By Don Donohue
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Next Race: Heart of Health Care 200
The Place: Kansas Speedway
Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, May 10
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $782,900
TV: FS1, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134)
NCTS Race: Heart of Health Care 200 (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 7:30 p.m. ET)
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Kansas Storylines and Insights:
· This weekend marks the 30th running of a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway (2001-2025). This is the only Kansas race in 2025, after multiple Kansas races in each of the previous three season and three in 2020.
· Kansas is the second of a six consecutive week stretch of Truck races, the longest stretch of the season, this stretch will go through Michigan the first week of June.
· Kansas Speedway is the fourth of five conventional 1.5-mile tracks on the 2025 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule – Homestead, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas and Charlotte. All five 1.5 mile track races will be completed before the end of May.
· A total of 24 different CRAFTSMAN Truck Series drivers have won at Kansas Speedway, and four of the 24 are active this weekend: Matt Crafton (2013, 2015, 2020), Corey Heim (2024 sweep), Grant Enfinger (2023) and William Byron (2016).
· Corey Heim swept both Kansas races in 2024, the 10 races prior to that were won by 10 different drivers.
· Corey Heim (three wins) is the only repeat CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race winner in 2025.
· Corey Heim won or was passed for the win in five of the last six Kansas races.
· The pass for the win came in the final eight laps in 10 of the last 15 Kansas races.
· Tyler Ankrum ended a 130-race winless streak at Rockingham, the most starts between wins in Truck series history.
· Two drivers finished top-10 in the first three 1.5 mile track races of 2025: Tyler Ankrum, Corey Heim
· Texas Motor Speedway was the only race to go into overtime in the last 22 Truck Series races.
· Tyler Ankrum leads all drivers with six top-five finishes in 2025, tied for his most ever in a season.
· Corey Heim is the only driver to lead in all eight races in 2025.
· Two drivers are on the longest top-10 streak of their careers: Tyler Ankrum 7, Rajah Caruth 4 (tie).
· Corey Heim’s four consecutive top fives and five consecutive top 10s are tied for the second-longest streaks all-time at Kansas.
· Corey Heim needs 64 laps led to pass Kyle Busch for most laps led all-time at Kansas in the Truck Series.
· Corey Heim’s 697 laps led on 1.5-mile tracks is eighth all-time and the seven drivers ahead of him have all led 1000+ laps.
· A total of 19 different drivers have won the pole in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at Kansas Speedway, and only two are active this weekend: Matt Crafton (2019) and Ty Majeski (2024).
· Four drivers in the field finished runner-up at Kansas but never won – Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar and Layne Riggs.
· Morgen Baird, from Grass Lake, Michigan, is making his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut this weekend.
· Five drivers in the field have never made a Truck Series start at Kansas – No. 2 Dennison, No. 17 Ruggiero, No. 22 Baird, No. 66 Baldwin and No. 77 Perez.
· The 120 lead changes in 2025 are the most ever through eight races in a season.
· Corey Heim led 218 of the 442 laps races on 1.5 mile tracks in 2025 (49%).
· Only Kyle Busch (twice) has a better average finish than Corey Heim’s 1.67 average finish in 2025 through three races on 1.5 mile tracks.
· Brandon Jones is in the No. 1 truck this weekend at Kansas, he is a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner at Kansas Speedway (2019, 2020).
· Nathan Byrd’s best CRAFTSMAN Truck Series finish is 14th, in each of the last two races… he made his Truck Series debut at Kanas last Fall (finished 19th).
· William Byron won his only CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at Kansas in May 2016, it was his first Truck win.
· Dawson Sutton finished a Truck Series career-best fifth at Kansas last September, he got his second Truck Series top-10 finish last week at Texas (ninth).
· Ty Majeski’s average start at Kansas in eight races is 5.5, his average finish of 17.8 is 12.3 spots lower.
· Each of the last three Kansas races had green flag pit stops.
· Three of the four Kansas races won from a starting position outside the top-10, came in the last four races; including last Fall when Heim won from 33rd.
· Corey Heim is two wins away from tying Matt Crafton for 10th in all time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins with 15.
· Corey Heim currently leads the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver point standings by 46 points over Chandler Smith in second place.
NASCAR & Kansas, Etc.
Historical & Significant Events at Kansas Speedway:
· In 1996, International Speedway Corporation (now NASCAR) began exploring options to build a speedway in the Midwest. Lesa France Kennedy spearheaded the search process. In 1997, Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, were selected as the site for the new speedway at the intersection of interstates 70 and 435.
· On December 18, 1997, International Speedway Corporation (now NASCAR) announced plans to build a 1.5 mile speedway to seat approximately 75,000.
· Architecture firm HNTB designed the facility and Turner Construction provided construction management. Construction began on the 1,200 acre, 1.5 mile speedway in May of 1999.
· Completion was targeted for 2000 but was delayed by weather and lawsuits from nearby landowners. Paving began in September 2000 and the speedway completed in early 2001.
· Estimated project cost was $250 million. The speedway had a significant impact on the area even before construction was finished. New commercial and entertainment developments sprung up near the speedway, including a movie theater complex, an outdoor retail mall, and hotels.
· The official opening of Kansas Speedway was in 2001, with the first events being an ARCA Menards Series race and an ARCA Menards Series West race on the same day – June 2.
· The first NASCAR Cup Series race was on September 30, 2001. The event was won by Hendrick Motorsport’s driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet).
· In 2011, the track held the Kanrocksas Music Festival, a rock music festival. The event was first announced on April 26, 2011, and was held in August; the inaugural festival featured acts such as Eminem, The Flaming Lips, Kid Cudi, Primus, and others.
· Following the 2012 STP 400, the track underwent a massive renovation project that included repaving the track surface, reconfiguration of the oval, and addition of a new infield road course. NASCAR’s in-house design and construction group utilized state of the art computer modeling to develop track geometry with up to 20 degrees of variable banking. Construction crews removed the existing oval track asphalt pavement and regraded the underlying soil to create the variable banking. In addition to the turns, the frontstretch, backstretch and pit road were reconstructed.
· The Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway overlooking turn 2 opened February 3, 2012 with 2,000 slot machines, 52 gaming tables and 12 poker tables on a 100,000 square-foot gaming floor. It also features 28,000 square-feet of other amenities including restaurants, clubs and nightlife attractions.
· The casino is estimated to bring 440,000 tourists per year and create 1,050 full time jobs elevating the state to a first class, year-round tourist destination.
· The inside of the $411 million Hollywood Casino facility is modeled after the golden age of Hollywood. There are soaring columns with ornate scrollwork, video screens rolling historic clips of Grace Kelly and James Stewart and vintage movie posters of Steve McQueen in “Le Mans” and James Garner in “Grand Prix,” a nod to the motorsports element of the unique partnership.
· Prior to the fall race in 2015 Kansas Speedway added 1,250 linear feet of SAFER barrier to the backstretch and 525 linear feet to the frontstretch; all outside walls are now protected by SAFER barrier. 1,700 linear feet of barrier was also added to the interior walls at the entry and exit of the corners. In total Kansas Speedway added a total of 3,475 feet or 6 tenths of a mile of SAFER barrier in 2015.
· Since 2016, the track has been the host of the American Royal World Series of BBQ competition.
· Kansas Speedway is located in the state of Kansas, 13 miles west of Kansas City, Mo.
· There have been 38 NASCAR Cup Series races at Kansas Speedway, one event from 2001 – 2010 and two races per year since 2011.
COURTESY NASCAR COMMUNICATIONS
