PREVIEW: Several newcomers on the Truck Series side set to do battle on All-Star Weekend
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Jayson Alexander, @Jaysona86
Saturday, May 17, 2025 (Green Flag 1:48 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 10 of 25
Wright Brand 250 at North Wilkesboro
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Trey Hutchens
ENTRY LIST
There are 34 drivers entered for 36 spots, the ninth consecutive short field since 36 took the green in the opener in Daytona.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
Three-time ARCA Menards Series race winner Brent Crews, who most recently won from the pole in Phoenix this past March, will make his NASCAR national series debut in TRICON’s #1 entry. He takes the place of XFINITY regular Brandon Jones, who finished 6th last week in Kansas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #2-Reaume Brothers Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
Alan Waller, a Stage 4 cancer survivor, struggled with exhaustion when he attempted his Truck Series debut at Martinsville earlier this year, handing the wheel to team owner Josh Reaume for a 31st-place finish. Waller was set to return on Saturday for his first race since, this time in Reaume’s #2 in place of 22nd-place Kansas finisher Cody Dennison. However, on Tuesday came the tragic news of the deaths of Waller’s aunt and both grandparents. On behalf of our staff, LASTCAR.info offers our condolences to the Waller family during this difficult time. Driving in Waller’s place on Saturday was originally set to be Tyler Tomassi, who finished 21st for Reaume in his lone 2025 start at Bristol. By Thursday, Tomassi was instead slated to run the team’s #22 in place of Morgen Baird. The #2 will instead go to the recently reinstated Derek White, who will make his first NASCAR national series start since March 5, 2016, and his first in the Truck Series since a 27th at Homestead on November 14, 2014.
RETURNING: #6-Norm Benning Racing
Norm Benning returns to the series for the first time since he was black-flagged for running too slow in Rockingham, and after repairs, plans to bring the same truck to the track in North Wilkesboro. Benning didn’t attempt this race last year, and failed to make the cut in 2023, but the short field will put him in the show.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
Following Carson Hocevar’s dramatic victory last week in Kansas, the #7 entry goes to XFINITY Series regular Sammy Smith, who last year charged from 31st on the grid to finish a strong 5th. It was this same #7 entry that won the series’ return to the track in 2023 in the hands of Kyle Larson.
DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Niece Motorsports
Controversy followed Conner Jones through his first 22 Truck Series starts, where how he raced his fellow competitors gained him a reputation for over-aggressive driving. He hasn’t made a start in the series since last fall’s championship race at Phoenix, his last for ThorSport, where he came home 17th. After returning to the short tracks, he will this time drive for Al Niece in the #44, replacing 26th-place Kansas finisher Bayley Currey.
RETURNING: #67-Freedom Racing Enterprises
Spencer Boyd’s FRE team will field a second entry for only the third time this year, the first since Martinsville, where Ryan Roulette finished 35th after an early incident off Turn 4. Roulette will again drive this week alongside Boyd in the #76 with NASCAR veteran Jeff Hammond as crew chief.
RETURNING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
Charlie Henderson’s team returns for only its fourth start of the season, but this time without Parker Kligerman, who scored 25th in the team’s most recent effort at Rockingham. This time, it will be XFINITY Series part-timer and modified star Patrick Emerling, his first Truck Series start since 2017, when he ran both Loudon and Texas for D.J. Copp, finishing 23rd and 26th, respectively.
WITHDREW: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports
Also set to return for the first time since he failed to meet minimum speed in Rockingham who Justin S. Carroll, who withdrew from this race last year. Like Benning, he was set to make his first North Wilkesboro start thanks to the short field. However, by Thursday, the team had withdrawn.
DRIVER CHANGE: #02-Young’s Motorsports
It was a short afternoon for Jayson Alexander when he made his Truck Series debut last summer at the Milwaukee Mile, where his ride in Scott Osteen’s Floridian Motorsports entry ended with a crash after only 45 laps. This week, he takes the place of Nathan Byrd, who has driven Randy Young’s #02 entry in every race this season with a best finish of 14th at Rockingham matched the next week in Texas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-Spire Motorsports
Certain to contend is the lone Cup Series full-timer in the field as Kyle Busch, who as he prepares for his third All-Star Race start at North Wilkesboro will now make his first Truck Series start at the track. He takes the place of fellow Cup All-Star William Byron, who inherited a runner-up finish last week in Kansas following the disqualification of Layne Riggs.
CUP INVADERS: #07-Kyle Busch
Sunday, May 18, 2025 (Green Flag 5:38 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Exhibition Race
NASCAR All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Austin Cindric
ENTRY LIST
The following 20 drivers will compete in Sunday’s 100-lap All-Star Open, where three of them – the top two finishers and the fan vote winner – will transfer into the main event. This includes just two “open” entries: Cody Ware drives Rick Ware’s #15 Schluter Systems Ford to allow Harrison Burton to run the main event in the #51 (see below) while Chad Finchum debuts new sponsorship for Garage 66 from Aires, which will also back the #66 in Nashville. Drivers with (FV) indicate the top five drivers in the fan vote, as of Monday. Among that group is Shane Van Gisbergen, who didn’t have a ride for this race last year, when he was eligible for his breakthrough win at Chicago in 2023.
#4-Noah Gragson (FV)
#7-Justin Haley
#10-Ty Dillon
#15-Cody Ware
#16-A.J. Allmendinger
#23-Bubba Wallace (FV)
#34-Todd Gilliland
#35-Riley Herbst
#38-Zane Smith
#41-Cole Custer
#42-John Hunter Nemechek
#43-Erik Jones
#54-Ty Gibbs
#60-Ryan Preece (FV)
#66-Chad Finchum
#71-Michael McDowell
#77-Carson Hocevar (FV)
#88-Shane Van Gisbergen (FV)
Sunday, May 18, 2025 (Green Flag 8:14 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Exhibition Race
NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
ENTRY LIST
The three drivers from the Open will join these 20 in the 250-lap main event for a field of 23. Included among these drivers is Harrison Burton, winner of last summer’s thriller in Daytona, who secured a ride with Rick Ware Racing with sponsorship from Morton Buildings. The Wood Brothers, for whom Burton drove last summer, are also in the main event after Josh Berry’s win in Las Vegas. Austin Dillon also retains his All-Star status despite losing his Playoff status for his victory last fall in Richmond.
#1-Ross Chastain
#2-Austin Cindric
#3-Austin Dillon
#5-Kyle Larson
#6-Brad Keselowski
#8-Kyle Busch
#9-Chase Elliott
#11-Denny Hamlin
#12-Ryan Blaney
#17-Chris Buescher
#19-Chase Briscoe
#20-Christopher Bell
#21-Josh Berry
#22-Joey Logano
#24-William Byron
#45-Tyler Reddick
#47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
#48-Alex Bowman
#51-Harrison Burton
#99-Daniel Suarez
Saturday, May 24, 2025
XFINITY Race 13 of 33
BetMGM 300 at Charlotte
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Riley Herbst
The XFINITY Series returns next week in Charlotte.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (May 16, 1998): Andy Hillenburg finished last in the Winston Open at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #95 Shoney’s Inn Chevrolet fielded by the Sadler Brothers had an oil leak which prevented him from completing a lap. To this date, Hillenburg (1996, 1998) is one of only three drivers to finish last in the Open more than once, joining Trevor Boys (1986, 1987) and Reed Sorenson (2016, 2018). As of this writing, the only drivers who can join the group this year are Bubba Wallace (2020) and Daniel Suarez (2021).
