The 2022 NASCAR season has made it to championship weekend and the first series to crown a champion will be the Truck Series. Ty Majewksi, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes will compete for the title Friday night at Phoenix. That is two drivers from ThorSport Racing (Majewski and Rhodes), one driver from Front Row Motorsports (Zane Smith) and one driver from Kyle Busch Motorsports (Chandler Smith). I am surprised John H. Nemechek did not make the Championship Four, but this is a talented group of young drivers. It should be fun to see who wins the championship for the 2022 season. The Lucas Oil 150 can be seen Friday at 10 pm ET on FS1. (It sucks for East Coast fans that the race is on so late, but at least it is Friday night)
PRACTICE / QUALIFYING
This is championship weekend and that means NASCAR must have a championship schedule. The Truck Series had 55 minutes to practice Thursday and then they qualified for the race Friday. This is the same schedule the series had pre-Covid. It is nice to see the teams have some extra time to dial in their trucks. It also gives us a good idea of who has speed and he does not. The drivers who were fast on the long-runs in Friday’s practice will be the drivers we want in our lineups tonight.
Derek Kraus and Dean Thompson crashed their trucks in practice. Ben Rhodes had a problem getting his engine to fire in practice so he missed a lot of track time.
Here are the lap times from the practice Friday at Phoenix…
STRATEGY FOR PHOENIX
Phoenix is a 1-mile, D-shaped, flat track. It is similar to Richmond and New Hampshire. The Lucas Oil 150 is scheduled for 150 laps (150 miles). That means there are 37.5 points available for leading laps and 67.5 points available for fastest laps (105 dominator points). The trend at Phoenix is for one driver to lead 90 laps and score 34 fastest laps (37.8 dominator points) and a second driver to lead 50 laps and score 40 fastest laps (30.5 dominator points). This race is usually a two dominator race and we must pay up for these drivers Friday night. (Typically the championship four drivers score most of the dominator points, but do not count out John H. Nemechek spoiling the party)
The drivers who have the best chance to score the most dominator points at Phoenix include: Ty Mewjeski, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and John H. Nemechek
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR PHOENIX
CORE DRIVERS FOR PHOENIX
TOP-TIER DRIVERS: Chandler Smith ($11,000), Zane Smith ($10,800), Ty Majewski ($10,600), John H. Nemechek ($10,400), Corey Hiem ($10,200), Ben Rhodes ($9,900), Grant Enfinger ($9,700), Stewart Friesen ($9,500), Christian Eckes ($9,300),
VALUE-TIER DRIVERS: Matt Crafton ($8,900), Tyler Ankrum ($8,700), Derek Kraus ($8,500), Johnny Sauter ($7,800), Tanner Gray ($7,700), Colby Howard ($7,500), Taylor Gray ($7,200), Rajah Carruth ($6,800), Austin W. Self ($6,700), Timmy Hill ($6,500)
PUNT PLAYS: Jake Garcia ($5,800), Lawless Allen ($5,200), Blaine Perkins ($5,000)
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Good Luck This Week!
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