2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series preview - Texas
Michael Manny previews the SpeedyCash.com 220 at Texas Motor Speedway.
For the second-straight week, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series runs on a mile-and-a-half intermediate track as drivers hit Texas Motor Speedway for the SpeedyCash.com 220.
With the season now past the halfway point of its 16-race schedule, only four drivers have locked themselves into the playoffs with a win. Six spots are still up for grabs heading into the ninth race of the 2022 season.
John Hunter Nemechek is the most recent winner at the track. While he only has one win on the season, compared to five last year, he continues his qualifying success. The 24-year-old Kyle Busch Motorsports driver is on the pole for the third-straight week. Nemechek’s teammate Corey Heim joins him on the front row.
Nemechek is not the only KBM driver to have success at Texas. KBM drivers have won seven of the last 12 races at the track, with GMS Racing taking the other five. The last time another team won at Texas was Matt Crafton for ThorSport Racing in June 2015.
Last week at Kansas Speedway, Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith put on perhaps the most dominant performance of his young career. Smith led 108 of 134 laps, earning his third win of the season comfortably.
The 22-year-old Smith will look to continue the momentum, but he will have to do it starting from 15th place. Smith leads the series in wins this year, and is first in playoff points, with 2,027, two more than defending champion Ben Rhodes.
Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen and ThorSport’s Christian Eckes will start from the second row. Eckes has run twice at Texas, finishing second in 2020. Friesen has finished second twice in nine starts.
Ryan Preece has finished in the top-10 in each of his five career truck series starts. He rounds out the top five and starts in the third row.
Notably, David Gilliland Racing’s Hailie Deegan will start sixth after posting a career-best qualifying lap.
Preece is not the only recognizable name making a start this weekend.
Todd Bodine, making his 797th national series start, is running his third race of 2022 for Halmar Friesen in the No. 62 truck. The two-time champion has the most wins at Texas among active drivers (six).
Ross Chastain is making his third start in the series this season, driving the No. 41 for Niece Motorsports. In his first two starts, he has an average finish of 24.5. Chastain is in the middle of a breakout campaign for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series.
Another car to watch is Ty Majeski’s No. 66. Majeski was the fastest car in practice and has earned three top-fives and five top-10s running full-time for ThorSport this season.
Garrett Smithley and Armani Williams failed to qualify and will not race.
The race begins at 8:30 ET with coverage on Fox Sports 1, Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The stages will run through laps 35, 70 and 147.
Starting Lineup:
Pit stall assignments:
Goodyear Tire Notes:
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Race No. 9 – 147-laps / 220.5 miles
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) – Fort Worth, Tex.
Fast Facts for May 20-21, 2022
Tire: Goodyear 15-inch Eagle Speedway Radials
Set limits:
Camping World Truck: 5 sets for the event
Tire Codes:
Left-side — D-6110;
Right-side — D-6112
Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,225 mm (87.60 in.);
Right-side — 2,250 mm (88.58 in.)
Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 19 psi; Left Rear – 19 psi;
Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi
Notes – Xfinity, Trucks on Las Vegas, Kansas tire set-up at Texas: Teams in both the NASCAR Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series will run the same tire set-up at Texas this week . . . being on 15-inch bead diameter tires, these teams will run a different tire set-up than those in the Cup Series . . . compared to last year at Texas, this tire set-up features just a minor compound change on both sides of the car . . . this is the same combination of left- and right side tires that these teams ran at Las Vegas (both series) and Kansas (Trucks) . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Texas . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.
— Goodyear Racing —