Camping World Truck Series 2021 Championship 4 preview

By Zach Sturniolo | Thursday, November 4, 2021

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The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will crown its 2021 champion Friday at Phoenix Raceway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). Get an in-depth look at the Championship 4 drivers, in the order they are seeded, before the action is underway.

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1. Zane Smith

Team: GMS Racing.
2021 stats: 1 win, 2 top fives, 13 top 10s, 13.5 avg. finish, 131 laps led, 3 DNFs.
Championship 4 appearances: Second.
Playoff history: Made 2020 Playoffs in first full-time season, finished second.

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Zane Smith (cont'd)

Phoenix stats: 1 start, best finish -- 2nd (2020), 1 top five, 1 top 10, 2.0 avg. finish, 48 laps led, 0 DNFs.
Outlook: Zane Smith will be the first to tell you this season hasn't been as pretty as 2020, when he won twice and finished runner-up to Sheldon Creed for the championship. The playoffs have not treated him well, opening with a 35th-place finish at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway before finishes of 29th and 33rd at Las Vegas and Talladega, respectively. But a win at Martinsville, which served as his second top five of the year, propelled Smith into the Championship 4 with a chance to earn one spot better than last season, the top prize in the series.

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2. Ben Rhodes

Team: ThorSport Racing.
2021 stats: 2 wins, 7 top fives, 15 top 10s, 9.6 avg. finish, 99 laps led, 0 DNFs.
Championship 4 appearances: First.
Playoff history: Made playoffs every year since 2017; best finish: fifth (2017).

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Ben Rhodes (cont'd)

Phoenix stats: 6 starts, best finish: 4th (2019), 2 top fives, 3 top 10s, 10.3 avg. finish, 48 laps led, 1 DNF.
Outlook: Ben Rhodes came out of the gates swinging with back-to-back wins at Daytona International Speedway to begin his 2021 campaign. While the victories dissipated, his consistency has been remarkable. His 15 top 10s are tied with John Hunter Nemechek and Todd Gilliland for best in the series. The playoffs have been strong for the No. 99 team with a third-place finish at Gateway and second place at Las Vegas. Now, the 24-year-old eyes a championship in the his first appearance in the Championship 4.

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3. Matt Crafton

Team: ThorSport Racing.
2021 stats: 0 wins, 5 top fives, 12 top 10s, 11.4 avg. finish, 19 laps led, 1 DNF.
Championship 4 appearances: Four.
Playoff history: Three-time series champion, once in elimination-style playoff format (2019); only missed Championship 4 twice.

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Matt Crafton (cont'd)

Phoenix stats: 20 starts, best finish: 2nd (2014), 6 top fives, 12 top 10s, 10.0 avg. finish, 16 laps led, 2 DNFs.
Outlook: Matt Crafton's numbers don't pop off the page. His results haven't been amazing, but he's been steady enough to find himself in the Championship 4 for the fourth time in six years. Dating back to Nashville in June, Crafton has finished outside the top 10 just two times (Watkins Glen and Talladega) and notched two top fives in the Round of 8 to advance to Phoenix. Crafton is the only driver across NASCAR's national series to win a championship without winning a race. He enters this year's finale winless again but with a chance to claim his fourth title.

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4. John Hunter Nemechek

Team: Kyle Busch Motorsports
2021 stats: 5 wins, 12 top fives, 15 top 10s, 9.9 avg. finish, 572 laps led, 2 DNFs.
Championship 4 appearances: First.
Playoff history: Third playoff appearance, first since 2017; best finish -- 8th (2016, 2017).

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4. John Hunter Nemechek (cont'd)

Phoenix stats: 7 starts, best finish -- 2nd (twice: 2015, 2017), 2 top fives, 4 top 10s, 13.7 avg. finish, 31 laps led, 2 DNFs (both in last two Phoenix starts).
Outlook: John Hunter Nemechek dominated the regular season in the Camping World Truck Series en route to winning five of the first 13 races this year. His playoff run has been shaky, though, collecting three finishes of 22nd or worse in the last nine races. After squeaking through Martinsville after a late crash took him out of contention, Nemechek hopes to rekindle his early-season magic and win his first Truck Series championship.

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