Corporate sponsor American Ethanol Distance 200 miles (321.869 km) | First race 1998 Laps 160 | |
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Venue Gateway Motorsports Park Location Madison, Illinois, United States | ||
The Drivin' for Linemen 200 is a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park since 1998, and ran until 2010 when the track closed. With new ownership in place in 2012, the race returned to the schedule in 2014.
Rick Carelli won the first truck race at Gateway. A year later Greg Biffle won the first night race for the series at Gateway. In 2000, the race date was moved to May, and the time of race was once again day. Jack Sprague not only won that race, but holds the average speed record for the event to this day. A year later Ted Musgrave won the event after showers moved the race back into the evening.
In 2004, the NASCAR Craftsman truck was using its version of the green-white-checkered rule, which stated that every race must end under green, for the last time. With 5 laps left in the race Jack Sprague cut a tire bringing out the caution. Caution would come out. On the first green-white-checkered attempt a wreck in turn 1 brought the yellow flag out again. The very next green flag saw first and second position drivers, Shane Hmiel and Bobby Hamilton get together bringing the yellow out again. On the second attempt on the back straightway, Rick Crawford's truck was involved in an accident that had the truck sliding on its side against the wall. On the fourth attempt, David Starr came out on top in a race with a record for most green-white-checkered laps and most attempts. Shortly thereafter NASCAR adopted a universal green-white-checkered rule for all three of its major series which said that if the caution flag comes out at any time during the green-white-checkered run the race will end under caution.
NASCAR-sanctioned events stopped being run at the track after the 2010 season when Dover Motorports shut down the circuit at the end of the 2010 season. The circuits were sold to former club racer and INDYCAR Indy Lights driver Curtis Francois in 2011, who promptly brought back the NHRA tour in 2012. Francois and NASCAR successfully negotiated the Truck Series return on June 14, 2014.