The 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series was the 26th season of the pickup truck racing series sanctioned by NASCAR. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 14. The regular season ended with the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on September 10. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 6, where Sheldon Creed won the championship over his teammates Zane Smith and Brett Moffitt in a 1-2-3 sweep for GMS Racing in the standings. ThorSport Racing driver Grant Enfinger finished fourth in the standings, the other driver to advance to the Championship 4. Austin Hill won the regular season championship and was the points leader for most of the season, but failed to advance to the Championship 4 and finished 6th in the standings.
Background 2020 marked the twelfth season for Camping World Holdings as the series' sponsor, with it being the second season under the Gander RV & Outdoors brand. In September 2019, Camping World announced a rebranding of Gander Outdoors stores as part of a shift in strategy, resulting in the stores also carrying recreational vehicle sales and service, henceforth the slight name change to reflect corporate changes. On September 15, 2020, it was announced that the series title sponsor would switch back to the Camping World brand beginning in 2021.
The early season was headlined by incentives for any driver to beat Kyle Busch in four of the races he participated in. After Busch won the race at Las Vegas, the first of his five Truck starts in 2020, which was his seventh series start in a row where he won, Kevin Harvick and Gander RV & Outdoors CEO Marcus Lemonis each offered $50,000 for any full-time Cup Series regular if they were to finish higher than Busch in his remaining four starts of the year. The challenge spurred Cup drivers Chase Elliott and Erik Jones to run Truck races in an attempt to win the $100,000 bounty. Later, Halmar Friesen Racing owner Chris Larsen announced he would offer a different $50,000 bounty to any Truck Series regular who were to finish ahead of Busch in the upcoming races he would be competing in. Elliott would immediately beat Busch and win the bounty at Charlotte, which was the first race it was on the line. He donated half the prize money to Feed the Children, a quarter of it to the American Red Cross, and another quarter of it to Kyle and Samantha Busch's Bundle of Joy Foundation.
When the season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers from all NASCAR series, including many Truck Series drivers, participated in the inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series during that time.
Teams and drivers Complete schedule Manufacturer Team Race driver Crew chief Chevrolet AM Racing 22 Austin Wayne Self Eddie Troconis Ryan Salomon GMS Racing 2 Sheldon Creed Jeff Stankiewicz 21 Zane Smith (R) Kevin Manion 23 Brett Moffitt Chad Norris 26 Tyler Ankrum Chad Walter Hill Motorsports 56 Gus Dean Jamie Jones Timmy Hill Greg Ely Tyler Hill Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Bryan Smith Brian Keselowski Jordan Anderson Racing 3 Jordan Anderson Wally Rogers Danny Ketterman Jr. Arthur Haire Niece Motorsports 40 Ross Chastain Frank Kerr Ryan McKinney Cody Efaw Wally Rogers Garrett Smithley Ryan Truex T. J. Bell Travis Pastrana Carson Hocevar Trevor Bayne Bayley Currey 45 Ty Majeski (R) Phil Gould Cody Efaw Trevor Bayne Travis Pastrana Young's Motorsports 02 Tate Fogleman (R) Chad Kendrick 20 Spencer Boyd Joe Lax Ford DGR-Crosley 15 Tanner Gray (R) Shane Wilson Front Row Motorsports 38 Todd Gilliland Jon Leonard Chris Lawson ThorSport Racing 13 Johnny Sauter Joe Shear Jr. Rich Lushes 88 Matt Crafton Carl Joiner Jr. 98 Grant Enfinger Jeff Hensley 99 Ben Rhodes Matt Noyce Toyota Halmar Friesen Racing 52 Stewart Friesen Tripp Bruce Jon Leonard Timothy Peters Hattori Racing Enterprises 16 Austin Hill Scott Zipadelli Kyle Busch Motorsports 4 Raphaël Lessard (R) Mike Hillman Jr. 18 Christian Eckes (R) Rudy Fugle 51 Riley Herbst Danny Stockman Jr. Wes Ward Kyle Busch Brandon Jones Chandler Smith Alex Tagliani McAnally–Hilgemann Racing 19 Derek Kraus (R) Kevin Bellicourt Chevrolet Toyota Reaume Brothers Racing 00 Angela Ruch Andrew Abbott Gregory Rayl Josh Reaume Dawson Cram Ryan Huff Bobby Kennedy J. J. Yeley Kyle Donahue Josh Bilicki Jason White Chevrolet Toyota 33 Jason White John Reaume Josh Reaume Gregory Rayl Josh Reaume Andrew Abbott Matthew Wolper Jesse Iwuji Gray Gaulding Bryant Barnhill Akinori Ogata Kevin Donahue Bryan Collyer Josh Bilicki B. J. McLeod Toyota Josh Reaume Gregory Rayl Chevrolet Josh Bilicki John Reaume GMS RacingGMS Racing bought the owners points from the No. 34 Reaume Brothers Racing team to their new entry, the No. 24, in order to be locked into the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte and beyond. Chase Elliott Charles Denike Chase Purdy Justin Haley David Gravel Kris Wright Sam Mayer Greg Biffle
Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Race driver Crew chief Rounds Chevrolet CMI Motorsports 49 Bayley Currey Wesley Hopkins Jerry Miller Tim Silva Matt Cooper Tim Viens Roger Reuse Entries were fielded in a collaboration with Jordan Anderson Racing. Tyler Hill Entry was fielded in a collaboration with Hill Motorsports. Ray Ciccarelli 83 Tim Silva Wesley Hopkins Stefan Parsons T. J. Bell Tim Viens CR7 Motorsports 9 Codie Rohrbaugh Doug George Mark Huff Cram Racing Enterprises 41 Dawson Cram Kevin Cram Ryan Huff Cody Erickson Diversified Motorsports Enterprises 97 Jesse Little Bruce Cook Robby Lyons FDNY Racing 28 Bryan Dauzat Jim Rosenblum Henderson Motorsports 75 Parker Kligerman Chris Carrier Long Motorsports 55 Dawson Cram Kevin Cram Brian Keselowski Mike Affarano Motorsports 03 Tim Viens David McClure Niece Motorsports 42 Ross Chastain Cody Efaw Kevin Eagle Phil Gould Mark Smith Conor Daly James Buescher Carson Hocevar 44 Natalie Decker Paul Clapprood Jeb Burton Ross Chastain Bayley Currey Kaz Grala Colin Garrett Norm Benning Racing 6 Norm Benning Bill Johnson John Vullo Peck Motorsports 96 Todd Peck Keith Wolfe Trey Hutchens Racing 14 Trey Hutchens Bobby Hutchens Jr. Ford NEMCO Motorsports 87 Joe Nemechek Duke Whiseant Roper Racing 04 Cory Roper Shane Whitbeck DGR-Crosley 17 David Ragan Blake Bainbridge Marcus Richmond Derek Smith Dylan Lupton Hailie Deegan Drew Blickensderfer Toyota All Out Motorsports Korbin Forrister Danny Gill Richard Mason It was an All Out Motorsports entry using DGR-Crosley's owners points. 7 Clay Greenfield Motorsports 68 Clay Greenfield Jeff Hammond On Point Motorsports 30 Brennan Poole Rick Markle Steven Lane Scott Lagasse Jr. Danny Bohn Spencer Davis Motorsports 11 Spencer Davis (R) Michael Shelton Mark Rette Wauters MotorsportsEntry was fielded in a collaboration with Billy Ballew and James Finch. 5 Erik Jones Richie Wauters Ford Chevrolet NEMCO Motorsports 8 John Hunter Nemechek Gere Kennon Jr. Duke Whiseant Mike Skeen Camden Murphy Joe Nemechek Toyota Chevrolet Reaume Brothers Racing 34 Bryant Barnhill John Reaume Gregory Rayl Matthew Wolper
Notes
Changes Teams On October 31, 2019, Kyle Busch confirmed on NASCAR America that Kyle Busch Motorsports will run two trucks full-time for the championship, as well as another truck for a rotating cast of drivers, including himself and Chandler Smith. On November 14, Canadian Raphaël Lessard, and 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion Christian Eckes were announced for both full-time entries, with both also competing for Rookie of the Year. After running two trucks full-time in 2019, GMS Racing will expand to four full-time trucks in 2020 with the addition of Tyler Ankrum from DGR-Crosley and Zane Smith from JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. They will also run a fifth truck part-time for Sam Mayer as well as World of Outlaws driver David Gravel (in one race), and Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (three). The truck number for the fifth truck was confirmed to be the No. 24 on January 10, 2020. Ankrum's new team, the No. 26, was revealed to be using the owner points from Moffitt's No. 24 truck in 2019. As a result, Moffitt's renumbered No. 23 truck started the year with no owner points. However, Moffitt, the 2018 Truck Series champion, is eligible to use the champion's provisional to lock himself into races. On December 20, 2019, Diversified Motorsports Enterprises completed its purchase of JJL Motorsports. As a result, the owner points of the JJL No. 97 were transferred to DME. On January 13, 2020, Front Row Motorsports announced their expansion into the Truck Series through an alliance with DGR-Crosley. They will field the No. 38 Ford F-150, which inherits its owner points from DGR-Crosley's No. 54 team. On January 13, 2020, Bill McAnally Racing announced a partnership with Bill Hilgemann, renaming their Truck Series team McAnally–Hilgemann Racing to reflect his co-ownership. In addition, the team has formed a technical alliance with Hattori Racing Enterprises. On January 21, 2020, Win-Tron Racing announced their return to the Truck Series, with them fielding the No. 32 Chevrolet part-time for Howie DiSavino III (one of their ARCA drivers). Excluding a partnership with AM Racing in 2016 and 2017, this will be Win-Tron's first time in the series since 2015, when they ran the No. 35 Toyota. In addition to that effort, Win-Tron partnered with the Hill Motorsports No. 56 team to jointly field Gus Dean, one of their ARCA drivers, at Daytona. On January 29, 2020, when it was announced that Angela Ruch would be driving full-time for Reaume Brothers Racing, it was revealed that her truck number would be the No. 00, a new number for RBR. The No. 00 was previously the No. 34 team, with the part-time No. 32 in 2019 becoming the No. 34 for 2020. Despite these number changes, it was revealed on February 3, 2020, that the No. 00 would use the 2019 owner points from the No. 12 Young's Motorsports team, which was not run full-time in 2020. The No. 34 will use the owner points from last season's No. 34 team instead of the old No. 32. On February 3, 2020, Bob Pockrass reported the owner points of the DGR-Crosley No. 17 would be transferred to the No. 15 in 2020, which meant that the No. 15 would be the team's primary truck this season and the No. 17 would not be fielded full-time. On February 5, 2020, Jordan Anderson Racing, AM Racing, and Win-Tron Racing announced they would all be sharing a race shop and resources this season. It is the former Front Row Motorsports shop in Statesville, North Carolina. Despite this partnership, the three teams are not merging into one. On February 15, 2020 (the day after the season-opener at Daytona), it was mentioned in a Frontstretch article that the NEMCO Motorsports No. 8 truck would only be running part-time in 2020 and would be skipping the second race of the year at Las Vegas. In 2019, the truck ran with multiple drivers after John Hunter Nemechek's move to the Xfinity Series full-time, including Angela Ruch (before she left for Niece Motorsports), Tony Mrakovich and Trey Hutchens (who moved over to NEMCO after DNQ's with their own teams), Camden Murphy, as well as both John Hunter and Joe Nemechek in a few races each. NEMCO also sold the No. 8's owner points from 2019 to the No. 21 GMS Racing truck of Zane Smith before the start of the season. On February 18, 2020, it was revealed through the Atlanta entry list that Rette Jones Racing's Truck Series team, the No. 11, would be owned by their driver, Spencer Davis instead in 2020 under the name Spencer Davis Motorsports. The team has a partnership with Sam Hunt Racing and bought the owner points from KBM's part-time No. 46 truck, and with that truck's crew chief, Michael Shelton, becoming the No. 11 SDM crew chief for the 2020 season. It is unclear how many races the team plans to run, however, Davis did register for rookie of the year in 2020.