Truck Series heads to Las Vegas with four-way battle for title
Darrell Wallace Jr. has insisted that he considers “points” a forbidden term in his vocabulary, even as he ventures deeper into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship fight. His goal remains the same as ever: wins, which — figuratively, at least — he doesn’t consider a four-letter word.
Wallace’s bid for a third victory this season heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for Saturday night’s Rhino Linings 350 (10 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1), the 17th of 22 races this season. He enters the final stand-alone event of the year at the 1.5-mile track fourth in the series standings, just 35 points back of leader and defending series champion Matt Crafton.
While Wallace’s three career wins have come at a short tracks (Martinsville, Eldora) and a relatively flat 1.25-mile layout with short-track characteristics (Gateway), he said his Kyle Busch Motorsports team’s growth on the intermediate-sized 1.5-mile tracks has been measurable. Strong suits aside, the 20-year-old hasn’t strayed from the approach that’s brought him success.
“I’m excited for Vegas,” Wallace said last Sunday after a second-place run at New Hampshire. “Got a brand-new Toyota Tundra going there, and we should be OK, but I’m not worried about the championship. I’ll just let the crew worry about that and I’ll go out and try to win races.”
Wallace sits at the back end of a four-driver breakaway atop the standings. Johnny Sauter, Crafton’s ThorSport Racing teammate and a winner at Las Vegas in 2009, ranks second with just a seven-point deficit in search of his first title. Ryan Blaney, in his second full season of Camping World Truck Series competition, sits third, just 24 points off the top.
After Wallace, it’s another 37 points back to fifth-place German Quiroga, another second-year driver who’s come oh-so-close to notching his first Truck Series victory. The Mexico native wound up as runner-up to Wallace at Gateway in June by a margin of .329 seconds, then came up short by just .049 seconds — about a fender — to Blaney in a thrilling finish last month at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
To put his name among the championship contenders, Quiroga will have to make strides from his 21st-place finish — last on the lead lap — in his Vegas debut last season.
“Last year was my first time competing at Las Vegas and we struggled a bit,” Quiroga said. “This time around I have a full season under my belt and feel better prepared. I have a lot of friends and family visiting this weekend, so it would be great to capture my first win in front of them.”
Two other former Vegas winners are scheduled to be in the field: Defending race winner Timothy Peters, Quiroga’s Red Horse Racing teammate, and four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., who returns to the series with NTS Motorsports after a three-race absence.
Joe Nemechek, who has 15 starts each in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series at the 1.5-mile track, is scheduled to make his first truck start at Las Vegas this weekend. Nemechek, an occasional competitor in all three NASCAR national series this season, will celebrate his 51st birthday Friday.
After Las Vegas, the series takes two weeks off before returning Oct. 18 at Talladega Superspeedway. That event kicks off a season-ending stretch of races on five consecutive weekends, culminating with the Nov. 14 finale as part of Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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