The Craftsman Truck Series rolls into Darlington Raceway for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200. Here is everything you should know before the field takes the green flag on Friday.
In last year’s race, John Hunter Nemechek scored the victory on a green-white-checkered restart, defending against Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger. The race was filled with cautions, specifically a four-car wreck on lap 98, involving trucks number #1, 15, 22, and 61. It was his first of two wins in 2022, a season where he scored ten top-five finishes and seven pole positions.
This weekend is NASCAR’s throwback weekend and many trucks are running paint schemes honoring the history of the sport. TRICON Garage is honoring Red Horse Racing, who ran the numbers #1 and #17 like TRICON. Known for the iconic black square around the numbers, TRICON has faithfully replicated them on their trucks for the race. Niece Motorsports is honoring the Petty Family, with the #41 honoring Lee Petty, #42 honoring the UPS truck from Dale Jarrett’s UPS truck, and #45 honoring Adam Petty. More paint schemes are available on Darlington Raceway’s website.
We will also see some different faces driving in the race. They are:
- Bubba Wallace, #1 Tundra, TRICON Garage
- Corey LaJoie, #7 Silverado, Spire Motorsports
- Ross Chastain, #41 Silverado, Niece Motorsports
- Dawson Cram, #47 Tundra, G2G Racing
- William Byron, #51 Silverado, Kyle Busch Motorsports
- Parker Kligerman, #75 Silverado, Henderson Motorsports
37 Trucks are looking to earn one of 36 spots for the race later that evening. Make sure you watch qualifying to see which driver is packing up their truck and who makes the race.
Predictions:
Last year’s third-place runner, Grant Enfinger, has quite a lot of momentum. He just won at Kansas Speedway last Saturday and has three top-fives at the raceway. I think Enfinger can be a threat to win this weekend. Carson Hocevar finished one spot ahead of Enfinger in second last year. Hocevar has finished inside the top five twice in only three starts. Carson races dirt late-models and the dirt racers always seem to run extremely well at Darlington. If he can avoid any on-track incidents, he could score win number two of this season. William Byron, while never making a Truck Series start at Darlington, almost won the race in a Cup car last year. In a KBM truck, I expect him to have a strong qualifying position and run at the front of the field. Look for Byron to steal a win from the Truck Series drivers on Friday.
How to Watch:
Friday, May 12th, 2023:
Featured Image Credit: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
