By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
There is plenty of opportunity awaiting NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitors at Eldora Speedway’s highly-anticipated Eldora Dirt Derby Wednesday night (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Only one previous race winner is entered – 2017 victor Matt Crafton – and there will be plenty of new faces and inspired spirits competing for NASCAR’s most unique crown on the one-of-a-kind Eldora Speedway half-mile dirt track.
Series points leader Johnny Sauter is still looking for his Eldora trophy, with three finishes of 20th or worse in five starts there. He was 23rd in the race last year.
Of the top-five drivers in the truck title hunt, fourth-place Stewart Friesen was runner-up to Crafton in last year’s race. Grant Enfinger – ranked fifth in the championship – was fourth in last year’s Eldora race and current championship second place driver Noah Gragson was seventh. Third place in the standings, Brett Moffitt, did not compete at Eldora last year.
Two-time series champion Crafton is the only driver in the field to post top-10 finishes in all five runnings of the popular race at former Cup champion Tony Stewart’s Ohio track. A win this week would certainly help buoy his position in the standings. He’s currently seventh, 136 points behind first-place Sauter.
There are 14 drivers among the 40 entered who have never raced at Eldora Speedway. Eight drivers hope to start their first career dirt-track event, and seven competitors are making their Camping World Truck Series debuts.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Next Race: Eldora Dirt Derby
The Place: Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, Ohio)
The Date: Wednesday, July 21
The Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 75 miles (150 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 90), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 150)
What to Watch For: In five previous races there have been no repeat winners at Eldora. … Matt Crafton, the 2017 race winner, leads all drivers with top-10 finishes in all five races. … Toyota’s three wins at Eldora are most among the manufacturers. … Ford broke into victory circle last week with Ben Rhodes at Kentucky Speedway, the OEM’s first win of 2018. … The closest Margin of Victory in this race is .762-seconds, coming when Christopher Bell beat Bobby Pearce in 2015. … Noah Gragson’s runner-up effort last week in Kentucky gives him a series-high four runner-up finishes on the year. He has finished first (once) or second, five times, tying championship leader Johnny Sauter who has four wins and a runner-up. … Sauter has not won at Eldora. His best finish is eighth back in 2014. … Fourteen of the 40 drivers entered this week have never raced at Eldora previously. … Seven of those drivers are making their series debut. … Inaugural race winner Austin Dillon holds the distinction of starting from the farthest spot back on the grid (19). The other four winners started seventh or better. The race has never been won from the pole position.
