16 races of the 2022 Camping World Truck Series down and 7 remain. This will start the final countdown to decide the 2022 Truck champion. Many drivers have dreamed about this since they were kids and dedicated so much time and sacrifice for this opportunity. Unfortunately, there isn't enough room for every to fight for the title. 10 drivers have shown in the first 2/3 of the season that they have what it takes to make the playoff gird. So, let's meet our drivers, shall we?

1st let's start off with a heavy hitter in the Truck Series, starting 10th is an established driver with the most Truck starts ever, 15 career wins ranking 10th on the all-time wins list plus is a 3-time champion of the series in his ThorSport Racing 88 Toyota Tundra Matt Crafton

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He did have to race his way in on points this year having to avoid trouble, and yes he only has a single top 5 this season at Darlington, but he has gathered 8 total top 10s which isn't all that horrible. Crafton has had a long career, which he has had to make opportunities in the Trucks. Crafton has spent most of his career at ThorSport; the lone season he wasn't in the 88 was in 2004. That was the season where he showed that if he had the right equipment underneath him , he could fight for wins. But he would have to wait, for ThorSport was also trying to figure out how to win. The organization has never won a race either and have had to improve themselves. They were founded in 1996 and have had to build quality trucks, but it all at long last came together in 2008. In that season's North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Crafton and ThorSport finally have won. It's their 1st career win ever, and for Crafton, he got the record for most starts before a Truck driver's 1st win. 178 starts, and this was only the beginning; they would become an elite combination as they would eventually become championship material getting the job done in 2013. The following season, Crafton made history becoming the first and to this date, only driver to win back-to-back titles. After 2017, he was on a winless streak that went on for a couple of years. In 2019, he was so consistent where he made it to the final race with a shot at the championship. He felt like he had a genuine shot while some thought he wasn't going to show up with enough pace. But Crafton ended up getting the last laugh. Despite not winning a single race, I got the 3rd championship. So keep a lookout for Crafton who will be seeking a historic 4th championship to tie Ron Hornaday for most championships in history.

9th on the grid starting out is in fact a former teammate to the aforementioned 3 time champion. While not a champion yet people know him representing his sponsor, "Champion Power Equipment," the driver of the 23 Gallagher Motorsports Chevy Silverado

Grant Enfinger
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Grant can be classified as a late bloomer in the NASCAR Truck Series, he made some starts here and there early on in the early 2010s. But things didn't work out, so he would continue to show his talent in the Arca Series, and his best would be 2014 and 2015. Maury Gallagher, the owner of GMS, took Enfinger mid-season in 2014. They may not have gotten the Arca championship, but in 2015, they got the championship secured, then in 2016, for the first time since 2012, Enfinger would make a Truck start. Now in competitive equipment, Grant could show that he can mix it up with the best of them. In Talladega, Enfinger would get his 1st Truck win in dominant style. That style gave him his big full-time break at ThorSport in 2017. In that time consistently he was bringing in strong results, in 2020 his best points finish was 4th after a career best 4 wins that year. Shockingly though in 2021 he would not be back in the 98........at least not full-time. In order to run the full season he'd have to run for two separate teams. Unfortunately he would miss the playoffs, and would lose his ThorSport ride. However things came full circle whenever an old friend gave him a chance to return......2022 Enfinger would return to GMS but this their first full season together. While things were OK they weren't spectacular, 3 top 5s and 7 top 10s before the playoffs isn't taking the series by storm. But GMS have had championship success twice, once with Johnny Sauter, once with Sheldon Creed. So they now how to get the job done and Enfinger has made it to the last race with a chance before, also sometimes teams who haven't been spectacular in the regular season would show up in the playoffs with a lot of speed. Could this be the same thing here?

Starting 8th in the standings is the youngest driver in the playoff grid. He began full time last year as he was finishing high school, and now that he graduated, he has already shown that he is a future star. The 19-year-old onboard the 42 Chevy Silverado for Niece Motorsports,
Carson Hocevar

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In his 2nd full-time season, the teenager has already shown improvement from last year. In his 2021 rookie campaign, he had 3 top 5 and 8 top 10s while finishing 10 in the standings. Not bad, Hocevar made the playoffs and advanced out of round 1, so it's definitely something to build off of. Now, before the playoffs started, he gathered 6 top 5s and 9 top 10s. Some think he'd have his 1st win to this point. It hasn't happened yet, but it wasn't from a lack of effort. He had back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Bristol dirt race, where he led 55 laps and Darlington this season. After coming off a 4th in Texas, he had an amazing race at Charlotte, but this happened,

Then, next week at Gateway, things made a turn for the worse. On the final lap, Hocevar was involved in a crash that resulted in him getting a broken right ankle after getting t-boned. Some were wondering how long he was going to be sidelined. After surgery, NASCAR cleared him to race at Sonoma, which was next on the schedule. Arriving at the track on crutches, some would wonder how he could do or how long he could go. Qualifying came, and Carson didn't miss a beat, the young man got his 1st pole...............................
Yep, he ain't slowing down. While sadly, he had to surrender his starting position due to wrecking on the lap back to the pits. He would finish the race 6th, with a little help from Cup driver Daniel Suarez. NASCAR rules state that the driver who took the green flag for the start would be credited for the race result. Not wanting to risk further damage to Hocevar on a road course like Sonoma, he ran a few laps early on before getting out of the truck. Knoxville was next on the schedule, and man, while Carson started 2nd, he got the lead right from lap 1 and never looked back for the first 65 laps......until his engine failed and derailed him to 35th. A punch in the gut once again for that team. The 42 would then finish the regular season off with 3 straight top 5s. Still on a crutch. This shows the drive Carson Hocevar has to be a winner. And if he can get one in the playoffs after what he's been through emotionally and physically, it'll mean all that much more, increasing his chance to be a champion.

Starting 7th in the standings is a driver also seeking his 1st win. If you could describe his career in one word, I'd say "rollercoaster," but now it's at the highest point for the driver of the 66 Toyota Tundra of ThorSport Racing

Ty Majeski

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Majeski has been racing in NASCAR since 2016, starting out in the Arca Series. But that was a regional touring series; he had a craving to be on a big stage national touring series. In 2017, he made his first Xfinity start for Roush Fenway Racing. While wrecking out of his debut in Iowa, he'd return to the same track and finished 16th, then got 10th in the Xfinity finale at Homestead. In 2018, Majeski would get to share the 60 Roush For Mustang with Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe. They all would just have a rough season collectively, lots of wrecks, little luck, and few strong results. On Majeski's end, he only got 2 top 10s in 12 starts. Things would take a turn for the worse when Roush decided to shut the Xfinity program down, mainly focusing on Cup racing. Now, Majeski, Cindric, and Briscoe all had to find backup plans. 2 of the 3 did find rides for 2019 while the other didn't; that was unfortunately Majeski. Without a drive, Ty had no choice but to go do some exhibition/unclassified races to remind potential owners that he can still race. Niece Motorsports then calls up Majeski to pilot one of their trucks in Phoenix fall 2019. And then it would be announced that Majeski would go full time chasing a championship in 2020. This looked realistic, considering Niece Motorsports put a strong fight up in 2019 with Ross Chastain. 15 races in, and only 3 top 10s to show for it. Niece definitely had a rough year from the near title win a year ago, plus with no practice for most of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic definitely didn't help. Then, out of nowhere, heading into Richmond, his name is not on the entry list. He's not there for the race after that, and so on. Majeski lost his ride just out of the blue. Trevor Bayne and Travis Pastrana would replace him for the rest of the year. Majeski might as well have been punched in the gut. Anytime he got a ride things just don't work out, now again Ty is gonna have to scramble to find a new team to race for to maintain relevance. For 2021 a different opportunity came along for Majeski. ThorSport Racing would hire him not to race, but as a mechanic. Majeski would be in the shop working on the ThorSport trucks that go out on the racetrack. Majeski would be given an opportunity out on the track for 4 races. 2 top 10s later ThorSport hire him to race full-time in the 66. Majeski refused to let this opportunity go to waste, 7 top 5s and 10 top 10s in 16 races has shown that Ty can be a dark horse threat for the championship. He has said that he feels at home now at ThorSport with an opportunity that he's dreamed of and waited for his whole life. 1st genuine opportunity for a championship is something he will definitely enjoy the situation he is in. Who knows it may be a underdog becoming a champion?

Next up is a young gun who has had success but is still trying to make a name for himself, he has had some highs and lows of his own in a young career but things appear to be coming together now. Starting 6th in the playoff standings driving the 98 Toyota Tundra Christian Eckes

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Eckes initially made his Truck debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports. It looked like a dream come true for any driver, getting in top of the line equipment with expectations to win races and championships. However, things would not turn out that way; being in a team like KBM expectations is to win, and if the results aren't coming in, then pressure escalates. It's one thing perhaps to be part-time in 2018 and 2019 when he got 3 top 5s and 7 top 10s in that span. Not too shabby, so in 2020 Christian is now full-time and shows some brilliance. The best moment was the Vankor 250. He led 52 laps and was holding his own against the bossman Kyle Busch on the track. Running 2nd, the caution came out late but ultimately came up short on the restart being forced to settle for 2nd. Eckes would still make the 2020 playoffs but had an early exit after a late wreck in Talladega. The remaining goal was to win, and returning to Texas another strong race was in order until Ben Rhodes deliberately spun Eckes in the wall and put him out of the race. At the end of the year, Eckes was 8th in the standings and would depart from KBM. 2021 things looked grim until ThorSport signed him up to race the 98 part-time along Grant Enfinger. Knowing this could be his chance to save his career, he went on and did just that! In the Victoria's Voice Foundation 200 Eckes would get his first win making history for ThorSport and, ironically beating Ben Rhodes. Christian lead home a ThorSport 1-2-3-4, which is to date the only time an organization has done that. Fast forward to 2022 and that 98 Tundra is his and his alone. A full-timer once again and appearing to have found his feet and perhaps found a home, Eckes looks primed to make some moves in the playoffs. This is the biggest stage of his young career at this point, and Eckes looks and sounds as ready as he'll ever be for what lies ahead.

Starting in 5th is the only foreign-born driver in the Truck field. In 2016, Daniel Suarez made history in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Born in Mexico🇲🇽, he became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national touring championship. This is the only time to date that this occurred. But still, the driver of the 52 Toyota Tundra for Halmar Frissen Racing could make history as the first foreign-born champion representing Canada🇨🇦 is

Stewart Friesen

Friesen is another driver who has made his living in the Truck Series since 2016. He and his team made their debut at the Eldora dirt race with some help from Kyle Busch Motorsports and Cup team Richard Childress Racing. KBM gave Friesen a body from the shop while RCR gave them an engine to use. Friesen was known as a dirt racer, so this was the obvious place to make his debut. Ultimately, a crash would end his race early. In 2017, HFR would go full time, and it was a struggle. Any team that starts out in the sport isn't going to just click off wins like that. Still, it was clear that the 52 truck needed a lot of work done to it. The first 7 races and the best finish was 19th. Unbelievably, the team decided to withdraw from the next 2 races in an attempt to find some speed. Now, they had to have guts to make that hard of a decision. At the end of the day, they are all racers and don't want to be watching from home. However the fact that they made that hard of a decision not once but twice to not show up at the track shows that Halmar Friesen Racing didn't want to be known as a team that simply participates, they want to go to the racetrack and win races. In late August 2017, the team who ran chevys at the time announced it would have a technical alliance with powerhouse team GMS. In the last 12 races that HFR ran in, they had 2 top 5 and 5 top 10s, and 3 of the top 10s came in the season's last 4 races. In 2018, the performance really elevated. 9 top 5s, 16 top 10s, a playoff appearance, and 7th place finish in the standings. In 2019, it looked more of the same. They were extremely fast, but they hadn't won a race yet. That 1st came close in several races, but things didn't work out. In Eldora, things would come full circle. Coming from the dirt ranks, it was only fitting that the dirt race would be the place Stewart Friesen would get his 1st win. He would go on to win the penultimate race of the 2019 campaign as well in Phoenix to guarantee a spot in the final 4 at Homestead. While he came up short with a 4th place points finish, it was another stepping stone to become champions for HFR. Shockingly, in the off-season, they announced that they ended their alliance with GMS AND would switch manufacturers to Toyota with an alliance from KBM. In their first season with Toyota in 2020, it was an adjusting period to say the least. They didn't even make the playoffs and struggled to perform on track. However, in 2021 the performance elevated making the playoffs and finished 6th. 2022 comes along, and Friesen gets his 1st win of the year at Texas. This was also his first win in 2 and a half years; the 52 team has been consistent this season and have been under the radar as well. After building this team up from scratch, a championship will be a cherry on top of an amazing effort to get up to the top end of a competitive racing series.

The driver of the number 4 Toyota Tundra will be 4th in the standings. This guy is here solely to compete at the front for race wins, and the bossman, along with everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports is there for success. It's time for John Hunter Nemecheck

If you look at his Truck stats you'll notice he has 12 wins in 140 starts, some may think he's just focused on the Truck series. But thus is actually in a way similar to some drivers did in the 2000s-early 2010s. Nemecheck made his first truck start in 2013 for his dad. At the time John was only 16 so through 2014 and 2015 he was underage to be full-time. His father Joe Nemecheck would have to race until John turned 18, he then got his first win off of fuel mileage at Chicago. John Hunter and his dad didn't have a lot of sponsorship in their team but they still did a lot with a little, 4 wins in the next 2 years and made playoff appearances in both those years as well. That talent was impossible to not catch, so Chip Ganassi promoted him to the Xfinity series on a part time basis in 2018. John would still race for his dad in the Trucks part time as well and even won at Martinsville early in that year. But more importantly he'd get his 1st Xfinity win at Kansas in the fall. Then in 2019 he'd go full time but not for Ganassi bur GMS in the Xfinity series. He may have went winless, but he made the post-season and found out he'd make it to the Cup ranks full-time in 2020 for Front Row Motorsports. He may have only gotten 3 top 10s that year but that is a solid achievement in a Front Row Motorsports car in the Cup field. However this got Nemecheck thinking, if all he was gonna get for racing his heart out is mid 20 finishes then it was taking the fun out of it.
It shows how tough it can be on a driver when they give it their all and are being held back. Plus, drivers have had circumstances like this. They would get to Cup in a car that isn't competitive, then people forget their skill and the fade into a place where they are looked at as busts. 2021 saw Nemecheck announce that he was going to return to the Trucks with the #here4wins. The 4 did get a bunch of wins, 5 total in the season, and he looked like the easy favorite for the 2021 Truck championship. But after an early flat tire, he could only recover up to 7th in the race and only 3rd in the standings. This year people thought he'd just pick up where he left off, that hasn't been the case. He may only have 1 win but fear not, Nemecheck even said after Pocono that he rather hit his stride in the playoffs instead of the regular season. Perhaps 2022 can be known as #here4redemption to win the championship.

Speaking of champions, 3rd is the reigning champion. He is the driver of the 99 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Ben Rhodes

Rhodes has admitted that he wants to be at ThorSport for the rest of his career, let's view how he got there. 2014 saw him run his first career races, in them he got 3 top 10s in Steve Turner's trucks. Then in 2015 JR Motorsports called him up to a part time basis in the Xfinity series. Finally then after showing his talent, he got the call for ThorSport to race full-time. Like any rookie driver, some take more or less time than others to adjust to their surroundings. While in 2016 he missed the playoffs entirely 2017 saw the improvement from the young gun. His breakout race in my opinion in Kansas, he had battled all race with Kyle Busch and looked set to beat him until his engine blew up with 7 laps to. A heartbreaking loss for Rhodes but he showed that he is a future winner, and that win came at Las Vegas in the playoffs that season holding off eventual champion Christopher Bell in a KBM truck. From 2018-2020 he only got 2 wins but never finished worse than 9th in the standings. 2021 comes and he takes the series by storm in the first 2 races by winning both of them. For the rest of the season he would go under the radar as Nemecheck got on a hot streak. Rhodes got to Phoenix with a shot and when the 4 had misfortune Rhodes took advantage of it by outdueling Zane Smith to take the championship. 2022 showed that the championship can change a driver for the better, he started off hot early on in the season but fell back to 5th in the regular season. But if last year proved anything, it's not where you start. It's where you finish, and Rhodes would love to finish as a champion again. Not only will he be the 2nd driver to score back-to-back championships but will be the 5th driver to win 2 or more titles in the Truck Series.

2 Chandler Smith

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Chandler Smith pilots the 18 Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Coming in as a rookie a season ago in his first full year initially didn't look that well, any time a driver is in a KBM truck like I said earlier they are expected to win so pressures is high. In 2021, Smith was able to get that win at Bristol in a must win situation to advance to the round of 8 against his superstar teammate John Hunter Nemecheck. True, he would get eliminated and not make the final 4 to finish 8th in the standings. Something interesting I realized and remembered is that Smith could have easily been the 2021 Truck champion. At Phoenix, he won stage 1, stage 2, and the race. Let that sink in, things could have been so different now. 2022, he has exceeded expectations, almost everyone including myself thought Nemecheck would just blow Smith away in the stats. That would not be the case, in fact he would either match or better his experienced teammate. Imagine telling someone in Daytona speedweeks that Chandler Smith would have more wins than John Hunter. Chandler is the other driver besides the championship leader to have multiple wins this season, the passion is there in the 20-year-old. You can bet that should the 18 Tundra make it to Phoenix that he will do whatever it takes to win it all.

Finally in 1st place is the driver that appears to have made himself a favorite which considering his last 2 seasons is just another showing of brilliance by the driver of the 38 Ford F-150 for Front Row Motorsports.

Zane Smith had made his debut in the NASCAR Xfinity series in 2019. 2 top 5s and 7 top 10s for JR Motorsports in 10 starts was enough for GMS to sign him up full time in 2020. Smith went on ahead and claimed 2 wins and made the final 4 in his rookie season. It came down to split strategy. Smith and championship rival Sheldon Creed pitted for fresh tires for the overtime restart He gave it his all but had to settle for 2nd. Then in 2021 he had went winless till the penultimate race at Martinsville where he had to win to make it in the final 4, he pulled off the win and gave himself a chance once again at the title. This time his career was on the line not knowing if he was gonna have a ride in 2022. This time in the final stretch of the race with 41 to go Zane would claim the title lead and it looked like Smith was gonna show the ultimate application as a champion. Then with 9 to go Ben Rhodes would chase Smith back down and ultimately Smith had to settle for 2nd again. Fortunately, Front Row Motorsports gave Smith the ride he was looking for in 2022. Once again Smith has been winning races and this time has set the standard going into the playoffs. But we've seen this story before where he looks like he's gonna win it but didn't get the title. Is it gonna be 3rd time lucky for Zane Smith?

That's all the playoff drivers. So who do you think will win the championship?