To date, the 0.533-mile track has hosted 27 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, producing 22 different winners and 19 different pole winners. The winningest driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Kyle Busch, holds the most wins at the ‘Holy Grail of Short Tracks’ with five victories at Bristol (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2017).
Eight races have been won from the pole, most recently by Christian Eckes earlier this season. In total, this season will be the sixth-time Bristol Motor Speedway has hosted a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff Race (2019-2024).
Bristol Motor Speedway has occupied four different spots on the Craftsman Truck Series Playoff schedule since joining in 2019 – from 2019-2020 it was scheduled as the first race of the Playoffs, it moved to the elimination race (third race) of the Playoffs in 2021, then served as the fourth race in the Playoffs from 2022-2023. This season is the first-time Bristol has hosted the second race in the Truck Playoffs.
None of the Craftsman Truck Series Bristol Playoff race winners have gone on to win the title in the same season.
Playoff Crunch Time: Rhodes, Caruth facing elimination
ThorSport Racing veteran Ben Rhodes and Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth find themselves below the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Round of 8 cutline as the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway.
Two-time champion Rhodes managed to finish ninth at the Milwaukee Mile and left the 1.015-mile paved oval just two points back from the Round of 8 cutline. The 2024 season is the 26-year old’s seventh Playoff appearance.
Unlike the vast Playoff experience Rhodes has, Caruth is in his first appearance in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs. It’s been 14 races since Caruth’s first (and last) visit to Victory Lane (Las Vegas) but the Washington, D.C., native knows how to race his way into the top 10 – he’s recorded eight top-10 finishes so far this season, the most in his Craftsman Truck Series career.
The driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet had a decent day at the Milwaukee Mile, finishing 18th, but is now twenty points back from the Round of 8 cutline and the final transfer position.
Currently, CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger is in the eighth and final position to transfer to the next round in the Playoffs on points. Just ahead of Enfinger in seventh is McAnally-Hilgemann driver Daniel Dye, up nine points on the Round of 8 cutline.
McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes remains the championship favorite and leads the field in the Playoff standings. A few weeks ago, the 23-year-old became the eighth different driver to win the regular season title: joining Christopher Bell (2017), Johnny Sauter (2018), Grant Enfinger (2019), Austin Hill (2020), John H. Nemechek (2021), Zane Smith (2022) and Corey Heim (2023).
The driver of the No. 19 Chevrolet has led the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings following 10 of the 17 races this season – series-most in 2024.
“Based off of last year, I feel like it is championship or bust,” Eckes said. “And I feel like everything we’ve done this year in preparation has kind of led towards that being the mentality. So, I definitely feel like we’re capable of that. And that’s what we’re going to try to achieve.”
“I’ve choked in the Round of 8 the last two years. So yeah, just execution is our biggest thing to work on. I feel like we’ve done a better job of being consistent and executing this year. So, I feel like we’re more than capable, we just got to do it.”
Practice for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol Motor Speedway kicks off at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, followed by Cometic Gasket Pole Qualifying at 3:35 p.m. ET (FS2).
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