This week, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Trucks Series heads to the Irish Hills of Michigan at Michigan International Speedway for the Corrigan Oil 200 on Saturday. This race at Michigan has more on the line than ever before because this is the last race of the regular season in the truck series. After this race, we know the eight playoff-eligible drivers who have a chance to compete for the championship which starts the following week at Bristol and continues until the end of the season at Homestead.
Right now, six drivers are locked into the playoffs with wins. Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Ross Chastain, Austin Hill, Stewart Frisen and Tyler Ankrum all have wins to get them in. With Friesen winning last week at Eldora, Grant Enfinger is in as he currently leads the points in the Truck Series right now.
In the bubble spot is Matt Crafton as he is currently 52 points towards the cutoff line. As of now, he is in the playoffs. Among the drivers that are below the cutoff line are Ben Rhodes, Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliand, and Sheldon Creed. All four of them need a win to get in the playoffs, or they won’t be competing for a championship.
One of the biggest stories heading into this weekend’s race is that both Kyle Busch Motorsports Trucks are on the outside of the cutline heading into this weekend’s regular-season finale at MIS. If neither Harrison Burton or Todd Gilliand win, it will be the first time that KBM has missed the playoffs entirely since the playoff format was introduced in the Truck Series in 2016. This will be Burton’s first time at MIS while Gilliand is competing at Michigan for the 2nd time in his career. Gilliand finished fifth in last year’s race.
Sheldon Creed will be competing for the first time at MIS in the Truck Series for GMS Racing. However, Creed won last year’s ARCA Menards Series Race in the Irish Hills and has the same crew chief in Jeff Stankiewicz working with him this season. Creed finished 2nd at Eldora and will need to win this weekend if he wants to keep his championship hopes alive.
Ben Rhodes was in last year’s playoffs with Thorsport Racing and won last year at his home track of Kentucky to get in last year. However, this year Rhodes has not found victory lane, and the team has struggled in the previous few races. Rhodes has had three finishes outside the top 10 in his last four races including an engine failure at Chicagoland. Rhodes finished 6th in this race last year.
Brett Moffitt won this race last year when he passed Johnny Sauter on the final lap to pick up what was then his 4th win of the season. He eventually went on to win the championship.
After this race, we will know who the eight drivers will be that will compete for a championship starting next week at Bristol.
The Corrigan Oil 200 will be 100 Laps. Thirty laps for Stage 1, 30 Laps for Stage 2 and the final stage are 40 laps. The Corrigan Oil 200 will be on Saturday, August 10th at 1 PM on FS1.