The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series returns to action for the first time in 95 days in Tuesday night’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Motor Racing Network will have live coverage of the 134-lap race starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The last race for the series came back at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Feb. 21. Race number three was slated to take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 14, but that marked the first weekend racing was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With races at Atlanta and Homestead-Miami Speedway already rescheduled for early next month, Charlotte marks the return and the first time ever the series has raced on a Tuesday.
See Also: Starting Lineup | Charlotte Schedule
Austin Hill, who will start fifth, leads the standings and joins Sheldon Creed and Johnny Sauter as the only drivers that have finished in the top 10 in both races held so far.
“I know all of us are ready for our chance to get racing again and build on our point lead,” Hill said.
Hill will be a part of a 40-driver field at Charlotte, marking the most since the 1998 season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch, who at Las Vegas in Feb., will also be part of the field as he goes after his eighth straight win in the races he’s entered. Originally, Busch was not scheduled to race in this event.
“With the Truck Series Triple Truck Challenge originally including this race I was ineligible, so I had to pick another race this year. Now that everything has gotten flipped upside down with the pandemic, they are rearranging the Triple Truck Challenge and now I’m able to race at Charlotte,” said Busch, who will start 16th.
Of Busch’s 57 career Gander Truck Series wins, eight have come at Charlotte – his best at any track. Along with Busch, Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter are the only previous Charlotte Gander Truck race winners in the field.
The starting lineup for the race was determined by a random draw and Ben Rhodes will start from the pole. Rhodes ranks second to Stewart Friesen in points earned in the last six races that Busch has won. Rhodes is third in the standings, 22 points behind ThorSport teammate Sauter, after finishing fifth at Las Vegas.
Chase Elliott, who finished second in the Coca-Cola 600, will be making his 13th career series start and first since 2017. He will start 26th in the No. 24 Chevrolet for GMS Racing and will be looking to claim the bounty Kevin Harvick put up if a Cup regular could beat Busch in a Gander Truck race.
“It’s been a while since I have been in a truck so I am looking forward to teaming back up with GMS,” Elliott said. “I have had a lot of people asking me about the truck bounty.”
Harvick announced on Twitter that the $50,000 donation will be made in the name of the Cup driver – who is eligible and beats Busch – to a COVID-19 relief effort of their choice.
