Camping World Trucks points leader John Hunter Nemechek aims to regain groove at Charlotte

In last Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Circuit of The Americas, John Hunter Nemechek ran 12th, his only finish outside the top 10 this season save for a crash-induced 39th on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track. The 12th-place result in Austin, Texas, didn’t prevent Nemechek from retaining the series lead by 31 points over second-place Ben Rhodes, but the driver of the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota would like to build on that advantage in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). RELATED: Charlotte weekend schedule | Entry list “It’s very exciting to get back to a mile-and-a-half,” said Nemechek, an eight-time winner in the series and a two-time victor this year. “I feel like our 1.5-mile and short-track programs have been really good. I feel like our whole program in general has been good. “We kind of missed it on one of the road courses and the dirt stuff. I feel like we can kind of throw those away now and focus on the future. We have some really good race tracks coming up as well. Some more mile-and-a-halves, short tracks and another dirt and road course race that I really enjoy — but first things first. I have to go take care of business at Charlotte.” Standing in Nemechek’s way likely will be ThorSport Racing, which is fielding five entries in the race. ThorSport’s Matt Crafton (two victories) and Johnny Sauter (one victory) are the only two former Charlotte winners in the field for Friday night’s race. The ThorSport armada also includes Rhodes, a two-time winner this season, as well as part-timers Christian Eckes and Ty Majeski. Pit notes: Charlotte Motor Speedway has hosted 18 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races dating back to the inaugural event on May 16, 2003. The first Truck race at Charlotte was won by Ted Musgrave, driving a Dodge for car owner Jim Smith. ... In total, the 18 Camping World Truck races at Charlotte have produced 10 different pole winners and nine different race winners. ... Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner are tied for the series-most poles at Charlotte with three each. ... Kyle Busch also leads the series in wins at Charlotte with eight (2005-06, 2010-11, 2013-14, 2017 and 2019). ... Four of the 18 Truck races at Charlotte have been won from the pole or first starting position; the most recent driver to accomplish the feat was Johnny Sauter in 2018. ... The youngest Truck winner at Charlotte is Kyle Busch (May 20, 2005 — 20 years and 18 days) and the oldest is Ron Hornaday Jr. (May 15, 2009 — 50 years, 10 months and 25 days).