2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
The 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season was the eighteenth season of the third highest stock car racing in the United States. The season was contested over twenty-two races, beginning with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR announced some changes, including the removal of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, and Lucas Oil Raceway from the schedule, and moving the Phoenix race back to its traditional fall date. In addition, Rockingham Speedway was added to the schedule , the first time NASCAR has raced at Rockingham since 2004. James Buescher of Turner Motorsports claimed his first championship with a 13th-place finish in the season finale. Chevrolet won the Manufacturer's Championship with 166 points and 12 wins. Teams and drivers. Limited schedule. Note: A driver designated with a (R) next to their name indicates that they are contenders for the 2012 Rookie of the Year award. The Rookie of the Year standout would be Ty Dillon, the younger brother of 2011 Champion Austin Dillon. Ty scored a win at Atlanta and was in contention for the championship  until a late crash at Homestead knocked him to 4th in the points but easily won him the RoTY title. Former Kevin Harvick, Inc. development driver Cale Gale was runner-up to Dillon, taking a pole at Bristol and a win at Homestead. Ross Chastain finished 3rd in the rookie battle, while John Wes Townley, despite missing Daytona, had two top-10s. Contenders Jeb Burton, Dakoda Armstrong, and Daytona winner John King saw their runs for RoTY aborted due to sponsorship issues. K&N Pro Series East Champion Max Gresham struggled with Joe Denette Motorsports and departed the team early on. Duke  University graduate Paulie Harraka struggled most of the season with Wauters Motorsport and left before Atlanta. 2012 calendar. Calendar changes. The Las Vegas race, as a result of issues resulting from the 2011 race weekend, was moved back to late September as a stand-alone race. Originally, the Las Vegas race was set for 13 October at 12 noon PDT as part of the IndyCar weekend, but Indy Racing League LLC faces issues from the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship which the 2011 Truck race was the Saturday feature of the race meet, but that meet was removed as a  result of legal issues following the death of Dan Wheldon on Lap 11 of the IZOD IndyCar Series feature. Speedway Motorsports also removed races from New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while keeping the second Kentucky truck date and having the NASCAR Nationwide Series replace INDYCAR on the fall weekend. Darlington was also removed from the schedule, both Nashville races, and Lucas Oil Motorsports Park. Chicagoland also moved to July. Kansas moved from June to April, along with the Cup series as their spring date was also moved to April to give more time for Kansas's new configuration project. Rockingham Speedway  was added to the truck series schedule marking the first time since 2004 NASCAR has had a race at the track. The total of races on the schedule was also reduced from 25 to 22. Iowa Speedway also got a second date that was held in September. Results and standings. Drivers' standings. () Bold – Pole position awarded by time. "Italics" – Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.