World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will be home to the first of seven Playoff races to decide the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, the Toyota 200 presented by CK Power on August 20 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

The 2021 season marks the first year World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway has participated in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs, becoming the fourth different track to open the Playoffs; joining New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2016, 2017), Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (2018), Bristol Motor Speedway (2019, 2020).

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is a 1.25-mile paved oval. In total, World Wide Technology Raceway has hosted 20 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races dating back to the inaugural event on September 19, 1998. The first Truck race at Gateway was won by Rick Carelli driving the No. 6 Chevrolet owned by Marshal Chesrown. The 20 Camping World Truck Series races at World Wide Technology Raceway have produced 19 different race winners, led by Ted Musgrave with two victories (2001, 2005). Two former series Gateway winners are entered this weekend — 2020 NCWTS champion Sheldon Creed (2020) and 2021 Regular Season Champion John Hunter Nemechek (2017).

This weekend‘s race will be 200 miles (160 laps) and will be broken up into three stages — the first two stages are 55 laps each and the final stage is 50 laps.

A total of 12 different NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers have qualified on the pole at World Wide Technology Raceway, led by Greg Biffle (1998, 2000) and Ted Musgrave (2001, 2005) with two poles each. This weekend‘s starting lineups will be set by Metric Qualifying and as a result Austin Hill will start from the pole and will be joined by John Hunter Nemechek on the front row.

Three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Gateway have been won from the pole or first starting position. The most recent driver to accomplish the feat was Kevin Harvick in 2010; the other two were by Ted Musgrave in 2001 and 2005. The deepest in the field a driver has started and gone on to win the race was 17th by Sheldon Creed last season.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff Structure:

Round of 10: The first round (races 16-18), called the Round of 10, consists of the races at Gateway, Darlington and Bristol. If a driver in the Playoffs wins a race in this round, the driver automatically advances to the next round (Round of 8). The remaining available positions (1-8) that have not been filled by wins will be filled on points. Each will then have their points reset to 3,000, plus any Playoff points awarded to that point are added.Round of 8: The second round (races 19-21) is the Round of 8 (Las Vegas, Talladega and Martinsville). Likewise, if a driver in the top eight in points wins a race in this round, the driver automatically advances to the next round (Championship 4). The remaining available positions (1-4) that have not been filled by wins will be filled on points. Each will then have their points reset to 4,000.Each eliminated driver will return to the Playoff-start base of 2,000 (plus any awarded Playoff points), with their accumulated points starting with race No. 17 added. This will allow all drivers not in contention for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title to continue to race for the best possible season-long standing, with final positions fifth-through-10th still up for grabs.

Championship Race:

The 22nd and final race of the season will be the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship finale. Simply stated, the highest finisher in that race among the remaining four eligible drivers will win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title.Stage Playoff points will not apply in the season finale, so the official finishing position alone will decide the champion.Note:  All rules outlined above also apply to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner championship structure.

NASCAR

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *