Return Back to the News Listings

By Dino Oberto …. “Keeping Track”

Saturday’s running of the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pocono Mountains 125 has been building with hype since it was first announced last September.

The trucks have a reputation for putting on hard-nose style racing and with Pocono being just 50 laps in distance it should no doubt be a shootout from start to finish.

The Pocono Mountains 125 will mark the final track on the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule on which the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has not competed on. Todd Bodine comes to Pocono as the points leader. He has one win, Texas, and carries a 177 point advantage over Aric Almirola. Bodine, the 2006 champion, has one pole in 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Pocono and is one of the pre-race favorites. Almirola has scored wins at Dover and Michigan. Kansas winner Johnny Sauter is third in points. Four time and defending Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr., comes to Pocono as the most recent winner, last Friday night at Indianapolis Raceway Park. He sits fourth in points and has two Cup starts at Pocono which came in 2001 while driving for A.J. Foyt. Tim Peters, who won the season opener at Daytona is fifth. Rounding out the current top 10 in points is leading Rookie of the Year candidate Austin Dillon, who won at Iowa. Matt Crafton, 1995 champion Mike Skinner, David Starr and Jason White.

NASCAR announced that it will revise the qualifying procedure for the Pocono Mountains 125 with a multi-truck session on the 2.5-mile track. The order in which trucks will qualify for the 36 available positions will be based on their practice speeds from final practice on Friday. Times will be inverted, allowing the slowest truck in practice to be the first out in qualifying on Saturday morning, with the fastest truck going out last. Trucks will be released from pit road in approximately 25-second increments.

Two laps of qualifying will be allowed with the fastest lap counting. Once a truck comes onto pit road its respective qualifying lap is complete. No drafting will be permitted. “The distance and uniqueness of Pocono afforded us the opportunity to implement this style of qualifying for this event,” said NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Director Wayne Auton. “SPEED is excited about the format and we believe the fans, drivers and viewing audience will embrace it, too.”

“Our anticipation for the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race ever at Pocono has been building for quite some time, but adding multi-truck qualifying to the mix really turns it up a notch,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “All of us at SPEED are looking forward to watching this unique qualifying format unfold live and delivering it to the fans.”

“It will definitely be different than what we are used to,” said Bodine. “It will be quite a show I’m sure. It should be good for the fans and good for television.”

“We are thrilled to have the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series coming to Pocono Raceway for the inaugural Pocono Mountains 125,” said Brandon Igdalsky, president of Pocono Raceway.
“Recently, Pocono Raceway has been the host to many firsts, and with the new qualifying format being introduced and the always exciting double-file restarts, the truck series’ first trip to Pocono is sure to be a memorable one.”

Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler are not new names to Pocono Raceway. In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Hamlin is a four time winner including June of this year. Kahne has won once and Sadler is a constant front runner at Pocono’s 2.5 mile “Tricky Triangle.” What is new is they will be running the truck race in addition to their Sprint Cup Series duties. Hamlin will be driving the #15 truck for Billy Ballew Motorsports. Kahne, who has not raced in the trucks since 2004, is a perfect two for two, winning both of the races he entered. He will be at the wheel of the #18 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry. Sadler will be driving the #2 truck owned by Delana Harvick.

The trucks will first turn a wheel on at 8:00AM on Friday for a two hour practice session. ARCA Racing Series practice, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, ARCA qualifying and Sprint Cup qualifying will follow the Camping World Truck Series practice. The final Truck Series practice is scheduled from 5:30-7:00PM and will follow Sprint Cup Series qualifying.

On Saturday a 9:00 AM Sprint Cup Series practice session precedes Camping World Truck Series qualifying that is scheduled for 10:00AM. The final Sprint Cup Series practice will be held from 11:20 AM to 12:20PM. Driver introduction for the Pocono Mountains 125 is scheduled for 12:30PM with the start of the race set for 1:00 PM.

The Weis Markets 125 ARCA Racing Series event will follow the conclusion of the Camping World Truck Series Event.

Friday grandstand tickets are $10, Saturday grandstand tickets are $20 in advance ($25 at the gate.) Children 12 and under are admitted free to the grandstands on Friday and Saturday with a paying adult.