The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ inaugural visit to Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway was memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.
The race at the half-mile dirt track turned into a demolition derby, with 14 caution flags, three overtime finishes and one crash that included 17 trucks.
By the end of the night, 2020 series champion Sheldon Creed was left saying “we don’t belong here.”
But the series is going back, returning to Knoxville Saturday night for its second dirt race of the year.
According to defending series champion Ben Rhodes, his team is going back with “reinforced everything.”
“(That) doesn’t happen unless you’re going to like a Martinsville (Speedway),” Rhodes said. “And we’re planning on approaching it just like a short track, just like Martinsville.”
Like Knoxville, Martinsville Speedway is a half-mile track.
While the racing surface at Knoxville starts out as “100% dirt,” over a long run, last year the dirt took rubber and began to race like an asphalt track.
“When it got rubbered up last year, people would gas up in the middle of the corner, just floor it and try to push you out of the group. I’d never seen anything like it,” Rhodes said. “Once it gets rubber up, you can take a little bit of what you learned from Martinsville. We’re gonna approach it a lot like that race, as far as setup package goes. And then as far as my driving, too … Martinsville is all about keeping yourself out of trouble and I find Knoxville is similar in that regard.”
Hattori Racing Enterprises driver Tyler Ankrum agreed with the assessment of Knoxville as a dirt Martinsville.
“It’s low and slow and straight off the corners (like Martinsville),” Ankrum told SPEED SPORT. “And you’re just driving straight into the curb on entry.”
Added Ankrum: “That probably explains why I’m so frustrated (by Knoxville) because Martinsville is probably my worst race track.”
Another commonality: Knoxville and Martinsville are largely one-lane tracks for the Trucks.
For a dirt track like Knoxville that just adds to the potential chaos, especially when it’s difficult to slow down or come to a stop.
“The thing about Knoxville though is it was nose-to-tail, the whole way through the field,” Rhodes said. “At least Martinsville you get some breaks, right? And there’s not much room to hide at Martinsville. But you can kind of find it if you’re smart. I didn’t find any room to hide last year at Knoxville.”
John Hunter Nemechek, driver of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 4 truck, believes the second visit to Knoxville will be “super aggressive” just like last year.
“It’s not if you’re going to get run into, it’s when,” Nemechek said in a media release. “So just trying to keep that mindset, not get flustered in the moment and take yourself out of contention by trying to make a move too early or whatever it may be.”
One difference for this year’s Knoxville race is the tire that will be used.
Instead of the dirt tire that was used at Knoxville last year, it will have the same tire that was used on Bristol dirt earlier this season. Both the left- and right-side tires feature tread compound changes to be more heat and wear resistant.
“I don’t really know what to make of the tires this go round,” Rhodes said. “I know my engineers, crew chief, they look at all that data. But as for me, I’m just going to try to hop in it and drive it. I just anticipate that (the track is) going to take rubber again. And I think you’re going to see at start of practice it’s going to be really quick. At first it’s going to start slicking off, the speeds will slow down, slow down, slow down. It’ll take rubber and then it’ll be as fast as ever.”