Norm Benning enters Bristol Dirt, first Truck race of 2022

Longtime NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner/driver Norm Benning hopes to make his first start of the 2022 season on Saturday at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt. Circle B Diecast will serve as sponsor of his #6 Chevrolet Silverado.

Benning has been involved in the Truck Series for over two decades, making his début in 2002. Despite his longevity, his Norm Benning Racing team is one of the smallest in any series, operating out of his home and having friends as crew. With little funding to field a competitive truck, his best Truck career finish is twelfth (Talladega 2013) with just thirty-three top twenties in 244 starts, and it is not uncommon to see Benning fail to qualify for races.

In spite of his perennial backmarker status, Benning is a respected and liked driver by fans and peers. Much of this came in the inaugural Truck Series race on dirt at Eldora Speedway in 2013, where he barely held off Clay Greenfield for the final transfer spot in the Last Chance Qualifier to make the final. In six starts at Eldora, his best finish is thirteenth in 2017 which followed another top twenty the previous year of nineteenth.

Benning attempted seventeen races last year, missing four and recording a best run of seventeen at Talladega. He made the Bristol Dirt final but was parked shortly before the halfway mark for a spin that NASCAR ruled intentional and was classified thirty-seventh. Another dirt start came later in the year at Knoxville Raceway, where he ran the full distance and finished nineteenth.

On Sunday, the team posted on social media, “We are ready to go to dirt track racing! We are happy to announce that we have Circle B Diecast aboard for the Bristol Dirt race! We want to thank the whole Circle B Diecast / Plan B Sales & Marketing family for coming aboard last minute and allowing us to go racing!! Without them coming aboard, we wouldn’t have been able to make the race.”