The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series had a week off to regroup and go over strategy before the competitors head to none other than Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for the Love’s RV Stop 250 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN).

There’s two races remaining in the Round of 8 with Corey Heim the only one knowing that he’ll race for a championship this Fall in Phoenix via his win in the last race at the Bristol (Tenn) Motor Speedway.

Christian Eckes was dominant though in that UNOH 200, sitting on the pole, sweeping both stages, and leading a race-high 150 of 200 laps. But, with five laps to go, it was the Regular Season Champion in Heim who made a late-race pass on Eckes to take the checkered flag.

Coming into this weekend, Eckes +29, Carson Hocevar (+22) and Grant Enfinger (+14) hold the three wildcard spots. Zane Smith (-14), Ben Rhodes (-19), Nick Sanchez (-22) and Ty Majeski (-22) are below the cutline.

It’s almost as talented of a group below as it is above. 3 of the 4 Championship 4 drivers last year are all needing to make up ground including the last two series champions at that.

With Talladega looming, it could certainly shake things up. 3 of the top 5 point scorers and 4 of the top 7 on superspeedway’s this season belong to those below the cutline. However, Talladega is one that’s been more lenient to drivers not in the playoffs.

The 2.66-mile superspeedway has hosted 17 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races since its inaugural CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event on October 7, 2006 – a race won by Mark Martin driving the No. 6 Roush Racing (now known as RFK) Ford. Notably, there have been 12 different race winners and 15 different pole winners.

Talladega has participated in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs since its inception in 2016. The 2023 season marks the third time the superspeedway has hosted the fifth race in the Playoffs (2021, 2022, and 2023). This is the third different spot that Talladega has resided on the Playoff schedule. In 2016, 2017, 2018, the track played host to the third Playoff race. In 2019, it moved to host the fourth race, but moved back to the first-round elimination race in 2020.

All 7 previous Playoff races at Talladega have been won by non-Playoff drivers.

NCTS Playoff Race Winners at Talladega (2016-2022)
Date	Race Winner	Season	Race No.
Saturday, October 22, 2016	Grant Enfinger	2016	19
Saturday October 14, 2017	Parker Kligerman	2017	19
Saturday October 13, 2018	Timothy Peters	2018	19
Saturday, October 12, 2019	Spencer Boyd	2019	20
Saturday, October 3, 2020	Raphael Lessard	2020	19
Saturday, October 2, 2021	Tate Fogleman	2021	20
Saturday, October 1, 2022	Matt DiBenedetto	2022	21

Do we see an 8th on Saturday afternoon?

Matt Crafton was in the playoffs but isn’t anymore. H has scored the third most points (130) among drivers on the pair of superspeedway races (Daytona, Atlanta) this season. However, he’s not had a top 5 finish here since this race in 2010 (4th). Since 2014, he’s finished 14th, 24th, 22nd, 9th, 26th, 8th, 8th, 14th, 22nd.

If you want longer shots, Spencer Boyd was 1st, 38th and 7th in his last 3 tries. Hailie Deegan was 6th last year. Parker Kligerman is a two-time winner (2012, 2017) and has finished 28th, 1st, 4th, 1st, 28th, 37th, 9th in 7 starts. Even in the Xfinity Series, he was 31st, 6th, 6th, 3rd. In two Cup starts in 2019, he was 27th and 15th.

Colby Howard was 8th a year ago and 4th in the Daytona season opener. Bret Holmes was third. He led 11 laps in 221 and 6 a year ago.

Tanner Gray was runner-up in Daytona and could be a favor too.

But, the playoffs are what we’re watching.

Can anyone bump their ways in leaving here?

Majeski, the first-round dominator could be in some serious trouble. Being 22 points out and finishes of 23rd (last year) and 37th (Cup race in 2018) could put him in danger heading to Homestead in a few weeks as the elimination race. Majeski dominated Richmond and Indianapolis but has since only came away with result of 7th, 18th, 19th. He does have the most laps led (170) and second most points (136) on superspeedway’s this year too.

Smith has never been great here. In three Truck starts he’s finished 33rd, 33rd, 17th. On the season though, he has finished in the top 5 in 5 of the last 8 races (2nd, 2nd, 34th, 3rd, 5th, 12th, 5th, 24th).

Rhodes may be one to watch. He has a pair of top four finishes in his last three tries (4th, 13th, 2nd). However, he’s finished outside the top 10 in 4 of the last 5 races on the season and has just 2 top 5 finishes in the last 17 races.

Sanchez is a rookie and while he’s had 4 top 10 finishes in the last 7 races, he’s not had a top 5 since Nashville as that’s his lone top 5 finish in the last 17 tries either.

Plus, the guy that they’re all chasing, Enfinger, is a past winner (2016). He’s finished 22nd, 12th, 1st, 4th, 19th, 19th, 13th, 21st, 29th on his home track and while the last two leave a little more to be desired, the Alabama native has two top three finishes in the last three races on the season.

Hocevar was only 25th in 2021 and 28th last year. He also has 10 top 6 finishes in the last 12 races (5th, 4th, 4th, 4th, 1st, 12th, 11th, 1st, 4th, 2nd, 6th, 4th).

Eckes was 5th last year after leading 25 laps and has finished 6th, 2nd, 23rd, 3rd, 7th, 11th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd over the last 10 races. He was 3rd in Daytona and won Atlanta and as a result, has scored the most points (140) on superspeedway’s this season.