The 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the eighteenth season of the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

highest

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

in the United States. The season was contested over twenty-two races, beginning with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

and ending with the

Ford EcoBoost 200 The Baptist Health 200 is an annual 200-mile (321.869 km) NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race held at the Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The race began as a 250-mile race in 1996, but beginning with the 2002 season, the ...

at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR announced some changes, including the removal of

New Hampshire Motor Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...

, Nashville Superspeedway, and Lucas Oil Raceway from the schedule, and moving the Phoenix race back to its traditional fall date. In addition,

Rockingham Speedway Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a racetrack located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is also known as The Rock and previously hosted NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series ...

was added to the schedule, the first time NASCAR has raced at Rockingham since 2004. James Buescher of Turner Motorsports claimed his first championship with a 13th-place finish in the season finale.

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

won the Manufacturer's Championship with 166 points and 12 wins.

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Note: A driver designated with a (R) next to their name indicates that they are contenders for the 2012 Rookie of the Year award.

Team changes

;The Kevin Harvick, Inc.-Richard Childress Racing Merger and Related Spinoff *

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard Ch ...

, per agreement in the Kevin Harvick, Inc. merger agreement, acquired the 2011 Owners Champion No. 2 truck as part of the Harvick-Childress merger that also included the No. 2 and No. 33 Nationwide teams. The No. 8 and No. 33 trucks were spun off in a separate deal. *Harvick spun off the No. 8 and No. 33 Truck teams, which

Eddie Sharp Racing Sharp Gallaher Racing (formerly known as Eddie Sharp Racing) is a disbanded NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina that competed in the ARCA Racing Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team fielded the No. 6 Chevrolet ...

, acquired. The teams in the spinoff join the present No. 6 truck driven by Justin Lofton to form a three-truck team, which resulted in a September 2011 decision to switch manufacturers from Toyota to Chevrolet immediately, with support from Childress. The spinoff also included development driver

Cale Gale Cale Gale (born March 5, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. Karting Gale's racing career began when his father placed him on a go-kart at age 4. In 1989 at the age of five years, he began racing competitivel ...

, who drove the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet. ;Other Changes * ThorSport Racing switched to

Toyota Tundra The Toyota Tundra is a pickup truck manufactured in the United States by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since May 1999. The Tundra was the second full-size pickup to be built by a Japanese manufacturer (the first was the Toyota T100), but th ...

s for the 2012 season, with the three teams of Matt Crafton (#88),

Johnny Sauter Jonathan Joseph "Johnny" Sauter (born May 1, 1978) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 47 Toyota Tundra for G2G Racing, the No. 13 Tundra for T ...

(#13), and

Dakoda Armstrong Dakoda Armstrong (born July 16, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 28 Toyota Camry for JGL Racing. Early career Armstrong started his racing career ...

(#98) running for the full season. ;Discontinued operations *

Germain Racing Germain Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was owned by Bob Germain, whose family owns many car dealerships across the United States as Germain Motor Company. The team last fie ...

had shut down the No. 9 and No. 30 trucks with employees asked to look for other employment, as the team's Sprint Cup team changed to Ford from

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Driver changes

;Changed teams *Neither of the Kevin Harvick, Inc. drivers were retained by

after the spinoff. Ron Hornaday Jr. joined Joe Denette Motorsports and drive their No. 9 Chevrolet. He was reunited with KHI crew chief

Jeff Hensley Jeffrey S. Hensley (born November 11, 1962) is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. He works as the crew chief for GMS Racing on their No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Grant En ...

. Hornaday was not an exempt driver through the points standings during the first five races, but had an exemption through his status as a former Series Champion. (Series champions have an exemption available in certain circumstances.) *

Nelson Piquet Jr. Nelson Angelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (born July 25, 1985), also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian stock car racing driver and former Formula One and Formula E driver where he was champion in the 2014–15 seaso ...

moved to Turner Motorsports to contest the full Truck series season as well as a limited Nationwide schedule. Piquet Jr. was teammates with fellow Brazilian

Miguel Paludo Miguel Paludo (born July 26, 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes full-time in the Porsche GT3 Carrera Cup Series. Paludo formerly competed in NASCAR full-time in the Camping World Truck Series, driving for Red Horse Racin ...

, who leaves

Red Horse Racing Red Horse Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team was based in Mooresville, North Carolina. It was co-owned by former Mobil 1 marketing executive Tom DeLoach a ...

. *After enduring a disappointing season at

Brendan Gaughan William Brendan Gaughan (born July 10, 1975) is an American professional racing driver who has competed in off-road and stock cars. He is the grandson of Vegas gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan and son of Michael Gaughan, a hotel and casino magnate. ...

moves to

to run 8 Truck races. Those races were in the No. 2 truck acquired in the Childress-Harvick merger. *After

shut down its Truck Series operations,

Todd Bodine Todd Martin Bodine (born February 27, 1964) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 62 Toyota Tundra for Halmar Friesen Racing, and current racing ...

moves to

to driving the No. 11 truck that was the No. 7 that

drove. However, Bodine tweeted that he needed sponsorship to run the season. *After a disappointing 2011, David Starr took the number 81 with him to the newly formed Arrington Racing formed by engine builder

Joey Arrington Joey Arrington (born July 25, 1956) is an American former NASCAR driver, team owner, and crew chief from Rocky Mount, Virginia. He made nine Winston Cup Series starts with a best finish of 12th. He made his first start in 1974 as a 17-year-old a ...

. *After a one-year stint with Joe Denette Motorsports, Jason White formed his own team for 2012 and fielded Fords. ;Rookie entries The Rookie of the Year standout would be Ty Dillon, the younger brother of 2011 Champion

Austin Dillon Austin Reed Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver and reality TV show actor. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. ...

. Ty scored a win at Atlanta and was in contention for the championship until a late crash at Homestead knocked him to 4th in the points but easily won him the RoTY title. Former Kevin Harvick, Inc. development driver

was runner-up to Dillon, taking a pole at Bristol and a win at Homestead. Ross Chastain finished 3rd in the rookie battle, while John Wes Townley, despite missing Daytona, had two top-10s. Contenders Jeb Burton,

, and Daytona winner John King saw their runs for RoTY aborted due to sponsorship issues. K&N Pro Series East Champion

Max Gresham Max Gresham (born April 30, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He was the winner of the 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship. Personal life and early career Born in Stockbridge, Georgia in 1993, Gresham's racing ca ...

struggled with Joe Denette Motorsports and departed the team early on.

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

graduate

Paulie Harraka Paul Peter "Paulie" Harraka (born September 15, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver and entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Duke University and a former representative of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. Personal life ...

struggled most of the season with Wauters Motorsport and left before Atlanta. ;Returned to the series * Tim George Jr. returned to the Truck Series for the first time since 2009. He ran 12 races driving Richard Childress Racing's No. 2 truck inherited from Kevin Harvick, Inc. *

David Reutimann Emil David Reutimann (born March 2, 1970) is an American professional stock car racing crew chief and former driver. A native of Zephyrhills, Florida, he has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and Camping World ...

returns to the series for 4 races with RBR Enterprises. * Ward Burton returned to NASCAR for the first time after a five-year absence, driving the season-opening Daytona race for Hillman Racing. His son Jeb would drive the following 4 races before a lack of sponsorship ended his run. ;Exited the series *Truck Series champion and former Rookie of the Year

moved up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series full-time with crew chief Danny Stockman. *

Johanna Long Johanna Robbins (; born May 26, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. She is the winner of the 2010 Snowball Derby. Racing career Background Long's father raced late models and she wanted to start racing karts when she was ...

moved to the Nationwide Series for a limited schedule with

ML Motorsports ML Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. It was owned jointly by Mary Louise Miller and her daughter, Stephanie Mullen, making it the first confirmed NASCAR team to be ow ...

. *

Cole Whitt Cole Daniel Whitt (born June 22, 1991) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. After advancing his way through Kart racing, Whitt moved up to sprint cars and became a development driver for Team Red Bull. After running in the ...

moved up to the NASCAR Nationwide series full-time in the 88 Chevrolet with

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Pa ...

2012 calendar

Calendar changes

The Las Vegas race, as a result of issues resulting from the 2011 race weekend, was moved back to late September as a stand-alone race. Originally, the Las Vegas race was set for 13 October at 12 noon PDT as part of the IndyCar weekend, but Indy Racing League LLC faces issues from the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship which the 2011 Truck race was the Saturday feature of the race meet, but that meet was removed as a result of legal issues following the death of

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner ...

on Lap 11 of the IZOD IndyCar Series feature. Speedway Motorsports also removed races from

, while keeping the second Kentucky truck date and having the NASCAR Nationwide Series replace INDYCAR on the fall weekend. Darlington was also removed from the schedule, both Nashville races, and Lucas Oil Motorsports Park. Chicagoland also moved to July. Kansas moved from June to April, along with the Cup series as their spring date was also moved to April to give more time for Kansas's new configuration project.

was added to the truck series schedule marking the first time since 2004 NASCAR has had a race at the track. The total of races on the schedule was also reduced from 25 to 22. Iowa Speedway also got a second date that was held in September.

Results and standings

Races

Drivers' standings

( key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led. *¹ – Post entry, driver and owner did not score points. *² – Ryan Blaney was originally registered for Nationwide points, but switched to the Trucks at Atlanta.

Manufacturer

References

{{NASCAR Truck Series Championship * NASCAR Truck Series seasons