NASCAR Truck Series: Round-by-round playoff predictions

Predictions: Round of 10

The three NASCAR Truck Series round of 10 races are at three very different race tracks. After this round, two drivers will be eliminated.

First up the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway oval in Bristol, Tennessee for the 200-lap UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics.

Next up is the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval in Las Vegas, Nevada for the 134-lap World of Westgate 200, the second Truck Series race at the track this season. Kyle Busch won the first back in February.

Finally, the round concludes with the 94-lap Sugarlands Shine 250 at the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Talladega Superspeedway oval in Lincoln, Alabama.

Brett Moffitt won the Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway last year. The 2018 champion is winless this season, but he has led the third-most laps among series regulars. Moffitt and Todd Gilliland are the only two playoff drivers who have won there at all.

Gilliland, who is in his first season driving for the new Front Row Motorsports Truck Series team after two seasons of not making the playoffs for Kyle Busch Motorsports, won the 2018 ARCA Menards Series East race at the track.

The race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is slated to be the 27th race there. Austin Hill and ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes have all won there. Moreover, Matt Crafton leads all Truck Series drivers in laps led there.

Stage points will be paramount in this 134-lap race. After racing on the high-banked short-track of Bristol Motor Speedway and with the unpredictability of Talladega Superspeedway looming, stage points will be crucial as the playoff drivers seek to establish a cushion in case of calamity at Talladega Superspeedway.

The first two stages in the World of Westgate 200 end at lap 30 and lap 60, respectively. With the algorithm that NASCAR currently uses to set the starting lineups, a good finish at Bristol Motor Speedway should translate to a solid starting spot for the second round of 10 race and thus a good opportunity to score good stage points.

Finally, Talladega Superspeedway is set to end the round of 10. With the likelihood of the “Big One”, finishing the race will be key. Enfinger has won a Truck Series race there, and Zane Smith and Gilliland have won ARCA Menards Series races there as well. The final round of 10 race is truly a wild card. Last year, Spencer Boyd earned his first career victory at the track.

After these three races, I predict that Tyler Ankrum and Ben Rhodes will fail to advance to the round of 8. Ankrum has only led one lap this season, he has the smallest number of top five finishes among the playoff drivers, and he begins the round of 10 last place in the playoff standings. As for Rhodes, he won at Darlington Raceway, but he has only led at least 10 laps twice this season.