NASCAR Truck Series at Kansas: When And How To Watch Live
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to Kansas Speedway this weekend.
Corey Heim leads the standings heading into the race with 368 points, followed by Chandler Smith and Daniel Hemric in second and third with 322 and 288 points, respectively.
Here is everything you need to know to catch all of the on-track action.
When is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this weekend?
Saturday, 10 May
2.05 p.m. ET: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Practice
3.10 p.m. ET: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Qualifying
7.30 p.m. ET: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Heart of Health Care 200
Corey Heim, driver of the #11 Safelite Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kubota Tractor 200 at Kansas Speedway on September 27, 2024 in Kansas City, Kansas.
Corey Heim, driver of the #11 Safelite Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kubota Tractor 200 at Kansas Speedway on September 27, 2024 in Kansas City, Kansas.How to watch NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas Speedway
Both practice and qualifying will be broadcast on FS2. However, the Heart of Health Care 200 will be shown live on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
What is the purse for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas Speedway?
The purse for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas Speedway this weekend, including all payouts for all positions, contingency awards and contribution to year-end points fund is $782,900.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Heart of Health Care 200 entry list
Brandon Jones – TRICON Garage
Nathan Byrd – Young's Motorsports
Cody Dennison – Reaume Brothers Racing
Toni Breidinger – TRICON Garage
William Byron – Spire Motorsports
Carson Hocevar – Spire Motorsports
Grant Enfinger – CR7 Motorsports
Corey Heim – TRICON Garage
Jake Garcia – ThorSport Racing
Tanner Gray – TRICON Garage
Giovanni Ruggiero – TRICON Garage
Tyler Ankrum – McAnally Hilgemann Racing
Daniel Hemric – McAnally Hilgemann Racing
Morgen Baird – Reaume Brothers Racing
Dawson Sutton – Rackley W.A.R.
Frankie Muniz – Reaume Brothers Racing
Layne Riggs – Front Row Motorsports
Chandler Smith – Front Row Motorsports
Matt Mills – Niece Motorsports
Bayley Currey – Niece Motorsports
Kaden Honeycutt – Niece Motorsports
Stewart Friesen – Halmar Friesen Racing
Luke Baldwin – ThorSport Racing
Rajah Caruth – Spire Motorsports
Spencer Boyd – Freedom Racing Enterprises
Andres Perez De Lara – Spire Motorsports
Connor Mosack – McAnally Hilgemann Racing
Matt Crafton – ThorSport Racing
Jack Wood – McAnally Hilgemann Racing
Ty Majeski – ThorSport Racing
Ben Rhodes – ThorSport Racing
What are the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings ahead of Kansas?
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New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
Carson Hocevar is NASCAR's disruptive new driver — and one of its biggest fans
LEBANON, Tenn. — The tall guy in the red Dale Earnhardt Jr. T-shirt blends in with other NASCAR fans mingling near pit road at Nashville Superspeedway, soaking in the atmosphere before a Truck Series race on a summer Friday night. Energy drink in hand, he looks out at the grandstands and soon-to-be noisy racetrack and smiles. Advertisement 'I've always dreamt of being able to watch every race,' he says. 'Now I'm here.' He senses someone in his peripheral vision and turns to see another NASCAR fan, just like him, seemingly waiting for a word. 'Sorry, how are you?' the tall guy says. 'You could have interrupted!' 'Can I get a picture, Carson?' the fan says. Meet Carson Hocevar, the disruptive 22-year-old who isn't just one of NASCAR's fastest-rising young stars — but also one of its biggest fans. On this night, 48 hours before Hocevar finishes second in the NASCAR Cup Series race at the same track, the Spire Motorsports driver is following his normal routine: Making the trek across the infield grass to ascend into the grandstands to watch the lower-tier Truck and Xfinity races with the fans. Though NASCAR is more accessible for its diehards than other big-league sports, there's a barrier between the stands and the garage area — both physically and figuratively. Hocevar regularly breaks the fourth wall, so to speak, by choosing to watch races from a familiar viewpoint that reminds him of growing up. He's as comfortable sitting among the race fans as he is in the Cup Series garage — if not more so, given how many drivers and teams he's irked with his aggressive racing style. We'll get to that in a bit, but for now, there's no sign of any animosity toward Hocevar as he trudges across Nashville's thick infield grass and climbs the stairs into the grandstands. People already in their seats for the Truck race begin to notice and call out — something he said has become increasingly common of late. 'Hocevarrrrrr!' one older, long-haired man yells, raising his arms in a triumphant welcome. Some fans leap from their seats and rush toward the aisle to offer a fist bump or handshake. A few ask for selfies. Others just clap and cheer at the site of a recognizable Cup driver among them. Advertisement 'How cool is that?' a father says to his two young sons as Hocevar passes by. When Hocevar reaches the concourse, his progress is slowed by people wanting to chat. A jam-up forms as one teen bro-hugs Hocevar like they're old pals and asks for a signature. Another accuses Hocevar of wrecking his car several times on iRacing, an online simulator game; Hocevar asks the fan his name and acts like it rings a bell. After the fan is out of earshot, Hocevar is asked if he really recognized the name or was just being polite. 'Oh yeah,' Hocevar says. 'And I did wreck him.' Hocevar makes his way to Row 29 of Section 131, where a few Nashville-based friends are awaiting him. One of them is Christian Pitman, who used to race with Hocevar while growing up and has remained close through his buddy's burgeoning NASCAR career. 'He hasn't changed at all,' Pitman says. 'I think that's why people like him.' He's not exactly incognito, and so a steady stream of fans comes over to Hocevar's row. At first, it's actually unclear whether these are more of Hocevar's Nashville friends or simply strangers approaching. That's because each time someone arrives in the aisle, Hocevar pops up from his seat like he's been expecting them. 'Watching from the stands?' one fan says after getting his picture with Hocevar. 'Don't blame ya!' But seriously, why would he do this? Why would a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver watch races with fans, even if he is one himself? 'Why not?' he counters, puzzled. 'I love it.' That love doesn't go both ways for Hocevar in the NASCAR world. While he possesses the type of personality many fans claim to want — he alternates between charming, brash, opinionated and startlingly frank — he has also angered many of the drivers he grew up watching (and thus their supporters, too). Advertisement Hocevar's reputation is constantly a trending topic. He has crashed drivers on accident, on purpose and every shade of gray in between — often unapologetically. Among his critics: former Cup champions Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney, Hocevar's own mentor Ross Chastain, and now Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who Hocevar sent crashing in Nashville on Sunday night. While there's a recurring narrative that accompanies fast young drivers who burst onto the NASCAR scene — it's happened to the likes of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Busch, Chastain and many more — it's also clear Hocevar has lost the benefit of the doubt. 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'Scott's has a nice selection of Citizen Watches, all priced 50 percent off for the holidays!' a cheerful Hocevar tells the camera as 'Jingle Bells' plays. 'Happy Holidays!' As recently as a few years ago, people would stop him in the grocery store not to chat about his up-and-coming NASCAR career — but to remark how much he'd grown up since seeing him in the ad. People in the Portage community were used to seeing Hocevar ride his bike all over town when he wasn't off racing. Advertisement And when Hocevar returns to his family home, his bedroom has been largely untouched. The shelves still have autographed die-cast cars from the likes of Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch — who has called Hocevar 'a f— d— bag' and vowed to 'wreck his ass' — and a signed Matt Kenseth photo. 'The only thing that's different is I don't have the Dale Jr. comforter on my bed anymore,' he says. He's retained an extensive collection of die-cast cars (it numbers in the hundreds and he'll never get rid of it, he says), which includes the custom-made versions he decorated himself. Hocevar and his friends made stop-motion animation videos with the die-cast cars because 'we were too old to play with them but too young to just let them sit there.' One of those friends, Pitman, sits in the Nashville stands with his longtime buddy and pulls up an old Instagram page from an iRacing team Hocevar created as a kid. Hocevar has since lost the login for the chr_racing page, so it lives on as a time capsule from an 11-year-old's summer hobby ('Instagram used to let you sign up with an unverified email address, and I have no idea what it was,' he says). But it doesn't bother him; Hocevar embraces his NASCAR fandom rather than running from it. In fact, he happily recounts one of his favorite memories as a 9-year-old: Having his name on the winning car in one of NASCAR YouTuber Eric Estepp's stop-motion races. 'Winner: CarsonH814,' the video announced. 'I was so excited, I went to school the next day and told everyone I won,' Hocevar says. Growing up in the meme-ified world of Gen Z has created a unique bridge from Hocevar to NASCAR's younger audience, a demographic with which the sanctioning body has struggled to connect. Hocevar not only streams his iRacing on Twitch, but he also did so in the middle of this year's Daytona 500 when there was a rain delay (Spire has a sim rig setup in its hauler for Hocevar to use). Advertisement Earlier this spring, he bought a 1997 pickup truck off Facebook Marketplace just because it was decorated like Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s No. 3 GM Goodwrench ride — and now uses it as his daily driver. 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What I liked about him is he's just so fast, and this is all he's thinking about, always.' While Dickerson says he wishes Hocevar would have used a bit better judgment in some of the situations that have resulted in controversy, their daily texts typically don't include any scolding. Dickerson doesn't want to do anything to slow Hocevar down or 'cage him,' he says; after all, Hocevar is on the cusp of winning races for a team that has never had a driver finish in the top 20 of the season point standings. 'I am not going to be like, 'Hey, you'd better mind your P's and Q's,'' Dickerson says. 'My thing is just: If you accidentally get run into, don't act like a jackass. As a team owner, I just want him to show up to meetings on time, participate in competition meetings like the student of the game that he is, and to race his teammates with respect.' Hocevar has repeatedly claimed in interviews that he doesn't study data and drives off instinct, using his creativity to find lines others do not. And while the latter part of that statement may be true, Dickerson says the first part is total bunk and is tired of getting asked about it. 'He's lying to you!' Dickerson says. 'He is always studying! I live it every day. He's constantly sending me things he's looking at. He's just at an age where it's cool to say, 'See? I don't study! I just feel the air! I'm the next reincarnation of Dale Sr., don't you guys get it?' No, jacka—. It's not instinct. He's not God's gift to race car driving. He works at this as much as anybody.' Advertisement To prove his point, Dickerson calls Hocevar over from a conversation with more fans. 'You keep telling people you don't study s— or look at s—!' Dickerson says. 'What? I just say I don't look at SMT data,' Hocevar says with the tone of a scolded teenager, referring to the sport's real-time telemetry data. 'You look at everything, shut up,' Dickerson says. 'I know,' Hocevar replies with a shrug. But even if Hocevar works harder than he's willing to let on, he's still somewhat of a racing savant. Back up in the stands, as the NASCAR Trucks circle around the track, he immediately diagnoses the things drivers should be doing differently and yells his feedback to no one in particular, drowned by the roar of the engines. He wears no headset or ear plugs and rests his worn black Nikes — the only pair of casual shoes he owns — on the bleacher seat in front of him while holding a phone with Cup Series trophy wallpaper ('Motivation, man' he explains.) When drivers from Spire and Niece Motorsports (which gave Hocevar his break in the Truck Series) run afoul of his expectations, Hocevar unlocks the phone and furiously types feedback texts to friends on both teams in hopes of reaching the drivers. 'Message delivered,' one responds. Other times, Hocevar simply leaps from his seat and makes exaggerated gestures at the drivers like any number of other fans in the stands — sometimes exasperated when they don't listen to him, sometimes celebratory when they make a good move. And he has reason to celebrate at the end of the night because Spire teammate Rajah Caruth ends up in victory lane — as does Hocevar, being interviewed on TV in his red Dale Jr. shirt after congratulating Caruth. Two nights later, other fans have taken his place in Row 29 of Section 131 and get to witness the full Hocevar experience: Being lightning quick en route to a second-place finish, but making more on-track enemies in the process. Controversy aside, it's a good night. For a kid who was once thrilled just to watch NASCAR Cup Series races, actually winning one no longer feels like such a distant dream. (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Sean Gardner,)
New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
Corey Heim, NASCAR Trucks points leader, on his path in racing and room for improvement: 12 Questions
Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Our series continues with our fourth consecutive series points leader interview: Corey Heim, current leader in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Tricon Garage. This interview has been condensed and edited, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast. 1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment? My family would go to the Fourth of July weekend at Daytona when I was growing up. It's my birthday weekend (he was born July 5), so it's always a fun thing for me. I grew up a big Denny (Hamlin) fan, so I remember going to his merch trailer at the time. His mom (Mary Lou) ran his trailer, and we had no idea, but my mom made it a point that it was my birthday to see if we could get something extra because it was my favorite driver. Advertisement They gave me a rookie card of his that was pre-signed. I thought (it) was the coolest thing ever, because within that we met his mom and we didn't know at first. (Heim is now a development driver for 23XI Racing, which Hamlin co-owns.) 2. What is the most miserable you've ever been inside of a race car? In 2021 at Watkins Glen, I had to run Kyle Busch's shell (for the seat at Kyle Busch Motorsports). Kyle sits really strangely; he's very low and his legs are like cramped up into his chest. That's like the opposite of what I need, because I get a lot of hip cramping, so I need my legs to be really straight out so they're not clenched the whole time. It was my second-ever Truck start, and I was so uncomfortable. By the middle of Stage 2, my hips cramped up on me. I literally couldn't walk when I got out of the truck. My guys had to carry me by both shoulders back to the hauler, and they were giving me cramping pills. 3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of something you got way too competitive about? My girlfriend (Taylor Reimer) loves Monopoly. She's really competitive, and I'm really competitive, and that makes us clash a little bit. You know how you charge rent? There was one instance where I went to go check my phone, and I forgot to charge her rent for being on my property. And I'm like, 'Hey, weren't you on my property?' And she's like, 'Yeah, but you weren't paying attention. You have to tell me that I owe you money for rent.' And I'm like, 'What? That's not how a board game works. If you're on my property, you pay me rent.' She's like, 'No, you weren't paying attention.' So the next time comes around, and I was on some other person's property, and I was doing everything I could to make sure they didn't know I was on it, and they forgot — and she called me out on it because I got so worked up when she was on my property! I was like, 'Taylor, you can't be a hypocrite. You just did the same thing!' And she's like, 'Well, you're a hypocrite because you got mad about it.' So that is part of the game, I guess. 4. What do people get wrong about you? I see a lot of people talk about how I whine a lot. I don't feel like I whine. People talk about how I complain, but I feel like that's pretty typical for anyone who is interviewed a lot? I don't feel like I'm a whiner. I feel like I'm pretty chill, and if the race up front is good quality and we rub a little bit, that's fine with me. But I feel like when people overstep and wreck you, that's when I complain and people get worked up about that. Advertisement 5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating? I don't Uber a lot. I'm kind of a homebody. But I'm pretty adaptable. I just read the room a little bit. If the driver is more quiet, I like to keep it that way. I don't really care about my Uber rating, but it's 4.9 or something. 6. This one is a wild-card question I'm mixing up for each person. I know you grew up in the Atlanta suburbs and think you started racing quarter midgets when you were 5, and you some Legend car racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But I don't really know about your background growing up beyond that. Can you fill in the blanks for me? My dad was always a big NASCAR fan. He raced Legend cars a lot when I was growing up at Lanier (Raceway), and he actually raced against Chase Elliott and the Dillon brothers in the same class. He was low-budgeted; he works in the gambling industry and sold old monitors from slot machines to fund his racing when I was growing up and raced locally. I had started to love NASCAR and watch it with him, and he surprised me with a go-kart for Christmas when I was 4 years old. I started racing locally in Cumming, Georgia, and at the Lanier quarter-midget track up the road. When I first started out, it was a very low-budget operation because it was more of a hobby for us. I didn't like losing, like most people, and was skeptical whether I wanted to continue racing. Quite honestly, when I was 7 or 8 years old, I had one foot out the door. If it wasn't for the friends and the people I had met and formed those relationships with, I probably would have quit racing. When you're not doing as well as you want to be, it's not very fun. My dad's business started doing better, started putting more money into the racing side of things and chipped away at it and eventually decided to go Late Model racing. Had some success there, met the right people, and my dad's business was doing better, so he was able to throw more money at it and invest in the ARCA side of things. Ever since I've been in Trucks, I've made a career out of it from there. When you didn't have enough funding to run well, at what point did you know you were good enough to do this? Because if you're not winning at that age, how do you know? I did a lot of iRacing growing up, and I was always pretty good at that, and we had a decent amount of success later in my quarter-midget career and definitely in Late Models, too. My dad always told me he didn't have enough money to fund ARCA racing, so it was always in the back of my mind like, 'I'm just going to keep doing it until I can't anymore.' Advertisement But that's when his business started doing a lot better, and he was able to throw a little bit more money at it for me to get that ARCA opportunity. And then little by little, Toyota started to help us, and eventually it turned into what it is now. I just always enjoyed it just enough to want to stay in it, and I felt like the day I didn't enjoy anymore, I would be done with it. But that day never came. 7. This is the 16th year I've been doing these 12 Questions interviews, and I've been going back to a previous question and re-using it. You seem like a very even-keeled guy from what I've seen, so I found this one from 2012: When is the last time you got nervous about something? I get nervous all the time. I mean, I'm nervous right now for Cup practice (Heim ran the No. 67 car at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend). I have emotions, but they're just more internal. I feel a fair amount of stress and nerves going into these races. I want to impress people and perform at the best of my ability. Anyone who cares gets nervous about things. Like, if you have a big event where you have to speak to a lot of people, you'd get nervous too, if you care about it. So I feel like it's pretty natural. 8. Other than one of your teammates, name a driver who you would be one of the first people to congratulate them in victory lane if they won a race. Tanner Gray in the Trucks. He's been a really good teammate to me. You said no teammates, but I was thinking on the 23XI side. So I'll say Tanner for my Tricon side. I don't really have a lot of close friends outside of my Toyota group, so it's a tough one. 9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your job or your daily life? I've never used it, but a lot of the photos people generate are really funny, so I've wanted to give it a shot. But do they all cost money to use? I'd like to use it sometime. I've seen people use it for paint schemes, and people (on social media) lose their marbles because it takes away (the human element), which makes sense. But I feel like that's just adapting to the times, you know? 10. What is a time in your life that was really challenging, but you feel proud of the way that you responded to it? The 2023 championship in the Trucks, just with Carson (Hocevar) and the whole mess there. (Heim was going to win the championship but was wrecked by Hocevar; Heim later retaliated by wrecking Hocevar and was penalized for it afterward.) It was just a big rollercoaster of emotions and the public perception. For the most part, I've been a really clean driver. I don't really cause a lot of crap, but being under that microscope with 30 to go in a Truck (championship) race and everything happening the way it did, it put me in a bad light. I had to handle that because I pride myself on racing the way I want to be race, so seeing people come crashing down on me for retaliating was tough. Advertisement The good part of it was I had the whole offseason to just get over it. It wasn't like I had to go racing next week with that mindset. But from a broad perspective, I feel like it was a warranted thing, but I had to just understand I was under a microscope, and it got blown out of proportion a little bit from my standpoint. 11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take this sport to the next level of popularity? First of all, every race would sell out if it was as big of a party as Talladega. No one is coming to watch 25 minutes of practice; you come to party and enjoy the race. Of course, there's a fan group that enjoys the racing quality, but what are you going to do for the other three days you're here camping out? People go for that more than anything. (More of a party scene) would help at pretty much every racetrack. And then I feel like MLB has done a really good job with ballpark food. I've seen a lot of parks introduce new ballpark food. People travel just to go and try these new ballpark items. They're crazy contraptions of food and stuff you don't see on a normal day. That would be cool for certain tracks. 12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last one was with Justin Allgaier, so his question for you is: 'It's inevitable for you to be a Cup Series superstar. What has been the hardest part about your progression and what do you still need to work on to become the best all-around driver in whatever series you're in on a given weekend?' Just the little things I need to work on. My speed is there. My racecraft has gotten a lot better. The little things such as pit road and restarts are things I can put effort into it and continue to get better, and I can execute on it for one race — but after I stop making that a point to look at on a consistent basis, I start slacking on it again. So it's like I need to learn how to somehow mentally let myself know (to do those things) every week. The next interview I'm doing is with Daniel Suárez. Do you have a question I can ask him? Aside from Trackhouse, he's never been able to settle into a groove with one team. He was with the Xfinity team with Gibbs for one year, won the championship, went Cup racing probably prematurely (when Carl Edwards suddenly retired). Once he was getting in his groove (in Cup with Gibbs), he's out the door going to Haas, and then once he was getting his groove there, he's out the door with the next move. What's it been like to have to readjust constantly every year versus being comfortable and finding his groove at Trackhouse?
