What Is Going On With the Trucks Series?

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has changed in some big ways over the past few years. With it going from the old guy series to the hotshot step on the ladder it was expected to get wild, but now in the last couple years it may have just finally gotten out of hand. Both the 2024 Daytona premiere race and the 2023 Phoenix finale race were dumpster fires and the trends show that it may be indicative of the series’ years to come. So, what’s going on with the Truck Series?
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#nascar #motorsports #racing

[@TheIceberg]

What do you see as the solution to fix the Truck Series?

[@JackCallSports]

More veterans

[@TOdabeasts]

In order to move up to trucks or xfinity (you can choose) you MUST race a FULL season or two in ARCA ANDDD you must be at least 21 years old. Wish it was the retired series like in 2006. This series has been ruined like the old BUSCH North series was in 2007.

[@Crussell04]

Yeah, get rid of all the silverspoon drivers.

[@thetmg8337]

limit the cup guys to just no racing during each series playoff races, aside from that they should be able to to run as many races as they want

[@MxDeNaglowska]

Return to a primary focus on short tracks, with no more than 50% commonality with the Cup Series schedule. Eliminate live pit stops to lower costs on teams. Reimagine the trucks from the ground up to have as much in common with the weekly series Super Lates as possible in terms of parts.

[@hutrod7721]

If the trucks ran a full season points system it might have these kids think twice about making stupid moves because the points aren't as forgiving as the playoff format.

[@MxDeNaglowska]

I'm a fan of the playoff system in Cup, but this is a very valid point for a lower tier series like trucks.

[@cykablyatman6242]

​​@@MxDeNaglowska you might be part of the problem.......asking to keep a format that EVERY OTHER SPORT DOES is making it stale also the best car hasn't always won.....see 2016, 2018, 2022, and last year no gimmicky rules formats is what made nascar stand out

[@chaseelliotiscool2849]

​@@MxDeNaglowska I think we have forgot why nascar was so popular the racing was thw draw abf the year long format gave the racing a storyline playoffs dont do that. They amke the story focus on the 16th best driver not all of them

[@cykablyatman6242]

​@@chaseelliotiscool2849they ended it because MATT KENSETH WAS CONSISTENT. he only won once, that being the first vegas race of 2003, then he was quietly carving out his championship season. the chase was almost broken by RYAN NEWMAN in 2014. Imagine if NASCAR didn't screw over Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, and Kevin Harvick. We would have 2x Champ Kenseth, Newman gets his redemption from winning 8 times and dnf'ing a ton in 2003, Carl stays longer and gets redemption from 2011, and we would have 2x Champ Harvick. Although Jimmie deserved the honor of being 7-time, Chase Elliott having the best car in 2020, Kevin Harvick beating the odds in 2014, Matt Kenseth getting suspended in 2015, and Carl throwing a terrible block in 2016, the problem with those fuckups were this: PHANTOM CAUTIONS ENTERTAINMENT VALUE CHASE ELLIOTT'S FANS THE DRIVER EXODUS

[@xxlarrytfvwxx9531]

I think if the driving standards are too low, they should just abandon the race, like formula 3.

[@IsaacV24]

Pretty simple: the trucks series has become the series for those inflicted with Vickernism.

[@joshuahitt908]

Lmao

[@supertornadogun1690]

Trucks has become what arca was 15-20 years ago, and it ain't pretty

[@Preso_]

@@supertornadogun1690what the f#?! is ARCA then 😂

[@supertornadogun1690]

@@Preso_ A ghost town where half the cars are running 10 laps down, except daytona idk what that is

[@tylerlynch5540]

Comment of the year already.

[@GoobiesFunZone]

At one time the truck series was called the veteran series of NASCAR. It was made up of mostly drivers that were past their prime in the cup series. Now it’s made up of mostly young drivers who don’t want to be running second because they want move up to cup as fast as they can.

[@100proofcrew]

1. Season long championship 2. Get rid of the stages, they arent even longer than the pit window for the trucks, theres no need for the stage breaks

[@hhollyd66]

Trucks used to be the best racing in NASCAR. Used to be.

[@thetmg8337]

Bubba Wallace said it on Twitter perfectly, they limited the cup guys for “ruining the show” and the less and less cup guys came the racing standard has gone downhill since, it’s starting to leak into Xfinity as well which is scary. I never loved buschwacking but always made regulars winning even more meaningful, like Briscoe beating Kyle Busch at Darlington in 2020 for example

[@osiris829]

I didn't see the tweet. By limited, did he mean limited the cup drivers allowed in the trucks?

[@thetmg8337]

@@osiris829 yeah I’m both trucks and xfinity, to where its basically a rarity if a cup guy races

[@fsnnetwork2918]

@@osiris829They’re only allowed to run 5 races by what I think he means by limited and they cant race in the playoffs as wwll

[@osiris829]

@@fsnnetwork2918 oh wow. I guess I missed that change. When did that happen?

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

​@@osiris8292019

[@castandblast1852]

Since there are not that many truck races, it would be nice to see an overall points champion. The truck season does not need playoffs and should end when the cup series playoffs start.

[@2tuff.saints580]

I lost hope for the Truck series after I watched Knoxville 2021

[@crouchb15]

The year this series died

[@whalesequence]

Oh yeah, that was a demolition derby

[@jrracingteam1732]

​@@crouchb15na it will just slowly merge into the arca series

[@GatoradeCupSeriesX94]

The 2020 finale was what did it in

[@AlonsoRules]

that was one of the slowest races in NASCAR history, a pathetic 36 mph

[@edibledognut8739]

I remember watching the Daytona truck race and being like “wow it’s like beer league in iracing”

[@redknightsr69]

I guarantee that flagman has a hell of an elbow now

[@aidanbrazill4885]

Honestly since they run a shorter schedule anyways I wouldn’t mind them implementing a full season points format in trucks

[@jbucktheman]

When will “Truck Series Brakes” become a thing?

[@FlashoftheBlades]

Probably soon.

[@needsmetal]

what do you expect with 18 year olds and sanctioning body that values entertainment over everything

[@fahmiperwira]

i am a nascar idiot, but i agree with this.

[@joshuapboston1999]

The Truck Series has become an absolute shell of what it used to be. Now, you've got nothing but untalented and immature brats who only pay the big bucks because their family said so. There's really no one to show them right and wrong, and I feel that has ultimately made it beyond saving.

[@jrracingteam1732]

And a few people who work there way up but do how pricey nascar is is stuck within the trick series and have to deal with this.

[@Bitterman5868]

Deegan said that and everyone cruxified her.

[@billymercury3897]

"Oh man oh God oh man" Had me dying 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@JackCallSports]

We need veterans and to keep the kids in check… Or truck lifers

[@Massachamp08]

They are also part of the problem.

[@JackCallSports]

@@Massachamp08 like a bodine or a skinner Someone like that

[@Massachamp08]

@JackCallSports Those guys simply aren't around anymore. I think NASCAR needs to do their jobs and actually enforce the rules on the track. Drivers aren't gonna learn if they're not being punished by the sanctioning body. Giving the competitors all of the control generally doesn't work out for the better.

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

​@@JackCallSportsthe Cup veterans are the biggest problem which you ignored the iceberg's point against Cup drivers. The early 2010's was a horrible year for rookies in the Cup series and the only name that comes to mind is Brad Keselowski.

[@nickklavdianos5136]

Ben Rhodes is pretty much a truck lifer, a veteran and a champion, and yet he made one of the most braindead moves I've ever seen. It's not just the young guys.

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

Oh trust me. I’ve been asking the same question since 2020. Trucks went from being a badass exciting NASCAR Top 3 series must watch to an unappealing demolition derby bloodbath. I wish there was a way to make Trucks great again, but unfortunately, there’s none. It’s gonna take a driver to get badly hurt for a change in the series. It sounds brutal, but that’s the only time NASCAR will actually take action since they won’t discipline drivers. Truck drivers nowadays are not disciplined at all and they thing it’s a video game. Horrible series. It’s so bad, I only stick to Daytona, and of course that went terribly (I’m a Daytona fan). Until Trucks becomes great again and stops being what it has been for 4 years, see you next year, Trucks at Daytona (if I actually care enough to watch).

[@jareddiamond5133]

When adding all the Caution Laps from 2017 to 2023, there are 5808 Caution Laps out of a Total of 22926 Laps. Also, when divided by Seven Years, equals an Average of 829.714285714 Caution Laps every 3275.14285714 Laps in the Last Seven Seasons. This equals an Average Caution Lap Rate from the Last Seven Years to be 25.3%, with the closest percentage to this being in 2019.

[@GrandpaShark]

If you look at the last 3 years + Daytona, it is 2743 caution laps in 9596 total laps. 28.6% caution laps. It is definitely trending up.

[@jareddiamond5133]

@@GrandpaShark I can see that. I was just saying how the Caution Laps compared to All the Laps seem to make Truck Racing seem like a wreck fest. Over 25% of Laps under Caution within a 7-Year-Period is too much. Either shorten the Caution Length from 7 Laps to 5 Laps OR Get Rid of Stage Racing Entirely!

[@rmg_2771]

I believe Dale Jr said the stage breaks in Trucks was the reason why he didn’t do the North Wilkesboro truck race. Between that and bigger tracks they do to like Pocono and COTA, stage break cautions make up a decent percentage of the laps run at those tracks. And honestly now I wouldn’t mind them taking away the limit Cup guys can run in that series. There needs to be some more veteran presence in Trucks again. Because right now it’s just a disrespectful show

[@jagsixteen]

All NASCAR needs to do (for all series) is add in a penalty system, and it would give pause to some drivers making "mistakes". Whether it is starting position drops or just points penalties, either would be a deterrent and raise the quality of the racing. Even in short track racing if you wreck someone you get sent to the back of the field. There needs to be acknowledgement from NASCAR to the drivers when someone does something wrong.

[@rattlejuggalo13]

If i remember correctly, the Truck Series is why we have Stage Breaks now. NASCAR would throw the yellow after 20 minutes if there wasn't a yellow before hand. I don't like Stage breaks. It turns what is supposed to be a marathon into 3 sprints. And by knowing when the Cautions will be, it makes the racing a bit more boring to me.

[@adamjdiamond]

What’s going on? The ARCA drivers people laughed at are now running trucks

[@louislepage5111]

I also remember Ken Schrader, Kevin Harvick, Casey Kane, heck even Jimmy Johnson made start in a truck at Bristol, and Mr Excitement himself Jimmy Spencer drove in the series .😊

[@anthonyruggiero1988]

The problem nowadays is that there's no discernible difference in driver skill/quality between ARCA, Trucks, and the less talented half of Xfinity in today's iteration of NASCAR. A scrub with no talent could enter each series interchangeably and finish 15th in each of them. It's not like in the 2000s when ARCA was designed for Bobby Gerhart types, Trucks was designed for Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine types, and Xfinity was designed for Jason Leffler types. That line of distinction is gone now, and it's been gone for over a decade.

[@GatoradeCupSeriesX94]

And now we’re left with losers wrecking equipment in the lower series every week especially no talent Deegan who only got a ride because Ford had to throw her into a mid pack AM Racing team as a last resort to keep this experiment going for another year. Lap 25, ARCA braked into Suarez.

[@100proofcrew]

She got pushed into Suarez, Jeff Bilicki apologized to her

[@revrasheemstewart]

More cup drivers in the truck race. However with a limit of 10 races. 😊

[@President_Grover_Cleveland]

Nah, just limit them in playoffs races at this point lmfao

[@SuperNASCARrocks]

The truck series is a shell of its former self. It used to be a series filled with respect. Now it’s just a clown show.

[@lucastraman706]

It hurts me to say it but Kyle Busch being the enforcer worked wonders for the series overall. Ever since then these kids have gotten out of hand We may need to deploy 2 Kyle Buschs to fix our problem

[@jagsixteen]

Stages are fine for the points system the way it runs now, but cautions don't need to fly for no reason. Removing the knowledge of an upcoming caution will help build differing strategies and not allow teams to game the system (like the pit early nonsense at road courses).

[@auraofazure]

It’s what happens when you let the series get filled with ARCA drivers who clearly need more seasoning and growth in ARCA before moving up. It’s a real shame.

[@gianni4925]

I feel like everyone overreacts about the Truck Series sometimes. I get the inexperience side of it, but when everyone reacts that a big wreck like the one at Daytona is the last straw just because one truck got tight, that gets me upset. It’s like everyone is giving up on them just because of how those trucks handle.

[@Girardin71]

The Idea of using ARCA as a series that you have to fun 2 full season before moving to Trucks. The bracket should be ARCA (Beginners)(16-21), Trucks (Amateur) (22-25), Xfinity (Semi Pro)(26-30), than Cup (Pro)(31-retirement).

[@nickklavdianos5136]

Why should that be a case though? By doing that, you're basically wasting half a driver's career in second tier series. If they're good enough to move up the ranks they should be moving up, the age doesn't matter.

[@dustykh]

if ARCA only has young drivers then they have nobody to learn from. Each series should have veterans to teach the youngins how to race.

[@FJA---]

Obviously I don't know, but to me it looks like a lot, if not the majority, of the drivers have no respect for the equipment, the other drivers or the other drivers teams. How to change that? I doubt there's anybody on the planet that could give a coherent answer to that question.

[@johnhenryNC]

They should run the Truck Series with the old school format of a season long points championship and no stage breaks. Like you said, the Truck Series is now pretty much a developmental series so it should be treated as such. Don't know if there's an age minimum but it should be 18 for all national series.

[@thegreattreon0177]

All they need to do is come out with a new model that's not so aero sensitive. During the 90's all the way til about 2015 these trucks were nowhere near as sketchy to drive but now if you look at them the wrong way they'll spin out

[@puppydogz432]

used to watch truck series semi-regularly. But about 2 years ago I couldn’t watch it anymore. I feel like too many races are filled with stupid wrecks and end in triple overtime. I’m sure there are still great races that happen, but I don’t even keep up anymore, Friday nights are now reserved to Smackdown again

[@SeanRoberts]

I would say with stage racing, eventhough I'm not a fan of it, would be to not throw the caution and keep the race going. Throw the green checkered flag indicating the end of one stage and the start of the next, but don't slow them down and re-rack them. Would certainly make the strategy more interesting.

[@wyattwunderlin4445]

But how is NASCAR supposed to get all of the Television Ad time in? Let's face it, NASCAR throws the caution for two reasons. 1: sell more guaranteed ad time to sponsors. 2: rerack the field in order to cause chaos, because NASCAR is in the "entertainment" industry, not the sports industry. They said the second one themselves.

[@gamerboy0499]

why dosent nascar do red flags when there is a big crash? then you can have time for commercials when the red flag is out and the marshals are cleaning all the circuit. They can do this instead of stages because i think stages just make it clunky in my opinion. Also you could say 'what if there is a lot of incidents? does that mean we have to get a red flag which can take a while to clean up everything?' and to that I say that yes red flags do take a little time to clean up the whole track but there should be a limit for how long a race can run so if it goes over idk 4 hours or 4 and a half hours then the results are just taken from who was 1st, 2nd 3rd etc and the race is finished :)@@wyattwunderlin4445

[@chrisguardiano6143]

As someone who watches DTM (Germany's top racing series) in addition to NASCAR, what the Truck Series is going through currently reminds me a lot of what DTM went through in the mid 2010's when it comes to races that were terrible to watch because of all the wrecks, though DTM did not have the issues with young drivers that the Truck Series has as everyone who raced in DTM either had years of experience in the series or had experience in other forms of racing. Eventually it was decided in 2021 that in order to keep the series alive, DTM had to switch to using GT3 cars instead of touring cars which put the focus back on driver skill because many DTM fans at the time viewed the series as the German version of NASCAR due to drivers simply taking each other out. Also many manufacturers such as BMW & Audi pulled out because the costs were too high. Now the DTM racing product is more like IMSA (minus the driver swaps) & they have been able to get those two makes back along with adding Ferrari, Porsche & Lamborghini.

[@johnvandeventer8668]

The longest green flag run was 12 laps

[@mahiru20ten]

I feel like penalties for those causing the incidents might be necessary, like grid penalties for next race or demotion for the race they cause the incidents in. And maybe if a cup guy wins the race, put the "playoff win credit" for the second best driver.

[@Maverick33]

But then you run the risk of it becoming "The F1 of NASCAR". Cause drivers will eventually be too scared to actually race due to a potential penalty and just do follow the leader instead.

[@mahiru20ten]

@@Maverick33 But then we also need to prevent reckless driving, so there has to be something that can make this work.

[@Maverick33]

@@mahiru20ten Trevor Bayne brought up a good point in the Atlanta pre race. Instead of being able to lock bumpers, they just pound each other. If NASCAR is concerned about tandem drafting, I'm sure they could create an aero package like they did for the Cup Series

[@TanDawg58]

Need some older guys in there. Not necessarily full time Cup guys, but some of the Cup washout guys like we had back in the Day with Musgrave, Benson, Hornaday, T. Bodine, Compton, Sprague, Skinner

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

That could defienitly work. They could probably bring back Travis Pastrana or Scott Speed.

[@GlennWidick]

They need to go back to being a short track series

[@SonicJohnz924]

How To Fix the Truck Series in 5 Easy Steps 1: Remove Stage Cautions and the Playoffs 2: Let Cup Drivers Run at least 5-7 races to maintain the Competitive Balance 3: You must Run at least 2 full seasons in ARCA to Run Truck OR Xfinity. 4: Put in Place Strict Rules for Repeat Offenders of Reckless Drivers, Kinda like what F1 does 5: Virtual Pace Cars on Road Courses only. If all else fails, Replace the Drivers with AI. (I for one welcome our robot overlords 🧐)

[@wyattwunderlin4445]

I think single file restarts would help. Similar to what most dirt tracks do if a restart can't take place because drivers are running over each other in turn 1.

[@SonicJohnz924]

If all of this Fails just Replace Trucks with a National Series based around Short tracks and Grassroots Racing

[@nascarsteve]

The problem with trucks is that you get kids with no experience in top-notch equipment and are driving over their heads, and I think they feel a pressure to perform as they want to advance in their career.

[@jacobevenson8702]

I truly don't understand the amount of hate the truck race got... Was it grueling with the number of cautions? Absolutely. But they weren't wrecking a ton of trucks each caution. Most of the cautions were from either the end of a stage (coming shortly after a previous caution which is an issue on its own....), debris, rain, trucks stopping on the backstretch, or 2/3 truck crashes in the back of the pack or outside of the lead draft. That alone takes up about 8 of the 12 cautions in the race. The people that say this race was "awful" or "a complete shit show" are the same people that say the Coke 600 was the best race of 2022... when that race ran 135 miles of caution laps with majority of those cautions being from massive crashes.

[@GrandpaShark]

No - 9 were for incidents. 1 for debris. 1 for stage, 1 for stage + weather.

[@johnathonkelley5234]

Daytona I'm pretty much over and done with this track period to start with. Lately, we can't seem to go one year without there being a wreckfest on the very last lap every single time we turn around. Pretty much just take the s/f line and move it toward the middle of the backstretch instead of the middle of turn one where it's currently at and we can actually finish a race for once there nowadays. This combined with infinite many more problems pretty much solidifies how I truly feel about this sport as a whole.

[@me18guy]

Watching that in person was pain

[@FallingPicturesProductions]

Too expensive to run, payouts to small, and it will always be overshadowed by Cup and Xfinity. All these factors together means that 75% or more of the drivers are going to be kids that have money and not much more. There's not enough money in it for talented people who don't want to run 38 week schedules to make a living in.

[@noahg2527]

I would start handing out penalties for aggressive driving like in the old days for wreckfest races in trucks, it can also apply for xfinity and cup since those seris arent immune to those types of races, or just do the playoff format in cup, 12 man wild card chase format in xfinity and latford system in trucks and ARCA. I say this because I do agree that it is cause for concern, but if this happens at atlanta, then yeah, the series does deserve scrutiny for the culture that it has, and these are the 2 most realistic and effective ways to change things imo

[@fernandoueno8668]

I think this also has to do with the decline of ARCA. There are too many young drivers getting rushed to Trucks because of the level of competition in lower series

[@chrischrismon]

What would it take to see this stat at the end of this year? I think the elder statesmen leaving led to this current issue.

[@josephwilliams3230]

Tbh the culture of desperation is affecting all three of the top series right now. It's just more obvious in the truck series.

[@NASCARFAN93100]

Remove The Stage Ending Cautions

[@aaronmachado13]

Unfortunately the problem truck series is in was partially due to lack of respect you’ve seen in all three major series. But due to the truck series being a tier 3 feeder series you’ve got younger ones still developing and some of the veteran drivers that push the envelope. I love the truck series and growing up was actually bigger fan of the truck series but sucks to see what it has become

[@Shangri-La665]

I thought it was going to be the 05 Coca-Cola 600 again lol

[@Maverick33]

I think one solution is to pay Truck Series drivers more. Increase the race pay. The Truck Series has become like the short track late model scene. Where the only way to really make any money is by winning. So the aggression level gets amped up. Cause every driver is like "If I wanna afford this, I have to win. Finishing 2nd won't pay the bills". Compared to Cup and Xfinity where a 15th place finish can still make you 6 figures.

[@InsaneCelery238]

So, the basic fix is… yeah we’re screwed

[@realbaron5714]

I miss the times when veterans drove in truck like Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday, Terry Cook, etc.

[@JayStephens8]

This series could be legit great but nascar doesn’t want that

[@AlexJeezyDaSnowmanRappa07]

My opinion they have to get rid of the 2019 engine and reinstall the 2008 engine which is old I miss those engines at Daytona and Talladega

[@Spitfirethedragon]

Free agent drivers still racing. Bobby Hamilton JR Jeremy Mayfield Kenny Wallace Johnny Sauter Todd Bodine (never retired, but was let go of his ride) David Gilliland Johanna Long Carl Long Norm Benning Mike Harmon Robby Gordon Joe Nemecek JJ Yeley Clay Rogers Jeffrey Earnhardt Matt DiBenedetto Steve Arpin Stephen Wallace Stephen Lieght Steve Park DJ Kennington Mario Gosselin Randy McDonald Wheeler Boys Kasey Kahne still racing dirt tracks, but he could do some part time if he wanted to. Greg Biffle Timothy Peters Cole Whitt Andy Seuss Matt Kenseth Mark Thompson Brian Vickers Scott Heckert Jonathan Davenport Andy Lally Bobby Labonte (he recently raced in the NASCAR European circuit.) Casey Mears Ryan Newman Michael Annett David Starr Hermie Sadler (Never did retired, but never got the ride like his little brother did. Had the better talent in XFinity back in the day.) Stanton Barrett Reed Sorenson Josh Wise Germán Quiroga Juan Pablo Montoya Jorge Goeters Michel Jourdain Jr. Carlos Contreras Victor Gonzalez Jr. Justin Marks Max Papis Boris Said had run on oval tracks well. Steve Kinser Alex Tagliani Jacques Villeneuve Scott Bloomquist Tommy Vigh Jr. Justin Boston Chad McCumbee Patrick Sheltra Joey Coulter Justin Lofton T. J. Bell I could go on and on. They are still driving, or part time drivers either at local tracks or the four main series.

[@Spitfirethedragon]

We need more older drivers with experience in these races. These young kids don't have much seat time to be in ARCA, Trucks and all the big boys racing. The average age for all 4 ARCA, Trucks, XFinity and the Big boys had an average age of 40 in the 80s to now under the age of 25 today's age. That is why sponsors and fans are leaving NASCAR. They are replacing the older drivers that fans do love with these young guys nobody heard of.

[@godsmacking99]

The field is filled with a ton of young drivers with limited experience and a ton to prove in the highest pressure seat they've ever driven to that point. It's recipe for disaster and people to drive in desperation and over their heads. Nobody gets long term contracts anymore, everybody is on a one shot 1-year deal, if you don't prove yourself, your career is over. But wreck your way to a couple truck wins like Carson Hocevar and you could end up with a Cup deal at the end of it. That's why they race the way they do. Any blip of being a potential winner and teams will put you on the fast-track to Cup. It's more cutthroat than it used to be but not in a good way. I don't believe it can be fixed as long as teams continue to use it to field test young drivers and see who works and who doesn't. The future problem we're going to see is drivers skipping trucks for this reason and going right to Xfinity where the issue will then become also present there. The standards have been lowered so much for what it takes to race in Nascar. It's become less about how much talent you have as a driver and more about how much money do you bring to the team, how many sponsors you bring and do you have the right last name that is marketable to get more sponsors? You can wreck as much as you want as long as your sponsors are still signing the checks, I don't think the teams really care to change anything.

[@RedCometXIII]

Unpopular opinion, but I kinda dig the Truck series the way it is, this coming from someone who started watching NASCAR in the 90's. With Cup, you're getting the best stock car drivers (aside from guys like Austin Dillon but you're gonna have that) and in Xfinity it's a pretty skilled field. The truck series is full of young guys who are hungry and want to win mixed in with what are essentially pay drivers. This is something you can't really police. The only way to really do that would be to raise the age limit but then you cut it out of the pipeline to Cup. I kinda like watching these young guns tear stuff up. Be thankful it's no in the Cup series, the trucks provide that buffer. If you want skill, watch Cup. If you want a Saturday night style bull ring that turns into a demo derby, watch Trucks and if you don't like that then just don't watch it. I for one am here for it.

[@jrracingteam1732]

Asking for a ride in the truck series Reason: I race with 25-29 4cyl race cars around a small track and we are cleaner and have a lot of respect so i wouldnt be a bully and i feel you wouldnt have to deal with a wrecked car as i woild be to much off pace ot when on pace i would be cleaner then this series. Only done 1 season in 2021 and doing another in 2024 and have yet to wreck anyone. I AM A PERFECT FIT 😅😂 (If only...)

[@davidtollefson8411]

NASCAR, and the trucks in particular, has become embarrassing. I’ve been a fan for most of my 50+years, but what happened in all three Nascar Daytona races and especially the ARCA race isn’t even racing. Whoever is luckiest wins and most of the cars/trucks are wrecked. Even if I saw this type of thing at a local dirt track I would think I’d been ripped off.

[@k18rock22]

I'll wait until the run a non superspeedway race before I pass judgement on how this season is going. Superspeedways almost always lead to lots of wrecks and cautions. And frankly, I just don't think the trucks are designed for those types of tracks, which makes them more wreck prone

[@K05_]

Too many rich kids that paid for ARCA rides then paid there way here, take them back to short tracks mostly and a few mile and a half so they can learn & one or 2 Super speedways and thats it. Or make it a off season series so we always have racing even during the off season🤷‍♂️

[@jordanschriber9580]

I see many complaining about the lack of cup drivers, my opinion is, it is a step to cup. Let it be without cup drivers.

[@jerrychase4177]

Plate Racing is super dangerous.

[@daysofrichie]

This is why it’s a joke now and it’s simple. The quality of racing has gone down as the drivers are young and inexperienced. I mean think about it, back in the day we had guys like Bodine, Sprauge, Skinner, Spencer, Hornaday, etc… The field was a lot more older and full of skill. Then everyone went and cried how cup guys were in the trucks so they limited them and the racing quality took a hit too. What do you expect?? I mean when Johnny Sauter was leading before his crash he was controlling the field like a true veteran. Want better racing? Make the trucks more than a development series so the older skillful guys can get in there and run around. (Posted this before I watched video, nice to see Iceberg agrees!)

[@MikeRaskovic]

When did they start televising C rank races in iRacing? Because I couldn't tell the difference

[@MikeRaskovic]

On a more serious note, Nascar should raise the minimum age across all 3 series and require a driver to have run a set number of truck races (must start and finish race, no start and parks, and dnf's do not count) before being eligible for the Xfinity series. Raising the age limit will bring in more mature drivers and hopefully ones that are more marketable and actually have a damn personality. Cause right now most of them have ZERO personality and if I was a sponsor I'd be embarrassed.

[@russelldesabre9530]

Bring back practice…..will help with the lack of experience

[@FMecha]

For the trucks veteran/lifers thing - I thought some of y'all lost respect for Crafton after the Sanchez punch? No idea for other lifers like Enfinger.

[@GrandpaShark]

I lost respect for Crafton after that. Never had respect for Sauter. I do respect Enfinger, especially after Thorsport screwed him over, then GMS folding. He's still competitive & races clean.

[@crouchb15]

What if the truck series shut down in 2020???

[@thomaskauser8978]

Bad blood carryover from last season! When the only way to keep the lead is blocking stuff happens?

[@chromediesel444]

Its a culture problem. Most of them grew up and took Kenseth vs Logano in 2015 as an inspiration. They believe its ok to do that now. You can get away with. If NASCAR does nothing about it, Xfinity and Cup will have issues as well.

[@johnvandeventer8668]

And some of those drivers think what Kenneth did at Martinsville in 2015 was okay. Don’t they realize that Logano could’ve gotten hurt/injured? I get that Brian France was favoring Logano about it, but that’s not an excuse.

[@timkis64]

what happens when you put kids in adult situations.they dont have the maturity to consider the consequences of BAD decisions.& that falls directly on the team owners.

[@KHKC88]

Wrecking Daddy’s money.

[@majorwootton9130]

Y'all gonna complain about it but watch it every weekend

[@jmh8622]

It is a culture thing. They all believe they have to win at all cost to move up to the higher series. What we are losing is actual driver development. Where they learn to respect the equipment they are in and your competitors as well. Nobody seems to care if they wreck or wreck someone else. It’s just what you do. They need to learn there is not one race you can win in the opening laps. But you can lose all of them that way. And there is a time and place for things. If you’re going for the win on the last lap aggression is understood. It’s just stupid when there is still 40 laps to go and everyone has to pit again anyway. I’ll get off the soapbox. They need to clean up their act and make the show more entertaining. Not just a parade under caution half the race.

[@NotMattyDYT]

Veterans like Crafton and Sauter knew how to race and put idiots in their place even if they went too far like Crafton punching Sanchez. Hell even Matt DiBenedetto had respect and called out people once for stupidity and saying "Some of these guys race with no respect" which I'm kind of happy he's not being a victim of the chaos that the last 2 races had. I will admit Daytona was good when they weren't wrecking on lap 6 or every 3-5 laps.

[@whoasked9500]

this series and the arca series are the only racing series I have watched that I might legit stop watching entirely until they get their acts together I may get pissed off with the Cup Series and Xfinity series with their gimmicks sometimes but at least when they have really stupid wreckfests races they usually don't appear much or only occur in the plate races or certain playoff races with trucks and arca it legit feels like every god damn race has been poisoned with absolute idiocy thanks to the sanctioning body basically encouraging it and no older guys to sort out the young drivers' behavior

[@ParadiseCity1329]

Now that the majority of drivers are bad, minus Crafton and Sauter, I wish they'd bring back not exactly buschwacking, but allow the Cup veterans and even sone Xfinity drivers like Allgaier to do more of the truck races besides just Kyle Busch and the occasional guy here and there. Even if the field of bad drivers crash, the veterans can still put something for fans to at least watch or something interesting and at the very least bearable.

[@AlonsoRules]

There's many reasons but the core ones are wide open tracks, double file restarts and playoffs. This week is yet another superspeedway and the purse is a pathetic 708k. Every team will lose money!!

[@fahmiperwira]

i have little knowledge about nascar but i do love the races especially truck series, frankly mainly because of how the cars looked. it far more appealing to me seeing this kind of bodywork to put in races. for the drivers, i should agree on you that they're far less experienced. i watched F1 too, and also F2, F3, and F1 academy which right now are all female formula car drivers. F2/3/Academy were youngsters and they very lack of experience. so many crashes and safety cars are busy they do more have track time than F1 safety car. more seat time and more cup series mentor i think could solve.

[@zachwalentiny]

I'm just afraid if people keep complaining about the Truck series, NASCAR will get rid of the series all together. Then we will really have something to complain about. So last year at Phoenix was a wreckfest, who cares? Literally half the reason it was such a wreckfest is because NASCAR screwed up the location of the restart zone, which they then corrected for the Xfinity race the next night. Daytona last weekend was just typical Daytona. It wasn't any worse than any other year. At least it wasn't as bad as the 2019 race when 25 trucks DNF'd from wrecks.

[@snappy452]

"You know the culture is actually damn good." - Steve Phelps upon watching this video.

[@ryanconville9181]

Maybe go back to one mile or less tracks along with road courses.

[@jeffgordonfan24]

It can be fixed. One solution: Just let 32 teams into the field instead of 36 teams for every race. This would lead to more space on the track for inexperienced drivers. Another solution: Get rid of the stages, its just to short of a race to be throughing 2 cautions for no reason.

[@atkearly1]

Imagine if some team likes Spire, just hires Greg Biffle for a full time ride.

[@since1961]

They definitely don't need to continue racing on any of the super speedways including Atlanta

[@sporthighlightseveryday1085]

This was the best of all the Daytona races this year lol

[@GrandpaShark]

The problem is that the older drivers like Johnny Sauter & Matt Crafton are assholes. The younger drivers are going to copy them.

[@dcaseng]

Here's what happened: Nascar forcing pack racing everywhere by instituting things like stage cautions and wide open throttle race packages. Owners rushing teenagers whose only experience is sim racing. Handling, tire wear and attrition have been replaced with short sprints with slot cars. Racing etiquette is extinct because there are no full time veterans in the series who will keep these kids in check in the garage.

[@The_Walnoys]

Yeah, it literally became Arca 2.0 and the pre-show of Arca 1.0

[@NASCARFAN93100]

Love The Intro

[@warrenself]

The money and lack of talent that plagues ARCA has crept up to the Trucks. They all have no business running at these big tracks. Went through all the local and regional racing where people don’t notice it first. It came knocking in ARCA about ten years ago and it’s only a matter of time before the Xfinity Series gets this bad which will be a real shame. The sport becoming irrelevant and sponsors walking away without NASCAR evolving put it here. Casual fans that like crashes and beer goggle diehards are the only ones who can support this mess. Prospecting fans and the fans NASCAR is losing just laugh at this and keep looking for other stuff to watch and do. Edit: As others have said, removing Cup driver limits could help. But then I’m refreshed on how Joey Logano had to pay to drive at Bristol dirt which shows how bad the sponsorship situation really is.

[@naparacingfan9275]

The trucks desperately need help. Being aggressive is fine but wrecking each other either on purpose or not knowing any better over and over again doesn't help the product.

[@philipkalin1928]

Feels like a iracing series tbh.. 😅