The Heart of America 200 is a

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

race held at the

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. Since 2020, the race has been 134 laps and long. From 2001 to 2019, the race was one of a few on the Truck Series schedule to be 250 miles (Daytona, Talladega, Texas' 400km event). In 2020, as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

schedule changes, the Truck Series had three races at Kansas with the first two being a doubleheader in July after being postponed from May and the other one being held in the fall. Each of the three races was 200 miles instead of 250. In 2021, the track only had one race again but the race distance remained 200 miles.

History

The inaugural race was run on July 7, 2001, and was won by

Ricky Hendrick Joseph Riddick "Ricky" Hendrick IV (April 2, 1980 – October 24, 2004) was an American stock car racing driver and partial owner at Hendrick Motorsports, a NASCAR team that his father Rick Hendrick founded. He was born in Charlotte, North Ca ...

. In 2020, the track had three Truck Series races, starting with a doubleheader in July due to the schedule changes caused by the

. The track's third race, the Clean Harbors 200, was added to the schedule as a replacement for the race at

Eldora Speedway Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "The Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "The World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and ...

due to COVID-19. This race, held on the same weekend as the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

' playoff race at the track, was added back on the series' schedule as a permanent race in 2022. In 2021, WillCo Intelligent Stored Energy (WISE) Power became the title sponsor of the race. In 2022,

AdventHealth AdventHealth (formerly Adventist Health System) is a Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh-day Adventist non-profit health care system headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida, that operates facilities in 9 states across the United States. Th ...

became the new title sponsor of the Cup and Truck Series spring races at Kansas, replacing

Busch Beer Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in othe ...

and WISE Power, respectively. The Cup race was called the AdventHealth 400 but the name of the Truck Series race was decided by a contest for AdventHealth employees. The winning name was "Heart of America".

Past winners

*2005, 2016 and 2021: Race extended due to a NASCAR Overtime finish. *2009: Race suspended on Saturday, finished on Monday and shortened due to rain. *2020 I: Race postponed from May 30 to July 24 due to the

. The race distance was shortened from 250 to 200 miles due to the series having a second race at the track the next day. *2020 II: Race moved from

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has also hosted the IndyC ...

due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (teams)

Manufacturer wins

References

External links

* 2001 establishments in Kansas NASCAR Truck Series races Recurring sporting events established in 2001 Annual sporting events in the United States {{Kansas-sport-stub