races, and the size of the team and overall budget will likely catch up with the No. 60 team late in the year.

I hope Richmond comes back on the NCWTS schedule next year. The Trucks need to race there. Let me know if you have any insight on how to make that happen. This shouldn’t even be up for argument.

Clint Bowyer was out of his mind after Kyle Busch passed him with seven laps to go at Charlotte. I don’t think anybody hates losing to the No. 18 more than he does … well, besides his owner (Kevin Harvick). Imagine how upset Bowyer will be if he’s on the wrong end of another late-race pass at Kansas, his home track.

It is a shame that Kimi Raikkonen ran his first NASCAR race at Charlotte. The tire combination was not quite right and I do not think he had much fun. Maybe Pocono or Michigan would have been a better fit.
Ray Dunlap, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Reporter. (Photo: SPEED)

I thought we would see a lot better results for Jason White with his new team. I also anticipated better results for Ricky Carmichael with the new-and-improved Turner Motorsports. Ditto that for Travis Kvapil (understatement of the year).

If James Buescher had not missed the race in Phoenix, he would be right in the title fight. The No. 31 team has five top-10 finishes. How can a team of that caliber miss a race? I do not get it…

I hope NASCAR will consider making a few of our events into doubleheaders with the Nationwide Series in 2012. It makes no sense to race at 4 p.m. ET on a Friday at Dover. Nashville can’t buy a crowd, so let’s schedule both events on one day and see if people will travel for two races. I also do not understand the Trucks racing at Kentucky on a Thursday night.

Along those same lines, move the Friday night Truck race at Charlotte to the Saturday afternoon of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and simply charge $6 more for the ticket. Now that would be a great day at the track.

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
ray_dunlap's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ray Dunlap

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.