2015 Camping World Truck Series Season Preview:
Crafton going for 3-peat in 2015; Toyota looking for continued dominance.

Matt Crafton finished a stellar 2014 season becoming the first driver in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history to successfully defend his driver points title.  While Crafton did not technically clinch the championship until the final race of the season at Homestead, his late summer and fall dominance of finishing in the top 10 in 10 of the final 11 races was proof he was the model of consistency in 2014 for the NCWTS. Despite a mid-summer slump scoring 2 DNFs while leading at Gateway Motorsports Park, and experiencing a tire failure while in the runner-up position at Dover International Speedway, Crafton still managed to win the points chase by a comfortable margin of 20 points over runner-up Ryan Blaney. In 2015, Matt Crafton will attempt to obtain an unprecedented third consecutive points title driving once again for ThorSport Racing in the Toyota Tundra #88.

Perhaps the biggest story in 2014 was the utter dominance of Toyota Tundras, and in particular Kyle Busch Motorsports, who won the owner’s points championship for the second consecutive year and third time since 2010. Toyota powered trucks won 18 of 22 races, including the first 11 events. KBM accounted for 14 wins on behalf of Toyota, who has expanded their team effort to include 3 full-time entries in 2015. Kyle Busch returns to race the #51 truck on a scaled down schedule of only 4 races, coming off a season of complete domination, winning 7 races in 10 attempts. Full-time Xfinity Series driver Daniel Suarez will drive 13 races, and Matt Tift for 6 events in the #51 KBM entry to complete the 23 race slate. Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace racked up 4 wins for KBM, but graduated to the NASCAR XFinty series driving for Roush-Fenway Racing in 2015. He has been replaced in the #54 entry by Justin Boston, who will compete full-time in 2015. Boston recorded 9^th and 12^th place finishes during the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series competition in 2 starts driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. His full-time teammate will be Erik Jones, who will pilot the #4 truck after winning twice in 2014 on a limited schedule for KBM. 

Winning drivers from the 2014 NCWTS season who are back to deny Crafton his third consecutive title include ThorSpot teammate Johnny Sauter, who has been with the team since 2009 and will once again drive the #98 Toyota. Sauter won at Michigan International Speedway in 2014 and finished 4^th in the points.  Their third teammate will be 18-year old Cameron Haley, who replaced Jeb Burton in the #13 entry. Haley has a career best truck series finish of 2^nd at New Hampshire last fall, while Burton signed a multi-year deal with BK Racing in the Sprint Cup Series.  Burton had previously announced he would not be returning to ThorSport in 2015 due to lack of funding. Hayley brings with him season long support from Cabinets by Hayley.

Another 2014 winning driver with a new teammate in 2015 is Timothy Peters who will once again be driving for Red Horse Racing in the familiar #17 Toyota Tundra. Peters won an exciting Talladega race in 2014, and finished 5^th in the standings. He will be joined in 2015 by last season’s Sunoco NCWTS rookie of the year winner and 8^th place points standings finisher Ben Kennedy, who will race the #11 Toyota Tundra. Kennedy drove for the now defunct Turner Scott Motorsports team in 2014. Kennedy replaces German Quiroga who finished 2014 in 6^th place in the standings. Despite the successful 2014 campaign for Quiroga, who came excruciatingly close on several occasions for his first victory in the truck series last season, he remains searching for sponsors and employment in 2015.  

Tyler Reddick will make his first attempt at a points championship with Brad Keslowski Racing in 2015 driving the #19 Ford F-150 truck after competing part-time in 2014. While Reddick did not win a truck race in 2015, he showed steady improvement, finishing inside the top 10 7 of the last 8 races. His teammates in the #29 will be a variation of Brad Keslowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Austin Theriault.

GMS Racing returns to field 2 full time trucks in 2015. Spencer Gallagher will compete in the series full time, while the trio of Brandon Jones, Ty Dillion, and Austin Dillion will drive the #33 in 16, 4 and 3 races respectively. Due to lack of funding, the team shut down the #21 truck driven by Joey Coulter in 2014. Coulter assumed a management position within the GMS Racing team. 

Other notable racers who will participate part-time in the Camping World Truck Series in 2015 include Cole Custer. Custer will drive the newly formed JR Motorsports #00 truck team, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr for 10 races. 2012 NCWTS champion James Buescher makes a return to the series after a venture into the Nationwide Series in 2014. He will drive the #31 truck for NTS Motorsports on a part-time basis.

John Hunter Nemechek and his father, “front row” Joe Nemechek will split time once again in the NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado #8 entry. John Hunter’s role is increasing to 18 races in 2015 from 12 races last season. Fan favorite Johanna Long returns to the NASCAR scene in 2015 after a year-long absence, driving for Affarano Motorsports in select truck and Xfinity Series races.

Other News & Notes:
- The NCWTS schedule increased to 23 races, up from 22 in 2014 with the addition of the Atlanta 200 on February 28^th

- Truck race field size has been reduced from a maximum of 36 trucks to a maximum of 32 trucks.

- Sunoco rookie of the year contenders will consist of Justin Boston, Cameron Haley, part-time 2014 NCWTS racer Ray Black Jr, Daniel Hemic who will be a teammate of James Buescher at NTS Motorsports, Scott Saunders driving for a newly formed team based out of Australia, and Wendell Chavous driving for Jay Robinson.