NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

 
Lofton, Dillon Make It A Quintuple

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season is just five races old but the excitement level is high with no repeat race or pole winners to date. Justin Lofton became the fifth and latest race winner capturing the May 18 North Carolina Education Lottery 200. The most recent season in which there were five winners in the first five races was 2005.

The season’s winners include three drivers who have tasted victory for the first time: Lofton, John King (Daytona) and James Buescher (Kansas). Lofton’s victory was the first for Eddie Sharp Racing, which purchased many of the assets of Kevin Harvick Inc. at the conclusion of 2011.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Ty Dillon won the 21 Means 21 Pole at Charlotte. The season’s previous four pole winners were Tim George Jr., Kevin Harvick, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Miguel Paludo.

What A Difference A Year Makes

A year ago, Justin Lofton couldn’t find a top-five finish and wound up 14^th in his sophomore NASCAR Camping World Truck campaign. Now he’s the standings leader by a slim, single-point margin over previous No. 1 Timothy Peters. The last time first and second was separated by one point was on Aug. 6, 2011 following the event at Pocono Raceway (Austin Dillon/Johnny Sauter). There have been three different points leaders in 2012: Lofton, Peters and John King.

Up Next: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action on Friday, June 1 at Dover International Speedway. Previous Dover winners currently active are Jason Leffler (2003) and Ron Hornaday Jr. (2007). Last year’s winner Kyle Busch ended the track’s streak of 11 consecutive different winners.