2018 Season/Event Preview: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Daytona (February 16, 2018)

The 24th season of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series begins Friday, February 16, with the 100-lap Nextera Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Qualifying begins at 4:45 p.m. with the race at 7:30 p.m.

Here are some statistics related to the series and the previous 18 races at Daytona, ahead of qualifying.

2017 Season Statistics

- Races: 23

- Number of Race Winners: 13

- Most Victories: Christopher Bell (5)

- Champion: Christopher Bell

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Daytona Statistics

- 2017 winner: Kaz Grala

- Races: 18

- Number of Different Race Winners: 16

- Most Victories: Todd Bodine, Johnny Sauter (2)

- Most Victories, Manufacturer: Toyota (8)

- Victories By Starting Position: 1st – 4; 2nd – 2; 3rd – 2; 6th – 1; 7th – 1; 10th – 1; 11th – 1; 12th – 1; 19th – 1; 23rd – 1; 24th – 1; 25th – 1; 36th – 1

- Most Starters in the Field: 36 (15 times)

- Fewest Starters in the Field: 32 (3 times)

- Most Lead Changes in Race: 31 (2000)

- Fewest Lead Changes in Race: 6 (2011)

Notes of Interest

- This is the first of 23 races on the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule. The first 16 races are part of the regular season, with the final seven races part of the Playoffs.

- This is the 19th consecutive season that the series has kicked off its season at Daytona. The last time a Truck Series season did not start at Daytona was 1999, when the season-opener came at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

- Last year’s winner Kaz Grala became the first driver since 2007 to win the race from the pole position. The victory came in his first Truck Series race at Daytona and only his 10th series event.

- Chevrolet has won the last two Truck Series races at Daytona – both from the front row. They mark Chevy’s only two Truck Series victories at Daytona.
- No manufacturer has ever swept the top five positions in the Truck Series race at Daytona.
- A total of 4,560 miles (1,824 laps) have been completed in Truck Series competition at Daytona.
- The winner of the race has come from the first two starting rows only six times. Winners have come from beyond the first five starting seven times.
- Of the 18 Daytona winners, only half of them led the most laps en route to victory. Mike Wallace led the most laps of any driver in a single race with 59, and is one of two drivers to lead at least half of the laps or more en route to victory. Of the eight races dating back to the 2010 race, the winner has led the most laps of the race only once (Tyler Reddick, 2015).
- On the flip side of the leaders of the most laps, five drivers have led more than half of the laps in a Daytona race but failed to win the event, including four consecutive races between 2011 and 2014. Miguel Paludo (2012) and Ty Dillon (2013) each led 56 laps of the race but neither won; Paludo finished 31st after an accident.
- The winner of the Truck Series race has led only one lap twice: Bobby Hamilton (2005) and Michael Waltrip (2011).

- Chase Briscoe is the last driver to win the pole position, lead the most laps and go on to win that race, when he scored his maiden victory in last year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.

- Johnny Sauter is one victory away from tying Dennis Setzer for sixth all-time in series victories with 18. Sauter currently has 17 and is tied for seventh with Ted Musgrave.

- A total of 101 drivers have won at least one Truck Series race in the series’ 552-race history, starting with Mike Skinner in the 1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic in 1995 at Phoenix International Raceway (now ISM Raceway).

Sources:

- Daytona International Speedway media guide

- Wikipedia – Nextera Energy Resources 250