Photo Credit: Red Horse Racing
When the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers were last on track, it was Ben Kennedy who took home his first career win at Bristol Motor Speedway last week. The truckers will take to Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, and there’s a number of drivers looking for their first wins who could make it happen.
After finishes of third and second at Pocono and Bristol, part-time driver Brett Moffitt will be back in the No. 11 Tundra for Red Horse Racing, and last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year is eyeing his first career NASCAR win. Moffitt was closing in on Kennedy late in the race at Bristol, but just couldn’t find his way around him. In three starts this year, Moffitt has two top-fives, and the youngster looks to position himself in victory lane in the Irish Hills.
Moffitt isn’t the only part-time driver whose looking for a trophy this weekend. Last year’s ARCA Racing Series champion Grant Enfinger will make his fourth start of the season on Saturday, and after a stellar start to his part-time campaign, Enfinger wants to pull into victory lane. Enfinger finished fifth at Atlanta earlier this year, and even earned pole at Daytona to kick the season off. Enfinger’s a 15-time winner in ARCA, but has never scored the win at MIS, but he looks to change that this weekend.
While their ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton has won countless Truck races; Cameron Hayley, Rico Abreu and Ben Rhodes are all looking for their first career wins, and each have come close this season. Hayley contended for wins at Atlanta to start the season as well as Iowa, and most recently at Pocono. With two runner-up finishes this season, the Canadian looks to secure his first win. Abreu and Rhodes have also run well on the intermediate tracks. Abreu was close to winning at Texas earlier in the year before hitting the wall late in the race, and Rhodes took home an 18th-place finish at Kansas after running inside the top-two with a few laps remaining.
Last year’s winner at MIS is notably missing from the entry list this time around. Kyle Busch won with Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones finishing second and third. With all three focusing on other things this weekend, the field is wide open for someone else to claim Michigan as their own. Johnny Sauter looks to be that driver. Sauter finished fourth in the race last year after leading 24 laps. Sauter won to start the season at Daytona, but the GMS Racing driver hasn’t visited victory lane since.
It’s hard to talk Trucks this year without mentioning young William Byron. The rookie currently leads the points and has scored a rookie record-tying five wins this season. Byron can never be counted out as a potential race winner, and the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver should have some added confidence after recently signing a deal to race full-time with JR Motorsports in the XFINITY Series next year.
