RELATED: Truck Series Chase Grid | Driver standings
With two races left in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, only Johnny Sauter has a sure-fire berth in the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The rest of the title-hopeful roster is a five-driver pour into a three-driver funnel.
The Championship 4 field for the series’ inaugural Chase finale will get clarity after Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 (10 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Phoenix International Raceway. William Byron, Christopher Bell, Matt Crafton, Timothy Peters and Ben Kennedy will aim to join Sauter in the Championship 4, but two drivers will be eliminated in Friday’s Round of 6 finale.
Sauter clinched his spot with a victory at Martinsville Speedway two weeks ago, then blocked anyone else from an automatic berth with a back-to-back win at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. He’s the only driver who can afford to be conservative at Phoenix.
“We’re peaking at the right time but we need to peak in a few weeks when it really counts at Homestead,” Sauter said.
Byron and Bell, two Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates with limited experience on the Arizona oval, may be in the best position to join him. Byron is the top points-earner among the five remaining drivers hoping to transfer, with Bell just one point behind him.
Their KBM organization also has solid footing at Phoenix. The Kyle Busch-owned group won four straight races at the 1-mile track from 2011-14. Plus, the 18-year-old Byron has some level of confidence by competing in a race-winning chassis — the same one that he drove to a triumph in the Chase opener at New Hampshire and that Erik Jones powered to Victory Lane at Phoenix in 2014.
“It’s a little bit of pressure for everyone who is not locked in,” Byron said. “Hopefully we can capitalize on that and have the finish we need in order to get to Homestead. I think we’re going to have a really good shot at a win, so if we can do that, it would be the easiest way to ensure we are in the Championship 4 next weekend.”
Bell, 21, will also be at the controls of proven equipment, driving the same KBM truck that spurred him to victory at Gateway Motorsports Park. He also finished second to Byron using the same chassis in the Chase opener at New Hampshire.
“I expect that we’ll be really fast again this week,” Bell said. “I feel we are in a good enough position points-wise that if we just go out and have a solid day and not make any mistakes then we should advance.”
Not much distance separates the three drivers behind the Kyle Busch Motorsports duo in the standings. Two-time series champ Crafton sits three points behind Bell, with Peters — the defending race winner – another point back. Kennedy, smarting from a pair of mid-pack finishes in the round’s other events, is just 13 points behind Crafton’s grasp on the provisional final transfer spot.
Of the six, only Peters is seeking his first win of the season. A repeat of his late-race surge to victory in Phoenix’s 150-miler last year would be well-timed.
“I’d say we have momentum on our side, we’ve been strong through the Chase and at short tracks this season,” Peters said. “I think we have a good Toyota Tundra this weekend and this team has the heart to come back and go for the win.”