NASCAR Truck Series: Who will stop Toyota’s dominance?

Toyota drivers have won all the NASCAR Truck Series races thus far this season. Who will be the first driver to break the manufacturer’s streak?

Six races into the NASCAR Truck Series season, Toyota drivers have been dominant, winning every race. Moreover, Kyle Busch Motorsports have won the last four in a row.

ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes won the opening two races both in Daytona Beach, Florida, the season opener on the oval and the second race on the road course. Kyle Busch Motorsports’ John Hunter Nemechek bested team owner Kyle Busch to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway.

As the all-time winningest Truck Series driver, however, Busch won at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Additionally, Martin Truex Jr. surprised the field when he won the inaugural Truck Series race on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway with Kyle Busch Motorsports.

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The last time a team won four straight Truck Series races occurred last year when GMS Racing drivers Zane Smith and Sheldon Creed each won twice, from the 11th race of the season at Michigan International Speedway to the 14th race of the season at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Last year, three of the four Championship 4 drivers were Chevrolet drivers, including three from GMS Racing. The lone other manufacturer was Ford with ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger. This year, two series regulars have two wins each, and they are both Toyota drivers: Rhodes and Nemechek.

Is this trend worrisome? Yes and no.

Yes, it’s worrisome because Toyota has championship-winning Kyle Busch Motorsports and multiple race-winning drivers Stewart Friesen and Austin Hill in the fold. Additionally, Derek Kraus, who had a recent crew chief change, is in his second full-time Truck Series season driving the #19 Toyota.

Moreover, over the offseason, ThorSport Racing, which field entries for previous Truck Series champions Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter along with Rhodes, switched manufacturers from Ford back to Toyota. So Toyota has a bevy of talented Truck Series drivers, all of whom will regularly be in contention for victories.

However, in the most recent race at Richmond Raceway, only 12 of the 40 (30%) entries were Toyota drivers.

Ford only fielded four entries. David Gilliland Racing field entries for Tanner Gray and rookie Hailie Deegan, Front Row Motorsports field an entry for Todd Gilliland, and Roper Racing have fielded an entry for team owner Cory Roper in all but one race in their history. Among those four drivers, only Gilliland has won in the Truck Series before.

Gray and Deegan are both without a top 10 finish so far this year. Still, Gray accrued four top five finishes and eight top 10 finishes in his rookie year last year, and Deegan is the reigning ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year. That organization is still seeking its first Truck Series victory, and both drivers could win this year.

But the odds favor Chevrolet to end Toyota’s dominance. Chevrolet boasted a series-high 24 drivers in that race.

Of the Chevrolet drivers, Brett Moffitt and Creed are previous champions, though Moffitt recently switched his points eligibility to the Xfinity Series. Zane Smith made the Championship 4 last year, and Tyler Ankrum, Spencer Boyd, Raphael Lessard and Timothy Peters have all won before.

Niece Motorsports also field entries for rookie Carson Hocevar and Ryan Truex, both of whom are in search of their first wins as well.

The next race on the Truck Series schedule is this Saturday night’s WISE Power 200 at Kansas Speedway. The four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Kansas City, Kansas hosted the Truck Series three times last year, and all three manufacturers won there.

Who will be the contenders there this weekend?

Kyle Busch is set to drive his #51 Toyota, so he’ll look to continue Toyota’s winning ways. He has two wins, three top five finishes and four top 10 finishes in five starts there. Teammates Nemechek and Chandler Smith also will be formidable in the race. Combined, they have three top five finishes in four starts at Kansas Speedway.

ThorSport Racing drivers Crafton and Sauter have both led over 100 laps at Kansas Speedway in their respective Truck Series careers, so they could both become the second driver from the team to win this year.

Smith led double-digit laps in all three Truck Series races at Kansas Speedway last year en route to two top 10 finishes.

Lastly, keep an eye on Gilliland. Over the last nine Truck Series races at Kansas Speedway, he has accrued the 10th most points. This is particularly impressive because he only has competed four times during that nine-race stretch. He has a third place finish and a 10th place finish.

His key for the Wise Power 200? Finish on the lead lap. In his two non-top 10 finishes at Kansas Speedway, he finished one lap down.

Will Toyota drivers continue their winning ways in the WISE Power 200? This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Kansas Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 1.