February 28th was a historic day for NASCAR and the St. Petersburg Grand Prix (Florida). as the Craftsman Truck series took to the streets for the first time ever.
3,000 pound stock cars with truck bodies and a tight street course for open-wheel INDYCARS wouldn’t seem to go hand and hand. However, this event proved that NASCAR can belong on the streets of St. Petersburg.
A 50 minute practice being cut short and qualifying canceled would make it believe that turn one-lap one would be like an expensive game of bowling with the thirty-six truck field barreling down the long Albert Whitted airport runway.
The first few laps were surprisingly clean, until the No.16 Ram of Justin Haley was spun in turn one and caused the first caution flag on lap three.
Other than this incident, there were only five more cautions during the race.Two for stage breaks that are scheduled yellow flags, and three caused by spins or wrecks. Only four trucks did not finish, two from wrecks and two from mechanical failures.
St. Petersburg was tame compared to a race like Watkins Glen in New York last year, which is a traditional and wider permanent road course featuring nine cautions last year and nine drivers not finishing.
Surprisingly St. Pete’s biggest wreck was Adam Andretti backing his No.5 truck into a tire wall from contact, causing him and two others to stop on track.
The race was very popular among the INDYCAR crowd. St. Pete has been an INDYCAR race for over two decades, meaning that this race is attended predominantly by open wheel fans.
Some saw their first NASCAR race and crowd reactions highlighted by blown away expressions as V8s roared down the front stretch. For others, the bumping and banging was liked compared to INDYCAR, where contact doesn’t happen much because of the open wheels.
The trucks and St Pete brought together a county meets big city vibe to the event, with NASCAR trucks on a backdrop of downtown St. Pete on one side and the Yacht Club on the other creating a unique and fun sight.
Hopefully NASCAR can put St.Petersburg back on the schedule for the Truck series as the event brought great racing and a unique NASCAR meets of INDYCAR fans.
