The Triple Truck Challenge in the Craftsman Truck Series this year has brought about a great amount of confusion and questions…
According to the rules ONLY the race winner can collect the money; BUT that driver must also be declared as a FULL TIME POINTS EARNING DRIVER in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Cup Series driver Christopher Bell won the race at Bristol on Friday night – the last race in the Triple Truck Challenge (also known as The Trip) with full time Truck Series driver Chandler Smith coming in second.
NASCAR has deemed that since Christopher Bell is NOT a full time Truck Series driver he cannot collect the $50,000 prize; NOR can full time truck series driver Chandler Smith because he did not win the race.
HOWEVER, Corey Heim – a PART-TIME TRUCK SERIES DRIVER WHO HAS NOT DECLARED HIMSELF AS A POINTS EARNING DRIVER – won the first two races in the Triple Truck Challenge – and was awarded the prize money!
Corey Heim is NOT listed as a full time points earning driver under any of the three racing series. He does have a development contract with 23XI Racing.
After being disqualified last week, Smith noted, “it takes a little bit of the sting out, but we haven’t gone through tech yet, so I’m not going to get too excited. Last week, I thought we had a solid, blue-collar day. A fourth-place finish, spent time with my buddies and family, then my crew chief calls me two hours later and says we got disqualified. I thought he was joking. So I’m not going to count my eggs before they hatch.”
As for his second place finish behind Bell, “to challenge Christopher at the end, I probably needed 20 more laps. It took a long time for my truck to get going. Early in a run, I had the least grip, but the longer I ran, the more grip I picked up. Everyone else seemed to be the opposite. They’d fire off strong, then start slipping, while I’d start reeling them back in.”