Greg Biffle, pictured in 2005, won the championship
The 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the sixth season of the Craftsman Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. Greg Biffle of Roush Racing was crowned the series champion, giving Ford its first Truck Series championship and ending Chevrolet's five-year streak.
The season was marred by the death of Tony Roper in the penultimate race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway. His death was the third of three driver fatalities across the nationwide NASCAR circuits in 2000 that included Kenny Irwin Jr. and Adam Petty.
During this race, Geoff Bodine was involved in a serious accident that collected many trucks and damaged the fence, causing his truck to flip over several times and become engulfed in flames. He survived the accident.
Also, in this race, Kurt Busch makes his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut, and ended up finishing second to Mike Wallace.
Thirty-three drivers qualified for this race, 1 short of the usual 34.
Two African-American drivers ran in this race, the only time in a national series: Bobby Norfleet and Bill Lester. Lester ran the entire race and finished 24th. Norfleet, who qualified 11 miles per hour slower than the pole and was black flagged three times for failing to maintain a reasonable pace, was credited with a 32nd-place finish.
On lap 31 of 167, Tony Roper was racing for position when he collided with another truck and struck the front straightaway wall head-on. He died the next day from the injuries suffered in that wreck.
On a happier note, Greg Biffle even by finishing 25th due to an accident, clinched the championship with 1 race remaining. It was Jack Roush's first NASCAR championship of any kind.
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