The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a racing series owned and operated by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. It is the only series in all of NASCAR to race modified production pickup trucks and is one of the three national divisions of NASCAR, together with the Nationwide Series and the top level Sprint Cup. On December 3rd, 2007, it was announced that at the conclusion of the 2008 season, Craftsman would no longer sponsor the series.Craftsman has been the title sponsor since 1995, the year NASCAR founded the series.

History

The idea for the Truck Series dates back to 1993. A group of SCORE off-road racers (Dick Landfield, Jimmy Smith, Jim Venable, and Frank "Scoop" Vessels) wanted to bigger audience for truck racing. They made a prototype for a NASCAR-style pickup truck. These were first shown off during the 1994 Daytona 500, and four demonstration races were held during the season. The first event at Mesa Marin Raceway had six trucks. The other three events were held at Portland Speedway, Saugus Speedway, and Tucson Raceway Park. Tucson Raceway Park held four events that winter, which were nationally televised during the Winter Heat Series coverage.These trucks proved to be extremely popular, and it led to NASCAR creating the series, originally known as the "SuperTruck Series", in 1995.