Last season saw a first time champion with the STARS Series in Jeff Ward. Not only did he win the championship, he also took home the Rookie of the Year honors. Jeff won 5 races and he was the only driver to come from the back and win to get an extra 5 bonus points not once, but twice. The 2 races that he did that in couldn’t come at a better time for him because they both came in the Chase.
Jeff definitely earned this championship. The 5 races of the Chase challenged a driver on every type of race track there is. A superspeedway, road course, 2.0m, 1.5m and a short track. Jeff won Michigan, Watkins Glen and Richmond. That’s hard to beat when someone can win 3/5 Chase races.
The championship was pretty much over when the trucks rolled out of Richmond but the battle for 2nd was going to be a good one come Homestead. 2nd – 7th in the points were separated by only 10 points. When the checkered flag flew, Tim Johnston finished 2nd in the points after his second win of the season. Toby Jenkins finished 3rd, Darrell McKee 4th and Rick Thompson rounded out the top 5.