The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competitors had two weeks off to regroup before heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Baptist Health 200, the Playoffs’ Round of 8 finale (Saturday, October 21 at 12 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM Radio). Four drivers will be eliminated, and the Championship 4 will be named once the checkered flag falls.

Homestead-Miami Speedway was built as a key part of plans to help the city of Homestead rebound after devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew. Groundbreaking began August 24, 1993, exactly one year after the hurricane. The track soon opened in November of 1995.

The 1.5-mile oval has hosted 26 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races since its inaugural CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event on March 17, 1996 – a race won by Dave Rezendes piloting the No. 7 Geoffrey Bodine Motorsports Ford. Notably, there have been 23 different race winners. Kyle Busch leads the series with three wins at the track, while Playoff driver Ty Majeski is the most recent winner (2022).

The 2023 season marks the second time the speedway has hosted the Round of 8 finale in the Playoffs (2022 and 2023). The track was home to the championship race from 2016-2019 before landing a spot on the regular season schedule for 2020-2021 season.

Only one race during the Round of 8 finale has been won by a non-Playoff driver – Daniel Suarez in 2016.

NCTS Round of 8 Finale Race Winners (2016-2022)
Date	Track	Race Winner	Season	Race No.
Friday, November 11, 2016	Phoenix	Daniel Suarez (Non-Playoff Driver)	2016	22
Friday, November 10, 2017	Phoenix	Johnny Sauter	2017	22
Friday, November 9, 2018	Phoenix	Brett Moffitt	2018	22
Friday, November 8, 2019	Phoenix	Stewart Friesen	2019	22
Friday, October 30, 2020	Martinsville	Grant Enfinger	2020	22
Saturday, October 30, 2021	Martinsville	Zane Smith	2021	20
Saturday, October 22, 2022	Homestead-Miami	Ty Majeski	2022	21

This weekend, some heavy hitters are below the cutline hopeful of a win. Grant Enfinger (-3), Ben Rhodes (-5), Ty Majeski (-19) and Zane Smith (-36) are eyeing a spot to Phoenix. Can they bump out Carson Hocevar (+23), Christian Eckes (+9) and/or Nicholas Sanchez (+3)?

3 of the 4 drivers that made the Championship 4 a year ago (Smith, Rhodes, Majeski) are each below the cutline. However, they went 1-2-6 in this very race last season in Homestead too so the championship hopes also aren’t over either.

In the last race at Talladega, Smith spun entering his pit stall early on and took out a crew member along the way. Luckily, the crew member was okay. Unfortunately, his No. 38 Ford wasn’t. A damage right rear and clutch problems took them behind the wall. He’d remain there for much of the race before coming back to the track with 15 to go. He’d finish a disappointing 32nd leaving him in a must-win situation now this weekend.

Smith entered the day -14 in points but left -36.

It’s not like he’s not been in this situation before heading to the Round of 8 cutoff race either. Just two seasons ago, his future was looking bleak but he scored a career saving win at Martinsville to push him to the Final Four. Without the win, he was out.

Now, two years later, he’s back in the same situation. Granted, he knows what his future now holds as he’ll move up to a Cup seat, but if he wants to make a fourth straight trip to the Championship 4, he’s going to have to win.

He finished runner-up on the 1.5-mile South Florida track a year ago.

The only problem now is, they have no momentum. He’s finished 12th or worse in 3 of the last 4 races with Round of 8 results being 24th at Bristol and 32nd in Talladega.

He hasn’t won in 18 races either with his last victory coming in late March at COTA. At that time, it was his 2nd win in the first 4 races of the season as he also won the season opener at Daytona too.

For Rhodes, he’s hopeful of a third straight final round appearance. The lack of playoff points has Rhodes where he is because he was also 7th in Bristol too. He was 6th a year ago in Homestead.

Talladega was just his 3rd top 5 finish int he last 18 races though too.

For Majeski, who would have thought he’d be in this position? Coming into the second playoff race, Majeski was dominating. Then, they got hit with a massive penalty for an issue with their valve stems and his advantage was gone.

Since that moment, Majeski has finished 7th, 18th, 19th, 21st. He’s -19 coming to Homestead, a place he did win at a year ago. It was his 2nd win in the three race third round. Can he pick up a walkoff win on Saturday?

The thing is, the guys in front are going to be tough to catch.

Sanchez had some drama after the race in Talladega but on track, he scored 19 stage points. He was penalized late for a restart violation for laying back too long but he’d rebound to finish 7th and went from -22 to +3 heading to Homestead.

That’s a 25 point gain with him now having a Championship 4 berth in his hands. At least 2 cars will make the final four on points. Can he do so?

Stage points have kept him afloat. He has 60 of them in the last four races (13 in Milwaukee, 19 at Kansas, 8 in Bristol, 19 at Talladega). That’s his path again this weekend.

In Eckes’ case, he was dominant in the UNOH 200 at the Bristol (Tenn) Motor Speedway, 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 Corey Heim who made a late-race pass on Eckes to take the checkered flag.

Eckes would finish 2nd.

The last time out in Talladega, Eckes went from the front to the back to the front to the back to the front again multiple times. In overtime, he was in the lead. He led the white flag lap. But, without drafting help and an overzealous move to block Moffitt’s run, he was shuffled out of the pack and fell to the last car on the lead lap in 19th.

It cost him 18 points as he would have been +27. Instead, he’s +9. He was 7th in Homestead last year and takes with him to Miami finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 19th in the playoffs. A win was in his grasps for two straight races now. Can he finally pick one up in two weeks?

Carson Hocevar should be fine on points so long as he snags stage points which leaves a dogfight for the final two spots.