(James Buescher waves to the crowd during driver intros at Memphis Motorsports Park last year after earning the pole position. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)James Buescher. Brian Scott. J.R. Fitzpatrick. Chase Austin.
Get to know them, because they're going to be the next big things.
The NASCAR Truck Series is creating another identity for itself under the Camping World banner, after being sponsored by Craftsman since its inception in 1995. The Truck Series has always been seen primarily as an equivelent to the PGA's Senior Tour. Drivers such as Mike Skinner, Ted Musgrave, Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, and so on have seen success here after years in the Cup Series. Other drivers such as Ron Hornaday and Jack Sprague started in the Truck Series, moved to Busch (now Nationwide) and Cup, and then returned while still others, such as David Starr, Terry Cook, and Rick Crawford, have been successful in NASCAR's third-tier series with no overt intentions of moving onward.
To a smaller degree, the series has also been a training ground for drivers to eventually drive in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Arguably, the most successful Truck Series alumnus has been Carl Edwards. Edwards started his NCWTS career with Mike Mittler and MB Motorsports (along with two-time Cup Series winner Jamie McMurray and 2008 Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year Regan Smith) and moved over to Roush Fenway racing, winning five Truck races during the 2004-2005 seasons.
Other drivers who paved their way to NASCAR success via the Truck Series include Kevin Harvick, who won the Truck Series title as an owner in 2007; Greg Biffle, a Truck Series and Nationwide Series champion; and Kurt Busch, the 2004 Cup Series champ.
After that, a number of young drivers came and went through the Truck Series, none of them matching the success of the aforementioned racers. While drivers such as David Reutimann stayed in the Truck Series a number of seasons before moving up, several have only made a small number of starts there or have avoided the series altogether. While the veterans have provided the foundation, it was the "young guns" who provided the flavor. That flavor was missing for a while.
But now it's back.
The NCWTS race in Daytona, while marred with crashes, showed that there are a number of drivers who have the ability and the talent to put the Truck Series back on the national map. J.R. Fitzpatrick, a 19-year-old Canadian driver, had never raced a track bigger than a half-mile prior to finishing fourth at Daytona. James Buescher made the most of his limited number of Nationwide Series starts in 2008, earning his first top-ten at Gateway and finishing the season at Memphis on the pole. Brian Scott had a runner-up finish last year in the series and is expected to win at least one race this year.
These young men are exactly what Camping World needs to help promote its series. These are going to be the next Carl Edwards and the next Kevin Harvicks and will entice fans to the tracks, especially ones like Gateway, Memphis, and Nashville that host stand-alone NCWTS events. The addition of Ricky Carmichael, considered by many to be the greatest AMA Supercross racer of alltime, adds some star power and much-needed media attention to the series as well.
Plus, Camping World has promised to increase the amount of promotion it does for the series, especially in the stand-alone markets. There is no reason not to believe that. Camping World, in a short period of time, has saturated the NASCAR world and has become one of the sports most visible sponsors, thanks to the hard work of folks like the organization's director of motorsports, Kurt Hunt. After the 2008 season, when Craftsman provided nearly no activiation or promotion to the series or its drivers due to its lame-duck status, anything Camping World does will be welcome by the sanction, the tracks, the drivers, and the fans.
At the end of the season, we will probably still see Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday fighting for the title, but the under-20 set will definitely let them now they're there.
