daytona trucks

The regular season is upon us.  There is so much turnover in the truck series that it's really hard to do a traditional analysis.  Not many drivers have an established history at the tracks to identify them as good tracks or bad tracks for the drivers.  Plus a lot of the analysis has to be done before qualifying since that takes place so close to lock time.  All that means the truck updates I do will be more general in nature.

We do still have useful information to help identify some of the best bets to finish near the front on Friday night.  So here we go:

• As always, starting spot will be key.  The winning formula at the plate track races is generally to focus on cars starting in the back half of the field.  I'd put a little less emphasis on that in the truck series because some of the back markers really don't have the resources or ability to hold up even at the plate tracks.
• Trucks starting in the Top 10 have not done well in the last three Daytona races.  Of the 30 trucks starting in the Top 10 in those three races, only 9 finished in the Top 10.  And, 12 of those 30 trucks finished 20th or worse.  The sweet spot has been trucks in the 15th-28th starting spots.  Those trucks have made up over half the Top 10 finishers in the last three races.  So we're looking to identify trucks on credible teams starting mid-pack.
• The GMS racing team has had incredible success at the plate tracks and Daytona in particular in the last three seasons.  Their drivers have won the last three season opening Daytona races.  The team has also won two of the last three Talladega races.  So GMS has won five of the last six truck races run at the plate tracks.  Their entries this year are the #2 of Sheldon Creed and the #24 of Brett Moffitt.  They are both on the radar depending on starting spot.
• Johnny Sauter was the GMS driver who won two of the last three Daytona races.  He has moved on to ThorSport, which is a strong team as well.  A very strong chance he makes the roster unless he qualifies way up front.
• The old man Joe Nemechek has run incredibly well at Daytona recently.  He's completed all the laps and finished 3rd and 5th in the last two races.
• Ben Rhodes has finished 4th, 12th and 7th in the last three Daytona races and completed all 300 laps run in those races.
• Matt Crafton is a grizzled veteran on a good team and will be on my roster if he starts further back. 
• To reiterate, so much depends on starting spot here.  So don't get locked into anything until after qualifying is complete.