NASCAR Trucks return to action at Kansas

Following a thrilling short-track contest at Martinsville, NASCAR’s truckers roll into Kansas Speedway for their own version of Friday Night Lights.

And if this 170-lapper is anything like last year’s battle royal, in which Ben Rhodes wrecked race leader Johnny Sauter and himself to hand the win over to William Byron, fans will be in for a treat.

Rhodes, who started 10th in his Kansas debut, went from second to 18th after spinning on the last lap. He was quick to acknowledge his “rookie mistake." He saw the front of the field and elected to go for it. The accident triggered the 11th caution in the 250-mile race.

With the rookie stripe off of his bumper, Rhodes can’t wait to return to Kansas this weekend.

“Kansas Speedway is a really smooth and fast race track,” Rhodes said. “It's one of my favorite mile-and-a-half tracks. We struggled in practice last year, but turned our weekend around for the race, and competed for the win.

“I'm hoping this year we can eliminate our practice struggles and can come out on top.”

Rhodes led 20 laps in the season opener at Daytona. He scored his first top five of 2017 in the No. 27 Safelite Auto Glass truck the following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After joining forces with crew chief Eddie Troconis, Rhodes is currently fifth in the truck standings.

With a successful intermediate-track test last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Rhodes feels more confident returning to K.C.

"The Charlotte test was greatly beneficial to our program,” Rhodes said. “We made some serious gains on our current setup and found a new one as well to make our Safelite Tundra even quicker.

“I'm really excited to see how my ThorSport Racing team has improved upon our setups when we get to Kansas.”

Here are five other drivers to watch this weekend at Kansas Motor Speedway:

Matt Crafton 

The former truck champion leads the tour in starts (16) and wins (2) at the 1.5-mile track. The driver of the No. 88 Menards truck has won two of the last four races at Kansas and finished second in his other two starts. The veteran ThorSport racer led 57 laps last season before finishing second to Byron.

Johnny Sauter 

Sauter came close to securing his second win at Kansas Speedway before contact with Rhodes. He finished 16th. Still, Sauter won at Kansas in just his second start. He leads the tour with 121 laps led, has a solid average qualifying effort of 7.2 and an average finish of 10.1 with four top fives and five top 10s.

Christopher Bell 

In the first intermediate truck race of the season at Atlanta, Bell earned a convincing win from the pole. He led 99 laps for his first win of the season and his third victory. In his last 23 starts, Bell have finished outside of the top 10 in just three races. After starting fifth in his Kansas debut last year, Bell led five laps before finishing fourth.

Ryan Truex 

Truex finished sixth in his Kansas debut last year after starting 21st. Coming off of his first top 10 of the season at Martinsville Speedway, Truex returns to the 1.5-mile track with team owner Shigeaki Hattori and crew chief Scott Zipadelli.

Kyle Busch

Yes, after a three-year absence from Kansas, Rowdy is trucking again this weekend. In his last start at Kansas, Busch won from the pole after leading 104 of 167 laps. In three starts, Busch has two top-10 finishes.