The NASCAR Truck Series Drivers' Championship is awarded by the chairman of NASCAR to the most successful NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing car driver over a season, as determined by a points system based on race results. The Drivers' Championship was first awarded in 1995 to Mike Skinner. [1] The first driver to win multiple Championships was Ron Hornaday Jr., in 1996 and 1998. [2] The most recent Drivers' Champion is Ben Rhodes who won his second championship in 2023.
Overall, Nineteen different drivers have won the Championship, with Ron Hornaday Jr. holding the record for most titles at four. Crafton has the record for most consecutive Drivers' Championships, winning two from 2013 to 2014. [3] Erik Jones is the youngest driver to claim the NASCAR Truck Series Championship, being 19 years, 5 months, and 21 days old when he won the 2015 title. [4] Hornaday is the oldest winner of the NASCAR Truck Series Title; he was 51 years, 4 months and 24 days old when he won the 2009 championship. [5]
Since 2018 NASCAR has awarded a regular season championship for the driver with the most points heading into the playoffs with 2017 being grandfathered in. [6]
Season | Driver | Owner/Team | Number | Manufacturer |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Christopher Bell | Kyle Busch (Kyle Busch Motorsports) | 4 | Toyota |
2018 | Johnny Sauter | Maury Gallagher (GMS Racing) | 21 | Chevrolet |
2019 | Grant Enfinger | Mike Curb (ThorSport Racing) | 98 | Ford |
2020 | Austin Hill | Shigeaki Hattori (Hattori Racing Enterprises) | 16 | Toyota |
2021 | John Hunter Nemechek | Kyle Busch (Kyle Busch Motorsports) | 4 | Toyota |
2022 | Zane Smith | Bob Jenkins (Front Row Motorsports) | 38 | Ford |
2023 | Corey Heim | David Gilliland (Tricon Garage) | 11 | Toyota |
2024 | Christian Eckes | Bill McAnally (McAnally-Hilgemann Racing) | 19 | Chevrolet |
The 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the eleventh season of the Craftsman Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. Ted Musgrave of Ultra Motorsports was crowned the season's champion.
Matthew Justin Crafton is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 88 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing. Crafton is a three-time champion of the Truck Series, winning the championship in 2013, 2014, and 2019.
Ronald Lee Hornaday Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver and businessman. He currently owns Team Hornaday Development, a driver development program as well as Hornaday Race Cars a Dirt Modified chassis builder. He is also the father of former NASCAR driver Ronnie Hornaday and son of the late Ron Hornaday Sr., a two-time NASCAR Winston West Series Champion. Hornaday himself is a four-time champion in the NASCAR Truck Series, his most recent coming in 2009 and is a NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Champion. He was noticed by Dale Earnhardt while participating in the NASCAR Winter Heat on TNN.
Timothy Jason Peters is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Silverado for Rackley WAR. He was a member of the Bobby Hamilton Racing and Richard Childress Racing driver development programs. Peters is a veteran of NASCAR's Truck Series, having driven for the defunct Red Horse Racing team full-time for eight years.
Kevin Harvick, Inc., colloquially referred to as KHI, is a racing team owned by former NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick and his wife DeLana, who is the daughter of former Busch Series driver John Linville. The team owned cars in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Truck Series, and the ARCA Re/Max Series.
The 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the twelfth season of the Craftsman Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. It was contested over twenty-five races, beginning with the GM Flex Fuel 250 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Todd Bodine of Germain Racing won the drivers' championship, making him the first driver to win a top-three NASCAR championship in a foreign make vehicle (Toyota).
The 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season was the thirteenth season of the third highest stock car racing series in North America. Sanctioned by NASCAR, the season began on February 16, 2007, at Daytona International Speedway with the Chevy Silverado HD 250, and ended on November 16, 2007, with the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ron Hornaday Jr. of Kevin Harvick, Inc. was crowned champion.
In 1996 in NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) sanctioned three national touring series, eight regional touring series, and the Winston Racing Series for local competition. NASCAR champions in 1996 were Terry Labonte, Randy LaJoie, Ron Hornaday Jr., Lance Hooper, Dave Dion, Tony Hirschman, Lyndon Amick, Mike Cope, Kelly Tanner, Chris Raudman, Joe Kosiski, and Larry Phillips.
ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife Rhonda, it currently fields five teams: the No. 13 for Jake Garcia, the No. 66 part-time mainly for Conner Jones, No. 88 for Matt Crafton, the No. 98 for Ty Majeski, and the No. 99 for Ben Rhodes. The team has won five Truck Series championships, three with Crafton, and two with Rhodes. The team is also the longest continually tenured team in the truck series, having fielded at least one truck in every season since 1996.
The 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the fourteenth season of the Craftsman Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. It was contested over twenty-five races, beginning with the Chevy Silverado HD 250 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnny Benson of Bill Davis Racing was crowned champion. The season was also the last under the Craftsman sponsorship banner until the 2023 season. Sears Holdings Corporation, the owners of the Craftsman brand name of tools, withdrew sponsorship at the end of the season. On October 23, NASCAR officials confirmed that Camping World would become the title sponsor beginning with the 2009 season.
The 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the fifteenth season of the Camping World Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. It was contested over twenty-five races, beginning with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The season was the first under the Camping World sponsorship banner. Camping World, announced on October 23, 2008, that they would sponsor the series for the next seven seasons. Ron Hornaday Jr. won and clinched the championship for Kevin Harvick, Inc. at Phoenix, one race early.
Ron Hornaday III is a NASCAR driver and the son of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. On May 12, 2001, he earned a career best finish of 11th at Darlington Raceway, his best out of 12 starts.
The 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the eighteenth season of the third highest stock car racing in the United States. The season was contested over twenty-two races, beginning with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR announced some changes, including the removal of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, and Lucas Oil Raceway from the schedule, and moving the Phoenix race back to its traditional fall date. In addition, Rockingham Speedway was added to the schedule, the first time NASCAR has raced at Rockingham since 2004. James Buescher of Turner Motorsports claimed his first championship with a 13th-place finish in the season finale. Chevrolet won the Manufacturer's Championship with 166 points and 12 wins.
The 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the nineteenth season of the Camping World Truck Series, the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in North America. The season was contested over twenty-two races, beginning with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Matt Crafton of ThorSport Racing claimed his first championship with only one finish outside the top twenty and by completing every lap of the season. Toyota won the year's Manufacturers' Championship, while Kyle Busch Motorsports won the Owners' Championship, with its No. 51 entry.
Erik Benjamin Jones is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That Jones Boy, given to him by announcer Ken Squier. Until 2021, Jones had spent his entire NASCAR and ARCA career with Toyota, and while in their driver development program, he won the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. He would return to Toyota's NASCAR program in 2023 when Legacy Motor Club would switch their manufactural allegiance to them.
In 1994 and early 1995, seven non-championship demonstration races for the newly-born NASCAR SuperTruck Series were held. The races were broadcast during coverage of the Winter Heat Series and were held on tracks primarily based on the West Coast of the United States, featuring four to five trucks each. The series helped begin the careers of future NASCAR drivers like Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Matt Crafton, and Ron Hornaday Jr.
The 1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic was a pickup truck race held on February 5, 1995 at the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. It was the first event of the 1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series, the first season of what is now the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the first edition of what is now the Craftsman 150.
The United Rentals 176 at The Glen was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing event at the Watkins Glen International road course in Watkins Glen, New York.
The 2015 Ford EcoBoost 200 was the 23rd and final stock car race of the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and the 20th iteration of the event. The race was held on Friday, November 20, 2015, in Homestead, Florida at Homestead–Miami Speedway, a 1.5 mi (2.4 km) permanent oval shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 134 laps to complete. Matt Crafton, driving for ThorSport Racing, would start from the pole and dominate the entire race, leading a race-high 93 laps and earning his 11th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win, and his sixth of the season. To fill out the podium, John Hunter Nemechek, driving for family-owned SWM-NEMCO Motorsports, and Tyler Reddick, driving for Brad Keselowski Racing, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.