Reading Time: 2 minutes

The NASCAR Truck Series is consistently viewed as the lowest level of the three main national series. Its title sponsor however, Camping World, has recently not only lived up to its role as a premier sponsor of the sport, but has saved countless teams in doing so.

CEO and Chairman of Camping World, Marcus Lemonis, took to Twitter on March 1st with a simple, yet shocking, statement. He offered any unsponsored team $15,000 just for the rights to have the blue and yellow Camping World logo wrapped on their truck for this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Lemonis added incentives too, with teams receiving an additional $10,000 for a top-10 finish, $20,000 for a top-5, and $35,000 with a win; all on top of the guaranteed $15,000.

One big question surrounding his endeavor is the motivation behind dishing out thousands of dollars to teams just to run a paint scheme with your company on it. While Camping World has already sponsored the Trackhouse #99 in the Cup Series and it appears they’ll be on Our Motorsports’ #02 Xfinity car, the intention is to stick to the Truck Series. After all, it is called the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and Lemonis and the company truly believe in the success of the trucks. They have poured money into making the series as good as it can be, and while they shouldn’t limit their expectations, a realistic end goal would be to elevate the series to a similar level that the Xfinity Series is on. Competition wise, some cleaner racing would be beneficial, but having young stars in the series like Haile Deegan and John Hunter Nemechek definitely helps.

As of now (there could be plenty more announcements in the next few days), eight trucks will be sponsored by Camping World this weekend in Las Vegas. Some of the notable names are Grant Enfinger and reigning series champion Sheldon Creed. This does raise some concern however, because the 2020 champion running a blank, sponsorless truck is not a good look. Looking past that, it’s great to see so many under-funded teams getting some deserved recognition and sponsorship, and the bonuses for running well add even more motivation. The best part is that with so many Camping World backed trucks in the field, they’ll race each other harder and a top-10 finish, or even the win, is very attainable for some of the drivers. It’ll be a nightmare for the spotters though, seeing several similar trucks on track can’t make their jobs any easier.

Marcus Lemonis and Camping World deserve tons of praise, because the more teams they sponsor, the better the deal is for both parties. Camping World gets more TV time and better competition in their series, and small teams are given the chance to compete. All around, it’s very good for racing and the Camping World fleet of trucks race this Friday at 9 pm ET on FS1.

Photo credit: @ryanpistana / Twitter