The 2013 Mudsummer Classic (formally the CarCash Mudsummer Classic presented by CNBC Prime's The Profit) was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race held on July 24, 2013, at Eldora Speedway in New Weston, Ohio. The race was the first dirt track event held by a NASCAR national touring series (Cup, Xfinity, Trucks) since 1970. Contested over 153 laps, the race was the tenth of the 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. Ken Schrader of self-owned Ken Schrader Racing won the pole position, and became the oldest pole sitter in NASCAR history at 58 years of age. Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing won the race, while Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman finished second and third, respectively.

The qualifying procedure for the race was unique compared to other NASCAR events; drivers' qualifying times set the starting grids for five heat races to determine the feature race's starting lineup, while the top five of a last chance qualifier (LCQ) advanced to the feature. Schrader, Jared Landers, Timothy Peters, Kenny Wallace and Jeb Burton won the heat races, while Brennan Newberry won the LCQ. The feature's format was also distinctive, as it was divided into three segments, lasting 60, 50 and 43 laps. In the feature, Larson took the lead from Peters on lap 39, and later battled with Dillon for the win. Dillon claimed the victory after he retained the lead on the green–white–checkered finish for his fifth career Truck Series win.

Background The last race run on dirt in a NASCAR national touring series occurred on September 30, 1970, at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh in a Grand National Series race, which was won by Richard Petty. Afterwards, NASCAR sanctioned the Busch All-Star Tour, a dirt late model series, which lasted from 1985 to 2002.

Eldora Speedway, which opened in 1954, is a oval with turns at a 24 degree banking, while the straightaways are banked at 8 degrees. The track's grandstands has a capacity of 17,782 spectators, while its hillside seating can fit an unlimited number of fans.

On October 15, 2012, track owner Tony Stewart and Austin Dillon held a private test at the track, driving trucks. On November 28, NASCAR announced that Eldora Speedway would be on the 2013 Truck Series schedule as the first of two Wednesday races, along with the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Although the track does not have any SAFER barriers, Tom Gideon, NASCAR Director of Safety, stated the track meets NASCAR regulations. By January 29, 2013, the 17,782 grandstand seats had been sold out, with purchasers from 48 states and six countries.

Various non-Truck Series regulars entered the race for reasons such as to help a team in the owners' championship, with teams hiring drivers who were familiar with dirt racing to assist them in the point standings. Examples include dirt track specialists Scott Bloomquist, who won The Dream and the World 100 at the track six times and three times, respectively; Tracy Hines, who had 85 career wins, including six at Eldora, and 52 starts in the Truck Series; Jared Landers, who won 100 features in his career; J. R. Heffner, who won the big-block modified championship at Lebanon Valley Speedway twice; Jeff Babcock, who won an American Late Model Series race at the track during 2013; and Joe Cobb, a dirt modified racer and the father of Truck Series regular Jennifer Jo Cobb. Cup Series drivers Dave Blaney, Ken Schrader and Ryan Newman, along with Nationwide Series drivers Austin Dillon, Kenny Wallace and Kyle Larson also ran in the event. Babcock, Blaney, Bloomquist, Hines, Schrader and Wallace had all won races at Eldora in various disciplines. Jason Bowles was later announced as the driver of the No. 5 for Wauters Motorsports, while Chris Jones was originally listed as the driver of the No. 93 for RSS Racing, but eventually withdrew.

In preparation for the race, tire provider Goodyear created new tires, branded "Wrangler", based on a previous dirt tire that the company made. To give the trucks more grip, the tires were widened by one inch to eleven. The bias-ply tires (instead of radial tires) also had treads to remove dirt quicker, in a block pattern, along with being softer. The left-side tires were staggered three inches shorter to 85.5 inches than the right tires (88.5) to assist in handling. Meanwhile, the trucks had mesh shields and hood deflector screens attached to prevent debris from the dirt from entering the radiators and damaging the vehicles. The trucks also had the front spoilers and splitters removed, the grille closed, and the rear spoilers raised and enlarged by 40 square inches to generate more downforce. The trucks' windshields remained, meaning the track crew had to keep the track dry, to prevent mud from making them unable to be cleared. On the hoods, bug deflectors, which were 8 by 12 inches, were installed to prevent stones from hitting the windshield. Teams added under panels to the trucks' chassis to prevent dirt from increasing the trucks' weight.

Entering the race, Matt Crafton led the points standings with 357 points, followed by Jeb Burton and James Buescher, both with 319 and 317 points, respectively. Ty Dillon and Johnny Sauter finished the top five with 309 and 305 points, respectively. Ryan Blaney had 290 points, and behind him were Miguel Paludo (285), Timothy Peters (281), Brendan Gaughan (280) and Bubba Wallace (272).

Practice and qualifying Practice Two-hour practice sessions were held on July 23 from 4:30 to 6:30 P.M. EST, followed by another from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M, the latter being televised on Speed. Another practice was held the following day from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.

Kyle Larson held the fastest lap time in the first practice session with a time of 19.645 seconds and speed of , followed by father-son pair Dave (19.856 seconds, ) and Ryan Blaney (19.918 seconds, ) and brothers Austin (19.982 seconds, ) and Ty Dillon (20.205 seconds, ). The top five featured three Chevrolets and two Fords; the fastest Toyota driver was John Wes Townley (20.483 seconds, ), who was seventh-fastest.

In the second session, the top five consisted of three Chevrolets in the top three positions and Toyotas in fourth and fifth: Austin (21.644 seconds, ) and Ty Dillon (21.703 seconds, ), Larson (21.719 seconds, ), Ken Schrader (21.748 seconds, ) and Tracy Hines (21.753 seconds, ). The fastest Ford truck was Dave Blaney, with a lap time and speed of 21.872 seconds and , respectively.

In the final practice, Toyotas dominated the top five, with Bubba Wallace leading the session with a time of 20.040 seconds and speed of , followed by Hines (20.182 seconds, ), Townley (20.303 seconds, ) and Germán Quiroga (20.307 seconds, ) comprising the top four; Chevy driver James Buescher (20.528 seconds, ) was fifth.

Qualifying

The field for the main event consisted only of 30 trucks instead of the usual 36, with the top 20 trucks in the owners' championship standings guaranteed a spot. To determine the field, two-lap qualifying runs were held, which determined the starting grids for five heat races of eight laps each. The top five fastest qualifiers started on the pole for the heats, and the highest non-locked-in truck were transferred in to the main event until there were 25 trucks in the field. For drivers that did not qualify via the heats, the top four in a last-chance qualifier advance, with the final spot reserved for the most recent series champion, and if that spot is vacant, the fifth-place finisher in the LCQ would qualify for the main event.

Qualifying was held at 5:05 P.M. Ken Schrader won the pole with a lap time of 19.709 seconds and a speed of for his first Truck Series pole since 2004, and became the oldest pole-sitter in NASCAR history at 58 years of age, passing Dick Trickle, who won the pole at Dover International Speedway in the Busch Series' MBNA Platinum 200 in 1999.

The heat races began at 7:00 P.M., with each heat race occurring after 15 minutes of the previous heat's start. The last chance qualifier was held at 8:45 P.M. Schrader eventually won his heat race after leading all 8 laps. In Heat 2, the first caution flag of the day was flown for Bubba Wallace's spin with three laps remaining, and Jared Landers prevented a comeback by Matt Crafton to win. The next heat was dominated by Timothy Peters, who led all eight laps; Heats 4 and 5 were won by Kenny Wallace and Jeb Burton, respectively, the two drivers leading every lap. In the last chance qualifier, J. R. Heffner, who started first in the race, failed to finish the race after completing one lap. Ultimately, Brennan Newberry led all fifteen laps to win, followed by Jeff Babcock, Jason Bowles and Justin Jennings. Norm Benning clinched the fifth and final transfer spot after holding off Clay Greenfield, who nearly wrecked him three times; in response, Benning gave Greenfield the finger after the race concluded. Because they did not finish in the top five, Greenfield, Jimmy Weller, Bryan Silas, Joe Cobb and Heffner did not qualify for the event. When asked about the duel with Greenfield, Benning stated Tony Stewart told him that he "singlehandedly made the show a success".

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 52 Ken Schrader Ken Schrader Racing Toyota 19.709 91.329 2 6 Jared Landers Eddie Sharp Racing Chevrolet 19.804 90.891 3 17 Timothy Peters Red Horse Racing Toyota 19.869 90.593 4 81 Kenny Wallace SS-Green Light Racing Toyota 19.939 90.275 5 4 Jeb Burton # Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet 19.955 90.203 6 44 J. R. Heffner 74 Operations Chevrolet 20.115 89.485 7 32 Miguel Paludo Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet 20.127 89.432 8 5 Jason Bowles Wauters Motorsports Chevrolet 20.138 89.383 9 8 Max Gresham Eddie Sharp Racing Chevrolet 20.266 88.819 10 98 Johnny Sauter ThorSport Racing Toyota 20.280 88.757 11 18 Joey Coulter Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 20.300 88.670 12 88 Matt Crafton ThorSport Racing Toyota 20.337 88.509 13 68 Clay Greenfield Clay Greenfield Motorsports Ram 20.343 88.483 14 34 Ryan Newman (i) Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet 20.421 88.145 15 39 Austin Dillon (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 20.423 88.136 16 07 Jimmy Weller SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet 20.453 88.007 17 54 Bubba Wallace Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 20.465 87.995 18 62 Brendan Gaughan Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 20.520 87.719 19 31 James Buescher Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet 20.521 87.715 20 63 Justin Jennings MB Motorsports Ford 20.530 87.677 21 84 Jeff Babcock Chris Fontaine Racing Chevrolet 20.543 87.621 22 13 Tracy Hines ThorSport Racing Toyota 20.544 87.617 23 30 Kyle Larson Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet 20.594 87.404 24 7 John Wes Townley Red Horse Racing Toyota 20.618 87.302 25 99 Bryan Silas T3R Motorsports Ford 20.630 87.252 26 19 Dave Blaney (i) Brad Keselowski Racing Ford 20.673 87.070 27 57 Norm Benning Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet 20.677 87.053 28 24 Brennan Newberry NTS Motorsports Chevrolet 20.714 86.898 29 9 Ron Hornaday Jr. NTS Motorsports Chevrolet 20.715 86.894 30 3 Ty Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 20.719 86.877 31 51 Scott Bloomquist Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 20.730 86.831 32 29 Ryan Blaney # Brad Keselowski Racing Ford 20.856 86.306 33 60 Dakoda Armstrong Turn One Racing Chevrolet 20.856 86.306 34 10 Joe Cobb JJC Racing Ram 20.914 86.067 35 77 Germán Quiroga # Red Horse Racing Toyota 21.122 85.219 Key Meaning # Rookie (i) Ineligible for series points Italic Required to qualify on speed

Heat races

Heat Race #1 Driver Team Manufacturer 1 1 52 Ken Schrader Ken Schrader Racing Toyota 2 2 44 J. R. Heffner 74 Operations Chevrolet 3 6 19 Dave Blaney Brad Keselowski Racing Ford 4 3 18 Joey Coulter Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 5 5 13 Tracy Hines ThorSport Racing Toyota 6 4 07 Jimmy Weller SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet 7 7 51 Scott Bloomquist Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota

Heat Race #2