After Kyle Busch won his seventh-consecutive NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick offered $50,000 to any NASCAR Cup Series driver who could beat Busch in a Truck Series race this year. Marcus Lemonis, the Chairman and CEO of Camping World, the parent company of the Truck Series title sponsor has matched Harvick’s $50,000 offer, and Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson have answered the challenge, entering a combined three Truck Series races in which Busch is expected to compete. But what seems to have been overlooked is Cup Series rookie Brennan Poole’s Truck Series plans for 2020.
Poole is a Cup Series regular, making him eligible for the $100,000 total prize, but as a rookie in the Cup Series, he doesn’t have the five Truck race restriction most Cup Series drivers face. And Poole already had announced he would be running several Truck Series races this season as a driver for On Point Motorsports, prior to Harvick and Lemonis’ challenge.
Poole’s Truck Series docket for 2020 includes all of the races Busch plans to enter as a driver — the Las Vegas race and races at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 14, Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 20, Texas Motor Speedway on March 27 and Kansas Speedway on May 30.
Elliott and Larson plan to share the #24 GMS Racing entry to vie for the $100,000 payout. Elliott will challenge Busch at Atlanta and Kansas and Larson at Homestead-Miami.
Denny Hamlin, one of Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates in the Cup Series, attempted to strike a deal with the Busch-owned Kyle Busch Motorsports to drive a truck in one of the races on Busch’s schedule, but KBM declined the offer to field a truck for Hamlin against Busch, despite Hamlim, reportedly, making a financial offer.
