watkins glen trucks

This is the first time the Trucks Series has come to Watkins Glen in over 20 years, so none of the drivers have any experience in the trucks at this track. A lot of them are running the ARCA race Friday night, so that will be something to look at and factor into our thinking for Saturday. It seems to me the pool of cash game drivers is pretty small for this race.

• Paul Menard, Parker Klingerman and Sam Mayer - You can't really go wrong with any of these guys. They are starting 38th-40th and each have Top 10-15 upside.
  • Menard raced here 16 times during his years in the Cup Series and was a fringe Top 20 guy. He was never known as a great road racer, but was pretty solid. He raced in this #66 truck earlier this year at COTA -- finishing 11th after starting 26th. It's a ThorSport truck, so should be plenty reliable and fast.
  • Klingerman is another solid choice. He started and finished 13th at COTA in this same #75 truck earlier this year. He also has 8th place finishes at the Daytona Road Course in 2020 and the Canadian road course in 2017. The biggest issue here is he can be pretty aggressive at times.
  • Mayer is in the #32 Holmes truck, which has had an up and down season. He did run this truck at COTA earlier this year and finished 6th after starting 21st. He's running the ARCA race Friday night.
• A.J. Allmendinger - Had to add AJ before posting since he was a late add to the field replacing Chase Purdy. He'll be in a very good GMS truck and AJ is obviously one of the top road course racers in anything he gets into. He will have to start in the back for a driver change, but will still be scored from the 25th starting spot. There is race winning upside here, but it's been over 12 years since he's been in one of these trucks, so that's a concern. I'm not too worried about that, though, because he can easily stay on the lead lap and take it easy while learning the truck during Stage 1. And, at the end of the day, I'm just not too worried taking a chance on AJ at a road course.
• Sheldon Creed - Top 5 finishes in each of his four road course races in the Trucks Series. There's no reason to think he can't do that again here. 2nd at Daytona and 5th at COTA earlier this season.
• Grant Enfinger - Never known as a premier road course guy, but definitely opened some eyes with a 4th place finish in the #9 truck earlier this year at COTA. Enfinger starts 30th and offers +20 position difference upside with a very solid floor. A slightly cheaper option then the Menard-Klingerman-Mayer group above but with a very similar profile.
• Timmy Hill - Timmy finished 9th at Daytona and 24th at COTA. Something around 22nd-24th is a reasonable expectation here. Starting 36th, there's a super solid floor. The $7,100 salary is not cheap, though, and he'd need to finish 21st or better to hit a 5x return.
• Will Rodgers - He's had some decent success at road courses in the lower NASCAR series and has a few Xfinity Series starts at road courses. This will be his first experience in the Truck Series, though, so that's a concern. He'll be in the #41 Cram truck on Saturday -- which isn't the fastest or most reliable piece out there. But it should be good enough to gain at least a few spots from the 29th starting spot.
• Jack Wood - Really just a salary play here in a good GMS truck. He should be able to move up a few spots, but there's not a whole lot of history or anything else to back this up. He finished 28th earlier this season at COTA. He's running the ARCA race Friday night, which I believe will be his first experience at Watkins Glen. I'm not aware of much road course history in his background.
• Austin Wayne Self - Quietly a pretty dependable guy at road courses. 15th and 16th place finishes at the two road courses this year and Top 16 finishes at six of the last seven road course races in the Trucks Series. Kind of risky starting 20th, but the $5,700 salary is nice if he can finish around 15th or 16th again.
• Spencer Boyd - Don't like much in the low end, but wanted to list at least one more cheap option because we may need a couple with the great high end plays. Of the drivers down in the salary range, I see Boyd as the safest bet to actually complete the race and not go backwards. That said, he won't be fast and won't gain too many spots unless we see an awful lot of chaos.