Sometimes there is too much as a good thing, and you need to move on to different pastures. The lower oval racing series in iRacing provides fun and close racing, but maybe you fancy moving your virtual oval racing career forward.
For seasoned Late Model and ARCA racers, the NASCAR Truck Series represents the logical step up on the journey to reaching the top-level NASCAR Cup fixtures. The Trucks are essentially the third step on the official NASCAR ladder, below the Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
This guide will explain everything you need to know about the NASCAR Truck vehicle and the championships it runs in.
The Nascar Truck
The NASCAR Truck is arguably the closest of the current oval offerings on iRacing to the Cup car, as it has a decently developed aero package that produces a fair amount of downforce for a stock vehicle. They sit in the middle in terms of downforce below Cup and above Xfinity, and at the bottom of the three in terms of power.
The downforce reduces the amount they slide through corners, especially compared to the likes of the ARCA Menards Chevrolet or Xfinity vehicles. They’re pretty heavy at 3,250 pounds, though their 6.2-liter V8 engines pump out 625 hp to help them along. Alongside the downforce produced, the truck has the usual setup parameters available to change in order to achieve the balance each driver wants.
There are three different body styles available in iRacing, as in the real-life NASCAR Truck Series. These are the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Toyota Tundra. All drive exactly the same, but each needs to be bought separately.
Race Series Format
NASCAR Class C Trucks Fixed
The fixed series is run as a single-driver race that consists of a short three-minute practice session before a quickfire five-minute qualifying test, which gives you two flying laps and sets the grid for the race. Each event runs over a set number of laps, with this series running over around 20-25 minutes, depending on how many caution periods slow down the action.
Realistic weather is enabled for every race, meaning you’ll get the same temperature currently afflicting the track in real life. As the trucks run on road courses, these can be affected by rain. Oval encounters will only run in the dry, as per real life. Don’t rule out wet running being enabled at tracks like Martinsville in the future, as trucks now do in reality.
- Races run for around 20 minutes
- Two qualifying laps with five minutes to complete them
- Cautions and Lucky Dog are enabled
- Each event is set to a realistic weather forecast
- Fixed setups are mandated for whole field
NASCAR Class C Trucks Open
The Open NASCAR Trucks Series runs in a similar format to the Fixed races, though they’re double the length. It also runs to the same realistic weather as the Fixed events. This is where the similarities end, as there are a few key differences between the two;
- Open races run for around 40 minutes
- Caution and Lucky Dog rules are enabled
- Calendar run to mirror real-life NASCAR Truck Series schedule
- Free reign on setup is permitted
Strategy can play a major role in Nascar Truck racing these days, with caution flags and caution laps a big factor in determining track positions, pitting at the right time can pay dividends dependant on the track as position can play just as a major role as new tires.
What License Is Needed To Race
Both NASCAR Truck Series fixtures require a C Class Oval racing license to enter. To reach C Class, completing clean races in Rookie championships like Street Stocks is key to achieving your D Class permit. From there, running solidly in the ARCA Menards Series or Late Models provides good experience before you hit C Level.
Once you finally build enough Safety Rating to be given your C Class license, you’re good to go. You’ll first need to purchase the right content so that you can kick off your truck racing journey.
Series Costing
The Fixed Series runs to the traditional 12-week iRacing schedule with a random mix of tracks that don’t necessarily feature on the real-life calendar for the series. The 2024 Season 3 schedule is made up purely of paid venues, which cost $11.95 apiece. Once the same cost is applied to purchasing a truck, being able to enter every round would cost just over $140.
The Open series meanwhile doesn’t run to the iRacing 12-week season and instead runs over the same 39-week run that the NASCAR Cup Series does. As the real Truck championship doesn’t run for the full 39-week stretch, different tracks not currently on the Truck calendar are used to fill in.
Just one of the 39 tracks is free during the 2024 running of the series, though several are run twice. The total cost for running the full season would be around $400 for the tracks needed, plus the cost of a truck.
What’s So Special?
The NASCAR Trucks Series is the ideal fixture to accelerate your learning experience and race craft as you work towards reaching the Cup level. This is because the Truck is in many ways like a baby Cup car, though it has less power and downforce.
Being smooth is important in the trucks due to the downforce they produce, as any loss of momentum will mean you bleed a huge amount of lap time on ovals. Like any stock car, the heavy trucks are pretty ungainly, so the rule of slowing down to go faster is prevalent on road courses.
Suffering any damage during the race can also have a huge effect on how competitive you are. If you hit the wall hard enough to sustain a 2x contact warning, you’ll have likely picked up enough damage to hurt your lap time significantly, essentially turning your race into a salvage operation from there on. Running clean and precisely is therefore critical to a strong result.
Tyres A Big Factor In Truck Racing
Much like in the D-Class ARCA Menards Series, being able to look after your tires is critical. The heavyweight construction of the truck combined with the high cornering speed it can sustain due to its downforce can expertly cook up a recipe for disaster if care is not taken during the race.
Not running at 100% from the very first lap is important, as you’ll need to be ultra-smooth with the steering and corner entry to not use too much grip early on. A good tip is to spot higher-rated players in your race and run at their pace, as finding yourself blowing past a load of high-ranking racers in your first event should hint you’re probably going too hard.
- Setting the steering ratio to 12:1 or 14:1 on ovals over a mile in length should save the front tire, though smoothness is still needed
- Opening the steering as early as possible and using as much track as possible on exit will take pressure off tires
- Running more rear brake bias will help to take energy off front tires on corner entry, preventing them from overheating so much and wearing
- Being patient will pay dividends, looking after your stuff will allow you to move forward in the final third of the race
To Conclude
The NASCAR Truck Series fixtures are an excellent playground to learn the correct driving style needed to excel in the NASCAR Cup Series, as the cars drive more alike than the latter does to the intermediate Xfinity stock car.
The lessons learned in the Truck Series will have a direct bearing on how you get on in the Cup Series later on, as the recipe needed to secure supremacy is very similar in both. Learning from others will accelerate your learning process, so be vigilant and aware of the strategies employed by the front-runners once you start getting more confident behind the wheel of the beastly truck.
