hoto: Nigel Kinrade Photography
By Aaron Bearden
After each NASCAR race weekend, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend. This is a report on the July 2021 race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Knoxville Raceway.
NASCAR Cup Series
Race: Quaker State 400
Who Won?
Kurt Busch. He got the better of brother Kyle — with an assist from Ross Chastain, mind you — to pick up his first win of 2021.
Who Won the Stages?
Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch
Top Stories
Sibling rivalry
Kurt and Kyle Busch have coexisted in the NASCAR Cup Series for the better part of two decades, ebbing and flowing between rides while stacking up victories along the way. Yet save for a few highlights — remember their crash in the All-Star Race? — it’s only been in recent years that the pair have come to battle each other for wins.
During those times the sibling rivalry has shined, as evidenced by their Sunday showdown at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“Hell yeah! We beat Kyle,” Kurt said as he emerged from his No. 1 Chevrolet, having fending off his little brother to secure a place in the playoff field.
The elder Busch’s joyous excitement stood in stark contrast to his brother. Kyle was understandably frustrated on pit road, having narrowly lost out on a weekend sweep in the last race at the current Atlanta surface and layout, one he carries high regard for compared to the changes coming next year. The loss had come with slight controversy, as Kurt’s teammate Ross Chastain held up Kyle on the high lane with 25 to go and allowed Kurt to make the winning move.
And Kyle had to stand on pit road and process it while his brother showboated on the front stretch a football field away.
“I gave everything I had there early and then just smoked it behind the 42 (Chastain) obviously, shows you what kind of driver he is,” Kyle Busch said. “Just trying to fight hard after that when I got passed.”
The trash talk is part of Kurt’s competitive rivalry with his brother, but it’s also a form of endearment. The 2004 Cup champion can afford to tease Kyle because he’s risen up and trumped all of Kurt’s accomplishments. Kyle has over 200 NASCAR national series wins, a pair of championships and is one of the most recognizable stars in the sport.
Kurt’s statistics are impressive on the scale of all-time NASCAR drivers and will likely land him in the Hall of Fame some day. But he knows Kyle will stand above him in the record books when their careers are both over. The gamesmanship is just Kurt enjoying the moments he can when he’s on top – even if it means he has to find a different ride home that night.
There’s no bad blood between the pair these days, though there may have been earlier in their careers. The duo get along well outside of the track, and Kyle even came over and congratulated Kurt after their hard-fought Atlanta race.
“Brothers gotta hug!” – Tommy Boy pic.twitter.com/vPZhEoTJZD
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) July 12, 2021
Kurt’s 42 years old at this stage, with Kyle not too far behind at age 36. With Kurt in search of what could be his final Cup ride for 2022 and beyond after news of Chip Ganassi Racing’s impending NASCAR exodus, the brothers may not get many more chances to share the spotlight at the front of the Cup Series field.
So you can forgive Kurt for celebrating the opportunity to come out on top in the latest battle – even if he’s going to lose the war.
Two drivers, one team
The biggest factor in the outcome of Kurt and Kyle’s Sunday struggle may not have been either of them.
Ross Chastain was credited with a 21st-place finish at the end of the Quaker State 400, dropping further out of playoff reach in the process. But if this were the NBA, he also would have been credited with an assist.
The Floridian played a key role in the outcome of Sunday’s race. Kyle had cycled ahead of Kurt on an undercutting pit strategy during the final green-flag run when he approached Chastain’s No. 42 Chevrolet. Seeing the younger Busch brother in his mirror, Chastain ran the high lane and essentially stalled Kyle’s No. 18 Toyota out behind him in dirty air.
Kurt was within striking distance when the moment occurred and dove to the inside lane, pulling alongside Kyle for the lead in what proved to be the race-winning pass.
Twenty-four laps later, Kurt had secured his 33rd-career Cup win and denied Kyle his 60th. The result gave CGR something to celebrate, a week removed from news of the team’s impending sale of its NASCAR operation to Trackhouse Racing at season’s end.
Kurt went from sitting on the playoff bubble to locked in altogether, giving the organization at least one championship contender. He was quick to thank his teammate for the opportunity.
“Shake and bake,” Kurt Busch joked to NBC Sports. “(Chastain) did his job as a teammate. Ross is going to get a little flak for it, but that’s what it takes to be a good teammate at the right moment, so I couldn’t be more proud of Ross Chastain.
“I’ll pay him back eventually, but right now this is our No. 1 car in Victory Lane.”
For Chastain the moment served as a sample of him being a helpful teammate, albeit in slightly controversial fashion. It’s a moment team owners will have observed, for better or worse – notable as Chastain searches for a new opportunity for 2022.
“Kurt asked for the bottom so I gave him that lane,” Chastain said. “I was racing to stay on the lead lap. I’m very aware of what’s going on on the track around me. Kurt asked me for the bottom and I gave it to him.”
Whether the move was fair to pull off or not is up for debate. Joey Logano made a similar play to help teammate Ryan Blaney chase down Kyle Larson in the spring Atlanta race.
But the successful end result for Chip Ganassi Racing can’t be denied.
Bubble bursted
If there was any drama attached to the playoff bubble point-wise, it’s gone now.
Busch’s win was a critical hit to drivers currently sitting outside of the playoff field on points, trapping every driver 96 points or more below the cutline that’s now shifted up to Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick.
With just five races left to make up points, the drivers on the outside looking in — Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto and Bubba Wallace among them — are left in what’s essentially become a must-win scenario moving forward.
The news hit biggest for Buescher. In the midst of a quietly consistent year, the Texan had sat as high as 55 points above the cutoff while rolling through the spring months. He was once full race ahead of Busch, who’d struggled during the early season slate.
But over the summer their fortunes changed. Busch surged up the standings, riding a wave of top-10s and, finally, an Atlanta win to go from a playoff afterthought to a postseason lock in the span of two months.
Meanwhile Buescher faded, finishing no better than 16th during a six-race stretch from Sonoma Raceway through Atlanta. That’s left him on the outside looking in heading into the final five races of the 2021 regular season.
He’ll likely need a win to bring his team to the postseason, as will every other driver currently outside of the playoff field.
The real battle on points remains at the front of the field, where Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson continue to battle for the regular season title. Hamlin left Atlanta 10 points ahead of Larson, clinging onto a points lead he’ll need to keep to lock in an extra 15 playoff points when the playoffs arrive.
It’ll also be worth monitoring Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Reddick. The duo are separated by just eight points leaving Atlanta – a gap that could prove important if a surprise winner emerges at Daytona International Speedway or elsewhere.
Notes
- I wasn’t at Atlanta, so I don’t have the myriad quotes that drivers gave in defense of the track’s current layout. But there’s a clear culture war slowly emerging in the sport between those that run the tracks and the competitors that race on them. Drivers have had quibbles over the rules package changes and recent alterations to tracks like the now-defunct Kentucky Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, but they’ve never been quite as outspoken about their disagreements as they were at Atlanta, particularly after not being kept in the loop about it. This should be something to monitor moving forward, because more changes will surely be on the horizon and tensions seem as high as they’ve been in some time.
- Kurt Busch didn’t just win on Sunday, he made a statement. The 144 laps led by the 2004 Cup champ were the most he’s managed since his 2015 triumph at Richmond Raceway. Busch also crossed over 10,000 career laps led in the event.
- His brother Kyle is quietly sneaking back into his old form. The Joe Gibbs Racing star tallied his fourth top-five in a row on Sunday, the best streak he’s had since the summer of his 2019 title-winning season.
- There was a brief red flag during Sunday’s race that reaffirmed a fear that’s existed for many years at the aging Atlanta Motor Speedway. The cause? A part of the track coming up. Thankfully the issue coincided with the dramatic conclusion of the championship game for the 2020 Euros soccer tournament between Italy and England, which provided a welcome distraction on social media.
- Tyler Reddick scored his 11th top-10 of 2021 and 10th in the past 15 races, a run of consistency that’s made him into a potential playoff contender for the first time.
- The one thing missing from the usual old-school Atlanta storylines was a strong drive from Kevin Harvick. The 2014 Cup champ had a quiet day, finishing 11th in his first non top-10 finish at Atlanta since that title-winning season.
- Also missing from Atlanta was a Hendrick Motorsports entry in the top-three. For the first time since Kansas Speedway in May, none of the organization’s four entries cracked the would-be podium, ending a streak of 10 races at the front of the field.
Quaker State 400 Results
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Alex Bowman
- Ryan Blaney
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Elliott
- Christopher Bell
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Brad Keselowski
- Kevin Harvick
- Austin Dillon
- Denny Hamlin
- Bubba Wallace
- Chase Briscoe
- Chris Buescher
- Cole Custer
- Kyle Larson
- Joey Logano
- William Byron
- Ross Chastain
- Corey LaJoie
- Aric Almirola
- Erik Jones
- Ryan Preece
- Anthony Alfredo
- Michael McDowell
- Ryan Newman
- Justin Haley
- B.J. McLeod
- Garrett Smithley
- Bayley Currey
- Cody Ware
- Josh Bilicki
- Quin Houff
- Daniel Suarez
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Stage 1
- Kyle Busch
- Kurt Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Alex Bowman
- Tyler Reddick
- Kyle Larson
- Joey Logano
- William Byron
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
Stage 2
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Alex Bowman
- Kyle Larson
- Denny Hamlin
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Blaney
- Brad Keselowski
- Austin Dillon
- Martin Truex Jr.
Next up: The Cup Series rolls through it’s final race before a summer break for the Olympics at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 18.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Race: Credit Karma Money 250
Who Won?
Kyle Busch. He won amid controversy after late contact with Daniel Hemric to wrap up what might be his last Xfinity Series season five-for-five.
Who Won the Stages?
Kyle Busch.
Top Stories
A subdued triumph
Kyle Busch is normally jovial in victory, bowing to the crowd and basking in the mixture of applause and boos in defiant joy.
But he was comparatively subdued after a win in what could be he final NASCAR Xfinity Series start.
It wasn’t just that Busch was wrapping up what could be his final tenure in the tour, one he completed five-for-five with wins to reach a total career win mark of 102. Instead it was the way that Busch had won that kept him from embracing the victory in his usual way.
On paper Saturday’s race had been another dominant performance. The two-time Cup Series champion had led 97 of 164 laps, sweeping the stages and denying series regulars any opportunities at playoff points.
But in the final laps it wasn’t Busch that was in position to win. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Daniel Hemric, had emerged over a lengthy late green-flag run to establish himself as the favorite and even driven back to the lead after late cautions shook up the strategy.
Looking for his first series win, Hemric led the field to green with six laps to go. But when he did, contact from a trailing Busch made his car uneasy, sending the North Carolinian up the track and into the outside wall after contact with the outside lane.
The incident relegated Hemric to 30th at race’s end.
More #XfinitySeries restart chaos as leader @DanielHemric jusssssssst can't hold on to it. pic.twitter.com/IKx788gp8O
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) July 10, 2021
“I meant to push him and I wanted to hit him,” Busch told NBC Sports after the race. “I just wanted to hit him forward and straight but turned him sideways a little bit, and I think he got more help on his right side. Just trying to help a teammate there, and that’s why I restarted behind him.
“Overall, great day for our 54 car, but (Hemric) was better and deserved this win. So I’m sorry to Daniel and all those guys. I hate it that all that transpired.
“That’s why this win is a little more somber than others have been. You don’t take solace in a win like that. But a win’s a win.”
Hemric’s heartbreak
This was supposed to be his time.
Hemric had done everything right. After years of close calls with victory, he’d positioned himself as the driver to beat heading into the closing stanza of Saturday’s race, marching off ahead of Busch and clicking off the laps remaining until the checkered flag would fly at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
But fate has often been cruel to Hemric in his pursuit of a breakthrough Xfinity Series win. The latest close call would be no different.
Hemric saw his advantage erased by a late caution, forcing the veteran to pit and place himself on the offensive for the ensuing run. He positioned himself to restart on the bottom lane of the front row with six to go, but was sent into the outside wall by errant contact that was meant to be helpful from Busch.
It was an honest mistake, but a brutal one. Hemric was once again denied an opportunity at his first NASCAR national series win.
“What could’ve been, right?” Hemric said, his disappointment evident. “It’s all you can think about.
“On the flip side of it, you can’t change it. Obviously, I know it wasn’t intentional by no means. I did spin the tires a little bit, we were on scuffed tires there and thought we got rolling there the best we could, and Kyle just went to push me to help our momentum in the bottom lane. Right when he went to hook on my back bumper, there’s a swell there right before you turn into (Turn) 1. The way the car loads up there, I think it just laid on the left-rear tire and the bumpers didn’t align and it shot me right.
“I know it wasn’t intentional but at the end of the day, I’m sitting here talking to you guys with a torn-up race car.”
And so Hemric’s quest for a breakthrough triumph continues. He has 23 top-three finishes and a pair of Championship 4 berths in the Xfinity Series alone. But much like England’s national mens soccer team after a heartbreaking loss in Sunday’s Euro 2020 tournament finale, Hemric is going to have to wait a bit longer for a trophy to come home.
Unexpected sub
Austin Dillon rolled to an 11th-place finish in the Credit Karma Money 250.
A major success? No. But it wasn’t a bad result for a race he didn’t plan to run just hours earlier.
Moments before Saturday’s race, JR Motorsports announced that Dillon would be driving the team’s No. 1 Chevrolet in place of Michael Annett, who has since been confirmed to have a stress fracture to his right femur.
Annett had pulled out of Friday’s Truck Series race at Knoxville Raceway earlier in the weekend, but until moments before Saturday’s event he was expected to compete at Atlanta. Dillon served as a last-second replacement, being hastily fitted into Annett’s car and learning who his team personnel were over the radio during pace laps.
It was a tricky position for the 2013 Xfinity Series champion to be in, but Dillon made the most of the opportunity. He quickly adjusted to the car, scoring a lone stage point in Stage 1 and battling with others including brother Ty Dillon throughout the 250-mile race.
He wound up bringing the car home clean and in one piece – nothing flashy, but ultimately successful.
Annett will miss at least one more race, sitting out at New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Josh Berry competes. He currently sits 10th in the standings and remains in the current playoff field due to a medical waiver from NASCAR that allows him to retain his eligibility.
Notes
- If Kyle Busch’s Xfinity Series career is truly over, he may have wrapped it up at his peak. Busch won all five races he contested this season, setting a new personal best mark for consecutive wins while topping 20,000 career laps led. His 102 victories, 225 top-fives and 263 top-10s in 362 career starts will likely never be touched in the record books.
- After two hard crashes to start his tenure with JR Motorsports, Sam Mayer was able to pick up his first top-10 with a ninth-place effort in Atlanta.
- Want to know how Jeremy Clements remains a playoff contender heading into the late summer stretch? Look at his top-10s. Clements picked up his sixth top-10 of the year at Atlanta, reaching a new career-best mark despite there still being four months of racing remaining on the season.
- Ryan Vargas had a strong bounce back in his first start since his Pocono Raceway crash, picking up his best finish of the season in 14th.
- Jeb Burton hadn’t found much luck since his Talladega Superspeedway win in April, but he managed his first top-five since that day on Saturday with a runner-up result.
- Ty Dillon made his way into the top-five, too, for the first time since 2018. The result was a good day for Our Motorsports and gave Dillon a highlight from what had been a difficult part-time tenure in the Xfinity Series this year.
Race Results
- Kyle Busch
- Jeb Burton
- Noah Gragson
- Justin Haley
- Ty Dillon
- Brett Moffitt
- Justin Allgaier
- Jeremy Clements
- Sam Mayer
- Austin Cindric
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Sieg
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Ryan Vargas
- Alex Labbe
- Tommy Joe Martins
- Jade Buford
- Josh Williams
- Riley Herbst
- Colby Howard
- Myatt Snider
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Josh Berry
- Harrison Burton
- Joe Graf Jr.
- Matt Mills
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Jesse Little
- Mason Massey
- Daniel Hemric
- Brandon Brown
- Kyle Weatherman
- Santino Ferrucci
- Bayley Currey
- Gray Gaulding
- Carson Ware
- C.J. McLaughlin
- Landon Cassill
- Brandon Jones
- David Starr
Stage 1
- Kyle Busch
- AJ Allmendinger
- Harrison Burton
- Daniel Hemric
- Noah Gragson
- Brett Moffitt
- Alex Labbe
- Justin Haley
- Brandon Jones
- Austin Dillon
Stage 2
- Kyle Busch
- AJ Allmendinger
- Noah Gragson
- Justin Allgaier
- Daniel Hemric
- Harrison Burton
- Brett Moffitt
- Ty Dillon
- Justin Haley
- Austin Dillon
Next up: The Xfinity Series completes its pre-Olympic summer slate with the Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race: Corn Belt 150
Who Won?
Austin Hill. He survived the late chaos to score his first win of 2021, locking up a spot in the playoff field and five playoff points to take with him.
Who Won the Stages?
Derek Kraus
Top Stories
Over the Hill
It took him four overtimes to get there, but Austin Hill finally earned his first victory of the Truck Series season at Knoxville Raceway.
The 2021 campaign has been a solid one for Hill and Hattori Racing Enterprises, but before Friday it had yet to yield a victory. The Georgian had already clinched a playoff spot on points, but wasn’t positioned with the sort of playoff point total he would need to give himself good odds at a lengthy postseason run.
But with the regular season winding down, Hill finally broke through for a victory that secured him five playoff points, holding on to his track position and using controlled aggression to score his first NASCAR win on dirt.
“This team and everybody at HRE (Hattori Racing Enterprises), they never quit and that’s the thing I love about this group,” Hill said afterward. “We don’t stop, we don’t quit – even when we think we’re down and out, we just keep coming back.
“If you would have told me that we would win a dirt race this year, I would have told you that you were lying.”
Hill’s victorious drive required as much patience as it did aggression. He was well-positioned to challenge for the win but had to sit through nine caution flags in the final 89 laps en route to the victory.
Chandler Smith also posed a challenge, holding the lead into overtime before Hill was able to inch ahead of him prior to one of the late cautions.
But in the end Hill wouldn’t be denied. He took the checkered flag to bring Friday’s race to a merciful end and enter the Olympic break with five playoff points to his name.
Chaos reigns
Contrary to its name, Knoxville Raceway isn’t located in Tennessee. But the Iowa dirt track did have a style of racing familiar to race fans from the Volunteer state on Friday night.
Serving as the lone standalone event for the Truck Series on dirt, the first trip to Knoxville started with a competent high lane. But over the course of the night the bottom lane emerged as the preferred groove, forcing competitors to risk contact to make passes in a style of racing that played out like a slowed-down version of the old Bristol Motor Speedway.
And boy, was the field willing to make contact.
What ensued was a 14-caution feature race that took four overtimes, dragged well beyond the TV window and enraged multiple competitors throughout the field. There were bump-and-runs, payback spins and even a 14-truck pileup on the first overtime attempt that took out multiple contenders.
🟡: We just know a lot of trucks were involved in this #NASCAROvertime pileup. 🙃#CornBelt150 | @knoxvilleraces pic.twitter.com/EEC4w2TfOf
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) July 10, 2021
As the penultimate race of the Truck Series regular season, Friday’s event brought the aggression and desperation of must-win scenarios for many in the field. There was little patience and no give by race’s end, resulting in a litany of crashes.
By the time the field had reached the checkered flag, attempts to rattle off the final two laps of the event had taken nearly an hour. And the chaos wasn’t over then, either – Derek Kraus was spun not once, but twice by angered competitors during the cool down lap.
“Honestly, it’s all so dumb,” Sheldon Creed told Autoweek after the race.
“I think everyone from the dirt community is just going to sit there, point at us, and laugh,” Carson Hocevar followed.
Matt Crafton used emojis to call the event a clown show after the race. Debuting World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series legend Donny Schatz noted the amount of torn up trucks, as did Dirt Late Model competitor Kyle Strickler.
The Truck Series has had an aggression problem all season, spending nearly half of many of its races under caution at tracks like Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
Paired with the unique dirt track, bottom-heavy transition and playoff desperation, that problem was exacerbated in stunning fashion at Knoxville – yielding a race that was either awesome or embarrassing depending upon the viewer’s enjoyment of crashes.
With only one race left in the regular season and desperation at an all-time high for many in the field, don’t be surprised if similar results follow at Watkins Glen International.
Playoff struggles
Chandler Smith didn’t pick up the win at night’s end in Iowa, but the end result was as close to one as a team can come.
In need of a good result to keep himself well-positioned for the playoffs, Smith fell just shy of victory lane in a runner-up result to Hill. Smith led a race-high 71 laps and picked up 37 points for the race, keeping himself 40 points clear of Derek Kraus on the playoff cutline after Hill’s victory.
“First of all, just have to thank Danny (Stockman, crew chief) and all the guys on this No. 18 JBL Toyota Tundra team,” Smith said afterward. “They worked their tails off on this thing and we got it really good in practice. We fell back there in the race, and I couldn’t run the top, but we were able to make it work on the bottom.
“We needed track position, but we were able to lead a bunch of laps. I don’t think the call was right (at the end with regard to line-up) that they (NASCAR) made to be honest, but it is what it is and that’s part of it.”
By avoiding chaos, Smith position himself with nearly a full-race’s advantage on the cutline in points with just one race remaining in the regular season. The Georgian also closed within 13 points of Stewart Friesen in the standings, meaning he has a potential route to the postseason on points even if a surprise winner emerges in Watkins Glen.
On the other end of the spectrum was Kraus.
Knowing he likely needed a victory to keep his playoff hopes alive, Kraus brought the aggression early and often in one of his strongest drives to date. The Wisconsinite claimed the pole led 10 laps and won both opening stages, doing everything in his power to keep himself at the front of the field and in contention.
But a win ultimately wasn’t meant to be. Kraus continued to drive ultra-aggressively, causing contact and crashes en route to the top-five. But he fell short of a late run to the front, settling for fifth at race’s end.
The result kept Kraus in distant contention for a playoff position on points. But given his opportunity to win a fifth-place result fell short of the target, and Kraus made potential enemies moving forward, as evidenced by both Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum sending him for a spin after the checkered flag.
Kraus will get one more chance to turn his season around in New York.
Notes
- Stewart and Jessica Friesen became the first husband-wife duo to compete in the same NASCAR national series race since Elton Sawyer and Patty Moise in a 1998 Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday. Neither driver’s night went the way they would have liked, but Jessica got the better result by one spot in 26th.
- Brian Brown made his Truck Series debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports in Friday’s race and was one of the few dirt regulars to avoid most of the chaos and find success. He finished a quiet eighth after an eventful night in Knoxville.
- Chris Windom didn’t expect to compete in Friday’s race, but when Michael Annett pulled out of the event Windom was offered his No. 02 Chevrolet with Young’s Motorsports. Windom suffered a flat tire in the late chaos, but rallied to salvage a 15th-place result.
Race Results
- Austin Hill
- Chandler Smith
- Grant Enfinger
- Todd Gilliland
- Derek Kraus
- Matt Crafton
- Ben Rhodes
- Brian Brown
- Tate Fogleman
- Danny Bohn
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Jake Griffin
- Ryan Truex
- Zane Smith
- Chris Windom
- Carson Hocevar
- Tyler Ankrum
- Devon Rouse
- Norm Benning
- Johnny Sauter
- Hailie Deegan
- Cody Erickson
- Kyle Strickler
- Andrew Gordon
- Jennifer Jo Cobb
- Jessica Friesen
- Stewart Friesen
- Josh Berry
- Parker Price-Miller
- Austin Wayne Self
- Tanner Gray
- Donny Schatz
- Chase Purdy
- Codie Rohrbaugh
- Sheldon Creed
- Chase Briscoe
- Jett Noland
- Brett Moffitt
- Jack Wood
- Morgan Alexander
Stage 1
- Derek Kraus
- Todd Gilliland
- Josh Berry
- Carson Hocevar
- Tyler Ankrum
- Sheldon Creed
- Stewart Friesen
- Brett Moffitt
- Chandler Smith
- Austin Hill
Stage 2
- Derek Kraus
- Carson Hocevar
- Todd Gilliland
- Matt Crafton
- Grant Enfinger
- Brett Moffitt
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Josh Berry
- Donny Schatz
- Ben Rhodes
Next up: The Truck Series takes a lengthy break, lying dormant until the regular season finale on Aug. 7 at Watkins Glen International.
