Some of the top contenders in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ For Linemen 200 Brought To You By Altec at Gateway Motorsports Park are weighing on what it will take to land in Domino’s Pizza Victory Lane after racing 200 grueling miles on the 1.25-mile superspeedway.

Matt Crafton, driver of the No. 88 Fisher Nuts/Menards Toyota Tundra, has two wins this year in eight starts.

“Restarts are so critical, and you have to do what you have to do, but at the same time you don’t need to wreck somebody to get a win. Last year, I just got wrecked on kind of a bad decision that somebody made. The year before that, we had, I felt, an even better truck — a really, really dominant truck — and blew a right-front tire while leading. That was a heartbreak. I love going to Gateway, I know I keep saying that, but some of the next few race tracks are some of my favorite race tracks that we’re going to. Gateway reminds me of the old Phoenix, very similar. The corners are very different. The corners of Turns 1 and 2 are definitely a little tighter than the old Phoenix, but it has banking, and it’s a tighter corner. Turns 3 and 4 are a lot flatter, and you never can have a truck that’s going to handle perfectly at both ends, so it’s one of those deals where you have to figure out which end you want be the best.”

Ben Rhodes drives the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota Tundra and will be racing on the St. Louis asphalt for the very first time.

“I feel like the flat race tracks are something we can really adapt well to in the trucks. My crew chief and I, we have an excellent notebook built up from the K&N Series, and then we had a couple ARCA starts together, and we’ve done a lot of stuff together at the short, flat tracks. I feel really good about it. We’ll just have to unload and see how it goes in practice. Luckily, with the truck series, we get more practice, and we’ll see how it fares in practice, and just work on it. We’re still learning everything together; it’s Kevin’s (Bellicourt, crew chief) first time in the truck series, and my first time running full time in the series, so I’m seeing a lot of these tracks for the first time, like this weekend at Gateway — a lot of new stuff. So, we are just taking it one step at a time, and we gotta get some starts, and finishes under our belt. We had a strong run at Iowa last week. Not exactly the finish we wanted, but it was solid. We needed that, especially after everything that went on last week with the fire at the shop. Unfortunately, we are not able to bring the chassis that we were originally planning on using for this race. It was a brand new chassis that got destroyed in the fire, but we are bringing our chassis that we raced last weekend in Iowa. I’m optimistic we’ll have another solid run this weekend. We are so close, we just need to put it all together.”

Rico Abreu could be Saturday night’s wild card. The driver of the No. 98 Safelite/Curb Records Toyota Tundra is a rookie to the series but a champion and big winner in Sprint Cars and Midgets. He visited GMP earlier this month and said his first Truck Series win could very well come here.

“You gotta be able to have a lot of roll speed, and turn at the same time. I believe we’ll be downshifting into Turn 1 from fourth gear, to third gear, and then back to fourth gear down the backstretch. Although I’ve never raced at Gateway, I kind of have a good sensation of what to do, just from getting laps in on iRacing, and talking with my teammate, Matt Crafton, who has had a lot of experience there. He should’ve won the race last year, from the videos I’ve seen, so it’ll be interesting.”

Norman, Oklahoma’s Christopher Bell also is a newcomer to Gateway, although he has raced in World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Pevely, Missouri, and Belleville, Illinois, in the St. Louis area. The driver of the No. 4 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports has an ace in his back pocket: Crew chief Jerry Baxter won at GMP with Bubba Wallace in 2014.

“I’m going to have to make sure that going into this weekend I have a plan to keep my body hydrated. Jerry (Baxter, crew chief) had a really good truck with Matt Tifft driving last year — they were running in the top five before getting caught up in a crash. I know that Jerry also won there with Bubba (Darrell Wallace Jr.) in 2014, so I know that I’m going to have a good Tundra this weekend. I’ve been told that Gateway races kind of like a big Martinsville with long straightaways and tight corners. Both sets of corners are different — one and two is a lot sharper than three and four — so that is something that I’m going to have to adjust to as a driver. I’ve raced at a lot of dirt tracks that are 30 miles or less from Gateway, so it’s cool to be going back to that area and be running in the Truck Series. One of the favorite wins of my life was last year when I won a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race in Pevely, Missouri, so the area has a special place in my heart. Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill., is another place that I really love and I’m actually going to go out there Friday night and watch some dirt racing.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ For Linemen 200 Brought To You By Altec will be joined by the Illinois Lottery Presents ARCA Midwest 50 and the Vatterott College Silver Crown Showdown for USAC open-wheel racers. Spectator gates will open at 8 a.m. with the NASCAR race slated for 7:30 p.m. The inaugural Climbin’ For Linemen competition will start at 9 a.m. in the speedway’s infield.

To purchase tickets or obtain additional information, please call GMP at (618) 215-8888 or visit www.gatewaymsp.com. Follow GMP on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

NASCAR DRIVIN’ FOR LINEMEN 200 BROUGHT TO YOU BY ALTEC SCHEDULE

Friday, June 24

5-6 p.m. — NASCAR garages open to the public.

6-10 p.m. — Party at the ‘Plex at the Gateway Kartplex (kart racing, music, entertainment). NASCAR drivers have been invited to participate.

Saturday, June 25

8 a.m. — Spectator gates open.

8:30-9:25 a.m. — First NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice.

9 a.m. — Inaugural Buckingham “Climbin’ For Linemen” competition (infield near Turns 3 and 4).

9:30-10:20 a.m. — First USAC practice.

10:30-11:55 a.m. — Final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice.

12:30 p.m. — USAC qualifying.

1 p.m. — ARCA Midwest Tour practice.

1:45-2:30 p.m. — NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver autograph session (infield area).

2:15 p.m. — ARCA Midwest Tour qualifying.

3 p.m. — USAC driver introductions.

3:30 p.m. — Vatterott College Silver Crown Showdown (USAC Silver Crown Series, 60 laps, 75 miles).

4:45 p.m. — NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ For Linemen 200 Brought To You By Altec  qualifying (multi-vehicle, three rounds).

6 p.m. — Illinois Lottery Presents ARCA Midwest 50 (40 laps, 50 miles, timed event).

7 p.m. — NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ For Linemen 200 Brought To You By Altec driver introductions.

7:30 p.m. — NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Drivin’ For Linemen 200 Brought To You By Altec (160 laps, 200 miles).

Schedule is subject to change.