Trucks move around in 2014: NASCAR reveals new schedule

By Tom Jensen
Published

The 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule stays at 22 races, but with a couple of significant changes: The trucks will return to Gateway Motorsports Park and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but will not be back at Rockingham Speedway and will have only one event at Iowa Speedway instead of two.

Gateway, a 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Ill., near St. Louis, hosted truck series races from 1998-2010. The facility is now owned by St. Louis-native Curtis Francois, who NASCAR officials described in a release as "a former racer with significant ties to the local community."

"We a€™re excited to have the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series return to Gateway and to the St. Louis area, which is such a racing hotbed," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. "Curtis Francois and his staff have worked diligently to bring NASCAR national series racing back to those great fans."

Similarly, NHMS is back on the schedule for the first time since 2011.

"I always loved going there," said Matt Crafton the Truck Series points leader. "It was disappointing that we didn't go there this year, but I don't know what they did to get it back on the schedule. Like I said, I really like going there. It's always been one of my favorite race tracks. I like the mile, the flat stuff because I always say it puts more of the driver back in the seat."

Next season's 22-race schedule also includes returns to two tracks that debuted in 2013 – Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. The entire 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season can be seen on FOX Sports 1.

Next season'€™s schedule also features one date shift, with the series racing at Kansas Speedway on May 9, the first night race for the series at the 1.5-mile venue.

Unfortunately, Rockingham was the big casualty on the schedule after hosting the trucks each of the last two seasons.

2014 NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES SCHEDULE
Date Site
Feb. 21 Daytona International Speedway
March 29 Martinsville Speedway
May 9 Kansas Speedway
May 16 Charlotte Motor Speedway
May 30 Dover International Speedway
June 6 Texas Motor Speedway
June 14 Gateway Motorsports Park
June 26 Kentucky Speedway
July 12 Iowa Speedway
July 23 Eldora Speedway
Aug. 2 Pocono Raceway
Aug.16 Michigan International Speedway
Aug. 20 Bristol Motor Speedway
Aug. 31 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Sept. 12 Chicagoland Speedway
Sept. 20 New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sept. 27 Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Oct. 18 Talladega Superspeedway
Oct. 25 Martinsville Speedway
Oct. 31 Texas Motor Speedway
Nov. 7 Phoenix International Raceway
Nov. 14 Homestead-Miami Speedway