INDIANAPOLIS — The 16 race NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular season is now behind us. The 7 race playoff remains ahead which starts on Friday night at the Indianapolis Raceway Park for the TSport 200 (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN).

Corey Heim comes into the race as the No. 1 seed and hopeful of doing just as Zane Smith did a year ago in winning the championship this Fall in Phoenix.

The top seed in the playoffs was represented in the Championship 4 in 6 of the 7 years under this format including all consecutively. They’ve won just 3 titles in those 7 years, but one of which was just last season.

“It means a lot having that buffer going into the Playoffs,” said Heim in reference to winning the Regular Season Championship and the 15 bonus Playoff points that go with it. “Not having that close encounter with the Playoffs’ cutline  right from the start, I feel like it lets you start the Playoffs off with a little bit less stress.” 

Heim, despite missing a race (World Wide Technology Raceway) for a sickness, has finished in the top eight in all but two starts this season. In fact, he’s not finished worse than eighth since Bristol Dirt including finishes of 2nd, 4th, 1st, 2nd and 6th respectively over his last five tries.

“Our consistency over the past two or three months has been really good, and just being able to collect a lot of stage points and get some top fives and wins along the way,” said Heim. “If we can continue that momentum into the Playoffs we should be in really good shape.”

Smith is the No. 2 seed and has advanced to the final round in all three of his years in the Truck Series as well. He ended up with 8 top 5 finishes this regular season. He had 9 at this point a year ago.

The only difference? Smith has 3 wins in 2022 and 2 so far this year. It’s also in top 10’s. Smith had 13 in 2022 with far more consistency. He has 8 right now.

“I’d say I am a pretty mellow guy,” said Zane Smith in response to a question about how he handles the pressures of winning a second championship. “I don’t get to wound up really, I’d say. I think every time you hit the race track it’s an audition in a way. So, especially when you get those opportunities in the Final Four. I hope to get there again this year and go back-to-back.”

The defending series champion has three top three finishes in his last four races on the season too. Prior to this though, he also finished 22nd, 32nd 23rd and 20th respectively. In fact, after winning 2 of the first 4 races and having 3 top 2’s in that span, over his next eight starts he finished 14th or worse in 6 of them. So, for him to have this stretch entering the postseason is making him hot again.

“I feel like these races in the Playoffs are great races for us,” Smith commented. “Especially if we are able to get to Phoenix, I feel like Phoenix is one of my best race tracks.”

The No. 2 seed has made the Championship 4 in 2 of the last 3 years.

Carson Hocevar is the latest Truck Series winner at Richmond and has 6 top 5’s in the last 8 starts including a pair of wins. 4 of the last 5 years the No. 3 seed has made it to the Final Round. This will be Hocevar’s third playoff appearance.

“We have lot of points in the bank, a lot of Playoff points in the bank and a lot more speed,” Hocevar mentioned when commenting on his run to the Playoffs this season. “We don’t have to be near as desperate. The only way we don’t get to Phoenix is if we beat ourselves. Rather than having to muscle up. We had our tongue hanging out just to get here the last two years. Just to get here.”

With how well these three are driving right now, it would be difficult to eliminate them from the postseason before we get to Phoenix.

So, who can join them? If they all advance, that makes one spot open for seven drivers.

Christian Eckes is the fourth seed. Never has the Truck Series playoffs gone chalk which isn’t great news for Eckes if the top three seeds do what we expect them to do.

“I feel like this team can contend,” Eckes said in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Media Day. “Obviously, this team can win races, and the next big test will be the Playoffs. I am looking forwards to it. I feel like this team has the capability to go do it. It’s all just putting it together.”

Since 2016, the 4 seed has gone to the Championship 4 three-times (2016, 2017, 2020) but been eliminated in the first round twice (2018, 2021) too. Eckes has 4 top 7’s in his last 6 tries and 5 in the last 8 and this marks his third playoff appearance in four years.

Last year’s IRP race winner, Grant Enfinger, is the 5th seed. The Alabama native brings with him 3 top 5 finishes in the last 6 races run on the season. The only thing is, the 5 seed, while making 3 Final Round appearances, hasn’t done so since 2020. They have made it out of the first round in each of the last two years though too. Enfinger has competed in four previous postseason’s and has won three times during them.

“I definitely think we can make it to the Championship 4 at Phoenix,” said Enfinger. “I feel like we have got as good shot as anybody in coming home with the big trophy. I truly believe with all my heart that there is not a race on the remaining part of the schedule that we can’t win at.”

Last year, Enfinger started in the fifth positions and raced his way to the victory at Indianapolis. This year Enfinger enters the postseason with much more momentum, having accumulated two wins, six top fives and nine top 10s in the first 16 races of the year.

“I think any time you go into a track you have won at, and won at recently you have more confidence, but yeah this is big time racing and each year guys are making their stuff better,” said Enfinger. “We can’t just rest on last year’s stats and last year’s set-up. We have to keep improving and I have to keep improving as a driver.” 

Ty Majeski is the 6 seed and they have marched to the final round in 2 of the last 4 years. Majeski has 5 top 7’s in his last 7 tries.

“We want to compete for championships,” said Majeski during NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff Media Day driver availabilities. “We feel like we have the people around us to do it, the equipment do it. I feel like now I have the experience to just do the little things better. … We want to come out of Phoenix a champion.”

2021 series champion, Ben Rhodes, is the 7 seed. He was the 3 seed in each of the last two years and has made the final round in both instances. The last time he was the 7 seed was back in 2017 to where he made it to the second round. Rhodes has 5 top 10’s in his last 6 tries.

His teammate, Matt Crafton is the No. 10 seed. Each are hopeful their veteran experience pays off.

“It takes the pressure off for sure (having Playoff experience),” said Rhodes. “But it (experience) only goes so far. You can’t make up with experience a slow truck or you can’t make up for dumb mistakes that are made. The frame of mind is good. It should lead to less risk. It should lead to smarter decisions. But all that is in theory. But I feel like as whole that pressure being off my shoulders definitely helps.”

One competitor in the playoffs that you can never count out is that of Crafton. The three-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion (2013-2014, 2019) earned the last spot in this year’s postseason seeding to extend his series record in Playoff appearances to eight consecutive seasons (2023, ’22 ’21, ’20, ’19, ’18, ’17, ’16). Experience he knows will benefit him during the Playoffs.

“It’s always good to have won championships and won races before,” said Crafton during Playoff Media Day. “It’s definitely a different pressure when you are racing for a championship. There is a lot on your shoulders and a lot on your mind each and every week.”

Crafton hasn’t been to Victory Lane in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series since winning at Kansas Speedway on July 15, 2020 – 77 races ago. But Crafton will look to snap his winless streak this weekend, as the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series will wave the green flag on the 2023 Playoffs at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park with the TSport 200 on Friday, August 11 at 9 p.m. ET (on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). In his 12 career Truck starts at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, he has accumulated three top fives and nine top 10s; including finishing ninth in the Playoff opener last season.

Oddly enough, despite 49 career playoff starts, he’s never won a playoff race and the final seed has made it to the final round once.

The other drivers in the playoffs are new.

The 8 seed though has never made it to the Championship 4 and that would be a tall task to ask of rookie Nick Sanchez. He has 5 top 10’s in the last 6.

“I think it is a very strong field from top to bottom,” said Sanchez. “Week-by-week you really don’t know who will be in Victory Lane. But if you are talking raw speed, I think you can put us right up there with the No. 11 (Corey Heim) as some of the fastest trucks in qualifying and just the fastest on speed.”

Sanchez has no doubt been fast this season, in 16 starts he has collected two top fives, eight top 10s and four poles.

“I think my expectations (for the Playoffs) is just to compete for wins and ultimately get to Phoenix,” said Sanchez. “But I feel like I want to treat every race as its own season. Not really worry about points too much, not really worry about the end goal of Phoenix, but live in the moment. At this point, we really just want to compete for wins.”

Though this weekend will be his series track debut at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, he does have one ARCA Menards Series start at .686-mile track posting a seventh-place finish last season.

The 9 seed has also never made the final round. Can Matt DiBenedetto? He has 8 top 10 finishes over the last 11 races on the season including 6 in the last 7

“It’s so rewarding for the whole team, and we are so proud to have made it (to the Playoffs),” said DiBenedetto. “Because it has taken everybody. To think this team has made the Playoffs in just its third year is so amazing. And Rackley Roofing should be so proud. They poured in so much to make this happen.” 

But the California native isn’t satisfied with just making the postseason this year, he has much bigger plans.

“Us as team, I know we have grown a lot, overcome a lot and you know turned a lot of heads, especially in this latter part of this year showing our progress and our strength as a team and our consistency, but truly I believe we can make it to the Final Four,” said DiBenedetto. “I really do. I know a lot of circumstances need to fall our way, and there are a lot of fast trucks we are up against, but everybody has seen the growth and progress of our team and everything Rackley and this group has poured in and Chevrolet and how serious everyone has taken this. And I am really proud of that.”