NCWTS: Ford EcoBoost 200 Race Preview

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will travel to South Florida for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Friday will end a long season for the series that started in February at Daytona International Speedway. Matt Crafton, who is one of the four drivers racing for his third Camping World Truck Series championship, enters the weekend as the defending race winner.

There are 35 drivers entered into this weekend’s event. Some of those include Scott Lagasse Jr., Brady Boswell, Patrick Staropoli, Stewart Fresen, Noah Gragson, Kyle Larson, Reed Sorenson, Spencer Boyd, Alon Day, Grant Enfinger and Jesse Little. Three drivers will not make the race following round one of qualifying.

Brady Boswell will join Athenian Motorsports this weekend to pilot the No. 05 Electrical Supply / Jive Communications Chevrolet. John Wes Townley will continue to sit out as he recovers from a non-racing related ankle injury.

“I am thankful to Athenian Motorsports for this opportunity,” Boswell said in a release. “We meshed really well when I drove for John Wes (Townley) earlier this year at Eldora. I like their organization and the effort they put into their team.”

Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday will mark Boswell’s second career Camping World Truck Series start. Boswell made his debut at Eldora Speedway with Athenian Motorsports. He took the No. 05 Chevrolet to a 21st-place finish.

Kyle Larson will join the Camping World Truck Series fray for the third time this year. Larson, who scored the 2014 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year award, will pilot the No. 24 DC Solar Chevrolet for GMS Racing.

“I’m really excited to get back to Homestead; it’s one of my favorite tracks and a place I always look forward to running,” said Larson in a release. “We’ve been closing out the season pretty strong in the Target Chevy, so I’m looking forward to another good race this weekend. I felt like we were really close to being in a position to win this race last season, so hopefully we can run upfront again on Sunday and be in a position to win. I’m also running the truck race and XFINITY race, so it would be awesome to end the year with three trips to victory lane.”

Larson has two career starts in the Camping World Truck Series at Homestead. The California native scored a victory there back in 2014. In 12 starts in the series, Larson holds two victories, six top five and nine top 10 finishes.

Four drivers enter the weekend looking to capture the 2016 Camping World Truck Series championship. Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters will all battle for the championship in the first ever Camping World Truck Series Chase format.

How are the ‘Championship 4’ drivers feeling this weekend?

“Homestead has been a great track for me,” said Peters in a team release. “We’ve been able to finish in the top-five the last three years there and I love that – worn out race track and ride right up by the fence and if that doesn’t work then you can go to the bottom. Just a lot of different characteristics of that race track that can help your balance and I’m ready.”

“I have no friends. All my friends are going to come in yellow fire suits with Menards on them,” said Crafton in a release. “We’re going to take our gloves off, and I promise you that we’re going to have no friends going into that race. We’re going to do whatever it takes to win. I don’t think there’s anybody that has an advantage, it’s whoever has the best truck, and the best man will win Friday night. I guess, we’ll find out. I’m sure all the Toyotas will be good, without a doubt.”

“The best way to win the championship is to win the race. You’re going to have to go down there and be aggressive to win the race, but be really smart,” said Sauter in a release. “You’re going to have to be fast, especially when you look at the guys competing for it. I truly believe the champion will win the race. It would be a feather in my cap personally, but it would be really big for GMS Racing as an organization, only in their third full time season. It would be really cool for my family, too. So many generations of racing, not just in NASCAR, and to be able to win a championship would be really special for all of the us.”

“Racing against three veterans that have made a bunch of laps at Homestead is going to be a tough battle — nothing can replace that experience,” Bell says in a release. “I feel like where I have the advantage is that I’m driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports. They are so competitive and have their stuff together and week in and week out when I show up to the track I know that I’ll have a Tundra that is capable of winning. I’ve only won once this year, so I need to keep piecing that puzzle together — but there’s no better place to start than this weekend at Homestead.”

Bell, Peters and Sauter will all race for their first career Camping World Truck Series championship. Crafton will go for his third as he became the first back-to-back championship winner in 2013 and 2014.

FOX Sports 1 will carry the Ford EcoBoost 200 live at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM Channel 90 will have the live radio broadcast.

Brett Winningham
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