That turned the lead over to Brent Crews<\/a>, who led 50 of the race\u2019s 70 laps in search of his first career Truck Series win, only for Heim to come back, even with a damaged truck, and score his record-breaking 10th win in a single Truck Series season.<\/p>\n The race probably wasn\u2019t the most exciting, but it wasn\u2019t the most boring either. All that, combined with the fact that it was the inaugural race, and it was definitely a race worth watching.<\/p>\n Tracking the Trucks: Corey Heim\u2019s History Is Brent Crews\u2019 Heartbreak<\/p>\n The problem is, not even 300,000 people watched it live.<\/p>\n While putting a race on FOX Sports 1 certainly doesn\u2019t help viewership numbers, the biggest issue with Friday\u2019s race having such low viewership is the time in which it was on.<\/p>\n The race went green shortly after 3:45 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n While that doesn\u2019t seem like an unreasonable time, I remind you that this race was on a Friday. That meant that most of the country \u2014 yes, including the east coast \u2014 was still at work when this race began.<\/p>\n That shouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n It\u2019s especially frustrating when you consider that Charlotte Motor Speedway already has lights, and there were additional lights installed in the infield road course to allow for night racing \u2014 something the track tried to promote by moving the NASCAR Xfinity Series race back to 5 p.m. ET on Saturday (Oct. 4), only for the race to be cleaner than expected and end in twilight instead of full-fledged nighttime.<\/p>\n There was no reason why the Truck Series couldn\u2019t have had a start time of 7 p.m. ET or somewhere around there. It would allow more people to not only watch on television, but also watch from the track. Being at the track this weekend, I can tell you \u2014 the stands were empty for the Truckers. It isn\u2019t that much surprise as the Truck and Xfinity Series always have less attendance combined than the NASCAR Cup Series, but the fan turnout in the stands was almost kind of sad.<\/p>\n Why? Because a 3:30 p.m. ET start time on a Friday afternoon shouldn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n You could make the thinly-veiled excuse that the IMSA Mustang Challenge was the reason for the early start \u2014 the IMSA Mustang Challenge joined NASCAR at the track this weekend, and held qualifying after the Truck Series race and the race after the Xfinity Series race.<\/p>\n IMSA really couldn\u2019t have held qualifying before the Truck Series hit the track? Or even had a late qualifying session after the Truck race ended? That\u2019s what happened with the race \u2014 the Xfinity Series race ended around 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and the IMSA Mustang Challenge race took the green flag just after 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n Surely, there could have been a workaround, NASCAR. It\u2019s your race weekend first! You have priority over an IMSA series that, let\u2019s face it, almost nobody watches. <\/p>\n NASCAR even owns IMSA, so it could have easily changed the scheduling around.<\/p>\n But instead, it sacrificed a ton of viewers (yes, even for the Truck Series) in favor of starting a race in the middle of a work day for literally everyone in the United States.<\/p>\n Hopefully next year, the Truck Series race is run at night. Josh Bilicki<\/a>, who finished an impressive sixth in the race, said as much to Frontstretch after the race.<\/p>\n \u201dI wish that they ran this race a little later in the day to get more fans in the seats before watching,\u201d Bilicki said. \u201cIt just seemed like an early race. They got lights here now. Our Xfinity race tomorrow will end at night, and then they\u2019re running a Mustang Challenge race here too tomorrow night under the lights.<\/p>\n \u201dI would like to see this race \u2014 if it comes back on a Friday \u2014 race under the lights.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n But the problem is, the Charlotte ROVAL is not the only race to have this issue. <\/p>\n A few weeks ago, the Truck Series returned to Watkins Glen International as part of a quadruple-header weekend with the ARCA Menards Series\/ARCA Menards Series East, Xfinity and Cup. <\/p>\n The Truck Series ran Friday afternoon (Aug. 8) at 5:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n It was definitely a much better start time than the ROVAL was, but when there was nothing but the Xfinity Series race going on the next day, you mean to tell me they couldn\u2019t have a Truck\/Xfinity doubleheader on Saturday (Aug. 9) to get more eyeballs on the event?<\/p>\n Speaking of which, NASCAR should really be doing the same thing with the Truck Series\u2019 next race at Talladega Superspeedway.<\/p>\n Once again, much like the ROVAL, NASCAR is choosing to start the Truck Series race at Talladega at a time when most folks are still working, even on the east coast. That race will begin at 4 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 17, and the race distance was shortened last year from 250 miles to 225 to accommodate such a start time, as Talladega doesn\u2019t have lights.<\/p>\n But with just the Xfinity race going on the next day, NASCAR seriously couldn\u2019t schedule only practices and qualifying for Friday evening and have a Truck\/Xfinity doubleheader? The fall Talladega race used to be a Truck\/Xfinity doubleheader anyway before they changed it last year \u2014 when I wrote a similar column<\/a> to this one, expressing frustration with the race logistics.<\/p>\n JJ Yeley in Trucks for Spire at Talladega<\/p>\n NASCAR, there is no reason to be starting your third-tier series races at times when almost nobody would be able to watch it. <\/p>\n Just the fact that the Truck Series race eclipsed 275,000 alone feels like a miracle in and of itself.<\/p>\n Motorsports viewership in the U.S. last weekend:<\/p>\n 1) NASCAR Cup (USA Network): 1.544 million viewers \u2014 Adam Stern (@A_S12) October 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Bilicki is correct, a night ROVAL race would do wonders for the Truck Series next season, not just for TV, but for butts in seats. You know how sad it is that NASCAR\u2019s home track had barely any fans show up for the third-tier series race? And that\u2019s when you consider that this race would allow for race team employees who don\u2019t travel on the regular to go see the trucks they work on up close and in-person for once.<\/p>\n Even with that, it felt incredibly empty.<\/p>\n Then, to follow that up with a race that you know will get eyes on it because it\u2019s Talladega \u2014 for that race to start at the same time and tank the viewership is nothing short of criminal.<\/p>\n Even though the NASCAR schedules have come out for 2026, the television schedules have yet to be released. And if NASCAR has any sense, last week and next week should be proof as to why there shouldn\u2019t be any races starting before 5:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n Whether it means scheduling more doubleheaders with Xfinity or making other support series move around to give NASCAR a more favorable start time, something has to change.<\/p>\n This cannot be the new norm for the Truck Series.<\/p>\n Follow @AnthonyDamcott<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch\u00a0in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter\/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes\/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.<\/p>\n You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n \t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-charlotte-2-trucks-corey-heim-finish-line-danny-hansen-nkp-150x100.jpg\")
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2) Formula 1 (ESPN): 931,000
3) NASCAR Xfinity (The CW): 808,000
4) NASCAR Trucks (FS1): 279,000
5) IMSA season review (NBC): 168,000
6) ARCA (FS2): 32,000 pic.twitter.com\/4WAetW1xEq<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Donate](\"https:\/\/frontstretch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/frontstretch-donate.avif\")
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