Trucks…
They are designed with a very distinctive purpose. They are a bit like body builders in the sense that all they really have to do is pick up heavy things and move them. In that regard you would not expect a body builder to show up at a marathon…
Yet that is exactly what they do at NASCAR in the Camping World Truck Series. They drive hundreds of laps in what is essentially a box in front of another box. It is not that the racing is compromised. In fact, the truck series offers close and exciting racing.
Take the 2013 season opener as an example. Six cautions, some pretty big crashes, high speed on the Daytona banks and drama at the finish with a Sprint Cup driver chasing the lead only to lose it to a NCWST regular. Johnny Sauter took the checkers at the NextEra Energy Resources 250 while Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday, Jr. were chasing the right time to move.
The trucks got a bit of a beating at Daytona but the teams have time to throw the pieces back together as the next race is more than a month away at Martinsville. After running the ‘clip in Virginia the series schedule becomes more regular over the summer. Sauter has points coming into Martinsville yet all the drivers know it is early on and anything can happen.
However, our suspicion is “anything” does not include racing the trucks as their showroom counterparts were designed. Throw some bricks in the beds, some lumber, some steel pipes… Hitch a boat to a few of them. Let’s see them race as designed!
After all, they brought the Gen-6 to Sprint Cup to bring it closer to the showroom… Right…? See…? Come on!
Anything can happen at Martinsville. Well… Almost. Go Racing!
