Craftsman Truck Series to kick off Saturday doubleheader at Homestead-Miami

After two weeks off, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to playoff competition this weekend as the opening race of a Saturday doubleheader in South Florida with the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Noon ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Veteran Grant Enfinger became the first driver to earn a position in the Nov. 8 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway -- capturing the win at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 4.

This weekend’s race on the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami track will go a long way to deciding who will join the driver of the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet to race for the big trophy. The season’s winningest driver, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim, holds a healthy 30-point advantage over the Championship 4 elimination line heading into the green flag, with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes 29 points to the good and ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski five points up in that final transfer position over Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth.

Tricon Garage’s Taylor Gray is 13 points out of the top four, followed by Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez (minus-20) and McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum in eighth place, 23 points down.

It's actually the tightest playoff battle among NASCAR’s three premier series -- both how close -- a five-point margin -- it is from that pivotal fourth-place position to be out of the title chase in fifth and also the relatively tight gap (23 points) from eighth place to fourth.

Last year was a “Playoff Day” in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami with Carson Hocevar leading a quartet of championship-eligible drivers that swept the top four finishing positions. The only former winner in the field this weekend is Majeski, who claimed the trophy in 2022.

The Wisconsin native and two-time winner this season is three-for-three in top 10s at Homestead-Miami and led a race-best 67 laps en route to his win there two years ago.

Heim is another driver to watch, scoring top-five finishes in both his Homestead-Miami starts, including a best of third last year and fifth place in 2022. Enfinger has the most starts (seven) at the track among the playoff eight with a best showing of runner-up in 2018.

Practice for the race is Friday afternoon at 2:35 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 3:05 p.m.