NASCAR Celebrates 500th Start in Camping World Truck Series

When the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series takes to New Hampshire Motor Speedway Friday afternoon, it will mark the 500th start of the series, a division that has served as the launching pad for many of NASCAR’s top drivers. Carl Edwards, for example, recognizes the debt he owes to the series and to the owners who gave him his first chance to race in it.

The Truck Series is one of NASCAR’s three national divisions, and the only one to race pickup trucks as its primary vehicles. It was originally created in 1994 as an experimental prototype race truck took laps around Daytona International Speedway, and the series grew from there. It started as the NASCAR SuperTruck Series, then became the Craftsman Truck Series when the series rebranded in 1996, and finally the Camping World Truck Series after Sears, Roebuck and Company’s sponsorship ended in 2008 and Camping World stepped in.

NASCAR has used a number of different names for the series since then, and it’s currently called the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. Toyota has been a dominant force in the series, winning the manufacturer’s championship seven of the last 10 years and having multiple drivers win races on a regular basis.

The 2022 season was a big one for the series and its teams. Zane Smith won the driver’s championship, and Toyota won the manufacturers’ title for the fifth straight season. Ben Rhodes finished second in the points standings and scored a road course victory at Phoenix to help ThorSport Racing claim the team championship.