Truck Series is no longer the senior tour of NASCAR

It was billed as a circuit full of tough trucks and tough drivers, and certainly the cast of characters fit. For much of the past decade NASCAR's Truck Series has been known less for its tall, boxy vehicles than for the men who steered them, no-nonsense veterans who had been through the wars and had plenty of gray around the temples to prove it. Traditional fans grew to love the series not just because of the racing, not just because so many of them drove pickups, but because the competitors so often reminded them of themselves.

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It wasn't the intention for the Truck Series to evolve into a kind of senior circuit, but over time that's essentially what it became. The men who came to symbolize the tour were drivers a little more wizened and a touch rougher around the edges, perhaps fitting for a circuit that began as something of a short-track throwback. As the Cup Series got younger, the Truck circuit got older, becoming a haven for drivers who for whatever reason didn't thrive on NASCAR's premier series, but still were good enough to compete on the national level. It all helped to give the circuit a proud sense of identity as a place where old-school racing and old-school racers still lived.

The face of the Truck Series is Ron Hornaday, who last season won his record fourth series championship at the spry age of 51. But there are plenty of others -- Mike Skinner (52), Rick Crawford (51), Todd Bodine (46), Johnny Benson (46) and Dennis Setzer (50) are all regulars on the circuit when sponsorship allows. Fans of the series surely remember the days of Ted Musgrave, Bobby Hamilton, and three-time champion Jack Sprague. You have to go back to Travis Kvapil in 2003 to find a champion who was younger than 40 when he won the title.

That's the Truck Series people know, the Truck Series people have always embraced, the Truck Series people have grown used to. And yet, if you take a look at the Truck Series that visited Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night, it's clear that this circuit isn't NASCAR's version of a senior tour anymore.

Oh, no question, the old guard is still there, and potent -- Hornaday was runner-up to team owner Kevin Harvick in last week's Truck event at Martinsville, and finished third Friday night at Nashville. Skinner and Crawford also cracked the top 10. Nobody's shoving these guys out the door, not as long as they still prove they know how to wheel it. But now they're being tested by a new breed, a flock of young drivers who are learning how to run up front and could one day soon change the face of a Truck Series that recently has been a little more weathered than the rest. (Continued)