Why Isn’t the Truck Series Going Back to Iowa Too?

Short track fans rejoice, as Iowa Speedway is finally making its debut on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule this Sunday (June 16).

Xfinity Series fans also rejoice, as it will make its triumphant return in support of the Cup race on Saturday (June 15). It will be the first time Xfinity has returned to the 0.875-mile track since 2019. The ARCA Menards Series will also join in on the weekend, as it has made an annual trip to Iowa since 2006 (with the exception of 2014).

Craftsman Truck Series fans … well, you’re out of luck. The Truckers will not be returning to Iowa, at least this year.

The Truck Series, along with the Xfinity Series, were regular visitors to Newton for standalone races at the short track. The Truck Series started racing there in 2009, just a few years after the track opened. The Xfinity Series followed suit in 2011 but the track failed to receive a Cup race.

Generally, the racing was really good, leaving midwestern fans yearning even more for a Cup date. Unfortunately, when COVID-19 shut down the world, NASCAR needed to put together a schedule upon return to normalcy that was feasible to accomplish in a narrow timespan. That meant lowa was left off of the Xfinity and Truck schedules.

However, until this year, NASCAR had not returned to lowa since 2019, which is odd when you consider that 2019 was also the year that NASCAR gained ownership of lowa. Regardless, lowa is finally getting its Cup date, bringing Xfinity with it, and ARCA will tag its annual visit on the front end of the weekend.

But the Truck Series did not receive the same invite as Xfinity did to return.

It absolutely should be returning too.

As mentioned earlier, the Truck Series was crucial to giving lowa its lone NASCAR racing for two years. The good racing there brought Xfinity to Newton as well two years later. The shared spotlight didn’t stop the Truckers from putting on great shows, including its last two races to date in 2018 and 2019.

Hometown hero Brett Moffitt (born in nearby Grimes, lowa) won both races, but both times were under crazy circumstances. In 2018, Moffitt was leading on the final lap when Noah Gragson attempted a video game slide job in turns 3 and 4. Because he drove so deep into the corner, Gragson slid up across Moffitt’s nose and couldn’t gather it up before sailing into the outside wall, allowing Moffitt to go back by and win at his home track.