Top 5 NASCAR Truck Series drivers with only 1 Career Win
Top 5 NASCAR Truck Series drivers with only 1 Career
Win
By Brian Cotnoir
This series has had so many different names since
its debut season in 1995 that I’m just going to save myself frustration of
typing out the title sponsors and just simply refer to it as “The Truck
Series”. Now that, I’ve got that out of
the way; if you were to tell me I could only watch one NASCAR racing series for
the rest of my life, I would say the Truck Series in a heartbeat. There’s just something about watching big-bad
trucks duking it out at speeds over 150 MPH going for wins and taking no
prisoners. The Truck Series has been
both the launching ground for young up & coming drivers and a place where
former Cup Series talent can have their careers rejuvenated. However, some drivers bad but a brief moment
in the sun, and the only thing they have to show for their efforts is one
career win in the Truck Series.
As per usual, I am only including drivers that have
since retired from full-time NASCAR competition to assure that there can be no
updates and changes to the statistics.
5.) Jason
Leffler
Jason Leffler was a great driver and he passed away
too soon. While driving the famous #2
truck for Ultra Motorsports, Leffler would finish runner up an astounding 8
times! He finally managed to notch that
first win at Dover in 2003; He was a
threat for wins week in and week out, and I think had he stayed longer in the
truck series he probably would have won a Truck Series Championship.
4.) Ken
Schrader
In 1995, Kenny Schrader won the 3rd Truck
Series race ever run at Saugus Speedway in California. That would be the only Truck Series Win of
his career. Schrader never focused his full-time
driving efforts on the Truck Series and instead chose to run a part-time
schedule, mostly driving for his own team, Ken Schrader Racing. Schrader came close to winning a 2nd
truck race a handful of times, but just never could get it done. His last Truck Series race was at Eldora in
2017 and to date he has 37-career Top 10’s in the Truck Series.
3.) Bryan
Reffner
Bryan Reffner was one of the early drivers in the
Truck Series. I, personally, remember
him as being the driver of the #44 Irvan-Simo Truck that was co-owned by my
Favorite NASCAR driver, Ernie Irvan. He
came close to winning a few times in his rookie season, before spending two
lackluster seasons at Phelon Motorsports.
His career appeared to be on a downswing with no out in sight, but that
was until he joined Team Menard. He
finally got his first—and only career—win in the Truck Series at the
penultimate round at Texas Motor Speedway in 2000; tragically this would be the
same race that Tony Roper would die, after suffering a horrific crash on the
front stretch. Reffner ran his last
Truck Series Race in 2003.
2.) Joey
Coulter
Remember Joey Coulter? He drove for Richard Childress in the Truck
Series the same time Austin Dillon raced?
The guy who Kyle Busch rammed into after a race at Kansas and then
Childress put Busch in a headlock and smacked the hell out of him for doing
that? He sort of vanished off the face
of the Earth, didn’t he? Coulter was actually
a very successful driver in the Truck Series, and was constantly running in the
Top 10. His only victory came at Pocono
in 2012; he finished 3rd in the Final Point Standings that
year. The next season, he jumped ship to
drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports (ironic, isn’t it?) He had a few Top 5 finishes, but was dropped
from the team and then signed with GMS Racing.
He did better at GMS than at KBM, but still couldn’t get that second
win. To my knowledge, he still works for
GMS, and still does dirt racing on his off weekends around the Southeast.
1.) Butch
Miller
Henry “Butch” Miller was a journeyman driver in the
NASCAR Cup and Busch Series in the late 1980s to early 1990s. He ran the first season of the Truck Series
Existence in 1995 for Liberty Motorsports, and was always running towards the
front of the field. He won his 1st
and only Truck Series race at Colorado National Speedway in 1995. That same year he finished 4th in
the Final Points Standings and was voted the Most Popular Driver in the
Series. Over the next few seasons he’d
drive full-time in the Truck Series for Liberty Motorsports, Walker Evans,
Lance Norrick, and Bobby Hamilton, and although he finished in the Top 10 an
amazing 51 times in his career, he never managed to return to victory
lane. The Closest he came to another win
was a 2nd at Walt Disney World Speedway at in 1997. At the turn of the new millennium, Miller was
out of a full-time ride, and other than the occasional start for SS-Green
Light, he never found himself driving for a competitive ride again in the
sport.
One of the CLOSEST Finishes in Racing History
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