Since NASCAR Championship Weekend moved to Phoenix Raceway in 2020, drivers who have piloted a Stadium Super Truck seem to enjoy success. This trend continued in 2022 as three drivers had solid performances and one went beyond that to win a title.
After finishing runner-up in back-to-back years, Zane Smith finally broke through last Friday to take the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series crown after holding off Chandler Smith and reigning champion Ben Rhodes in overtime.
“Another driver with SST seat time wins the @nascar truck series championship. Congratulations,” posted SST on Twitter.
His second-place finish in the 2020 Truck title race came after losing out two-time SST champion Sheldon Creed. The two were team-mates at GMS Racing at the time and raced together in the SST weekend at Road America in August. Said round came just a day after Smith scored his first career Truck Series victory at Michigan. Smith finished sixth and fifth in two races while Creed notched a pair of podiums in second and third. A third GMS driver with SST ties also made the 2020 Truck Championship Round as Brett Moffitt, who has yet to run SST raace but has occasionally tested, dominated before a late wreck set up overtime and dropped him to tenth.
Creed holds the most wins in SST history with thirty-nine and had competed in the series every year since the inaugural season in 2013. This streak ended for 2022 as he graduated to the Xfinity Series full-time. His rookie season proved to be challenging as he struggled with up-and-down finishes and poor luck, but he ended the year on a strong note by finishing sixth for his thirteenth top ten a week after placing second at Martinsville.
His off-road upbringing, where races are typically shorter and more frantic, have allowed him to develop quick paces in virtually anything he runs. However, inconsistency has often plagued his results during his first year in a new stock car division. Nevertheless, his sophomore seasons generally see much more improved results as was the case in ARCA and the Truck Series, the latter of which saw him miss the playoffs in 2019 before winning five times and the title in 2020.
While Creed missed out on the Xfinity Championship Round, Justin Allgaier found himself in it for the fourth time in the last six years. He would finish third behind Ty Gibbs and JR Motorsports team-mate Noah Gragson.
Allgaier’s professional career has almost strictly been in stock cars save for the occasional dabbling in GT racing. In 2021, when SST was supporting the Xfinity Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, he took advantage of the lull between weekend sessions to enter SST practice/qualifying. Driving a blank, black truck, he set the sixth fastest time of eight drivers. Half the drivers in the session have raced in NASCAR as Creed was second ahead of Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle.
While SST had two races sandwiching the Xfinity event the next day, the tight scheduling meant he was unable to actually take part.
SST is often promoted as being an excellent way for drivers to hone their racing skills, much of which can be translated into other disciplines. In an interview with The Checkered Flag in March, three-time SST champion Matt Brabham, who went on to finish third in the 2022 Indy Lights standings, explained the trucks help with learning cornering and maintaining speed despite being rougher and less graceful than traditional circuit series.
