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The2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the eighteenth season of thethird higheststock car racing in the United States. The season was contested over twenty-two races, beginning with theNextEra Energy Resources 250 atDaytona International Speedway and ending with theFord EcoBoost 200 atHomestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR announced some changes, including the removal ofNew Hampshire Motor Speedway,Nashville Superspeedway, andLucas 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 ofTurner 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.

Note: A driver designated with a(R) next to their name indicates that they are contenders for the 2012Rookie of the Year award.

The Kevin Harvick, Inc.-Richard Childress Racing Merger and Related Spinoff

• Richard Childress Racing, per agreement in theKevin Harvick, Inc. merger agreement, acquired the 2011 Owners Champion No. 2 truck as part of the Harvick-Childress merger that also included the No. 2 and No. 33 Nationwide teams. The No. 8 and No. 33 trucks were spun off in a separate deal.
• Harvick spun off the No. 8 and No. 33 Truck teams, whichEddie Sharp Racing, acquired. The teams in the spinoff join the present No. 6 truck driven byJustin Lofton to form a three-truck team, which resulted in a September 2011 decision to switch manufacturers from Toyota to Chevrolet immediately, with support from Childress. The spinoff also included development driverCale Gale, who drove the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet.

Other Changes

• ThorSport Racing switched toToyota Tundras for the 2012 season, with the three teams ofMatt Crafton (#88),Johnny Sauter (#13), andDakoda Armstrong (#98) running for the full season.

Discontinued operations

• Germain Racing had shut down the No. 9 and No. 30 trucks with employees asked to look for other employment, as the team's Sprint Cup team changed toFord fromToyota.

Changed teams

• Neither of theKevin Harvick, Inc. drivers were retained byEddie Sharp Racing after the spinoff.Ron Hornaday Jr. joinedJoe Denette Motorsports and drive their No. 9 Chevrolet. He was reunited with KHI crew chiefJeff Hensley. Hornaday was not an exempt driver through the points standings during the first five races, but had an exemption through his status as a former Series Champion. (Series champions have an exemption available in certain circumstances.)
• Nelson Piquet Jr. moved toTurner Motorsports to contest the full Truck series season as well as a limited Nationwide schedule. Piquet Jr. was teammates with fellow BrazilianMiguel Paludo, who leavesRed Horse Racing.
• After enduring a disappointing season atGermain Racing,Brendan Gaughan moves toRichard Childress Racing to run 8 Truck races. Those races were in the No. 2 truck acquired in the Childress-Harvick merger.
• AfterGermain Racing shut down its Truck Series operations,Todd Bodine moves toRed Horse Racing to driving the No. 11 truck that was the No. 7 thatMiguel Paludo drove. However, Bodine tweeted that he needed sponsorship to run the season.
• After a disappointing 2011,David Starr took the number 81 with him to the newly formed Arrington Racing formed by engine builderJoey Arrington.
• After a one-year stint withJoe Denette Motorsports,Jason White formed his own team for 2012 and fielded Fords.

Rookie entries

The Rookie of the Year standout would beTy Dillon, the younger brother of 2011 ChampionAustin 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. FormerKevin Harvick, Inc. development driverCale Gale was runner-up to Dillon, taking a pole at Bristol and a win at Homestead.Ross Chastain finished 3rd in the rookie battle, whileJohn Wes Townley, despite missing Daytona, had two top-10s. ContendersJeb Burton,Dakoda Armstrong, and Daytona winnerJohn King saw their runs for RoTY aborted due to sponsorship issues. K&N Pro Series East ChampionMax Gresham struggled withJoe Denette Motorsports and departed the team early on.Duke University graduatePaulie Harraka struggled most of the season with Wauters Motorsport and left before Atlanta.

Returned to the series

• Tim George Jr. returned to the Truck Series for the first time since 2009. He ran 12 races driving Richard Childress Racing's No. 2 truck inherited fromKevin Harvick, Inc.
• David Reutimann returns to the series for 4 races with RBR Enterprises.
• Ward Burton returned to NASCAR for the first time after a five-year absence, driving the season-opening Daytona race for Hillman Racing. His sonJeb would drive the following 4 races before a lack of sponsorship ended his run.

Exited the series

• Truck Series champion and former Rookie of the YearAustin Dillon moved up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series full-time with crew chief Danny Stockman.
• Johanna Long moved to the Nationwide Series for a limited schedule withML Motorsports.
• Cole Whitt moved up to the NASCAR Nationwide series full-time in the 88 Chevrolet withJR Motorsports.

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 the2011 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 ofDan Wheldon on Lap 11 of the IZOD IndyCar Series feature.

Speedway Motorsports also removed races fromNew 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.

(key)Bold – Pole position awarded by time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.

• ¹ – Post entry, driver and owner did not score points.
• ² – Ryan Blaney was originally registered for Nationwide points, but switched to the Trucks at Atlanta.

• 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
• 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series
• 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
• 2012 ARCA Racing Series
• 2012 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
• 2012 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour
• 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series
• 2012 NASCAR Toyota Series
• 2012 NASCAR Stock V6 Series
• 2012 Racecar Euro Series

• 2012 in NASCAR
• NASCAR Truck Series seasons

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