TRUCKS: Wesley Slimp drops off the pace early in St. Petersburg
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: @ForRaceFansOnly
Wesley Slimp picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Saturday’s OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 on the Streets of St. Petersburg when his #62 HNTB Toyota fell out with power steering issues after 15 of 80 laps.
The finish came in Slimp’s fourth series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 3rd for the #62, the 3rd for power steering issues, and the 60th for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it’s the 9th for power steering problems, the 31st for the #62, and the 433rd for Toyota.
A 24-year-old driver from Georgia, Slimp’s road course background in sports cars, where he’s three-time race winner in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series. He’s also competed in both Trans-Am, the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, and the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Series. He made his stock car racing debut just last year, when he picked up a three-race deal driving a second entry for Halmar Friesen Racing. His debut in Lime Rock got off to a rough start when his truck erupted in flames during practice. He escaped injury and ran teammate Stewart Friesen’s backup, which fell out with ten laps to go with ignition failure. He rebounded with a 12th-place finish in his next start at Watkins Glen, then most recently finished 27th on the Charlotte “Roval.” He's since finished 35th in his ARCA Menards Series debut at Daytona this past February, driving for Kristin Tovo.
For Saturday’s first NASCAR race at St. Petersburg, Slimp would again carry sponsorship from engineering service HNTB on his #62 Toyota. He was among the 36 entrants who would all start the race, and in the practice session cut short by rain managed to rank 27th with a best lap of 82.849 seconds (78.215mph). That same storm cancelled qualifying, but the rulebook afforded Slimp the 7th starting spot since Cup Series regular John Hunter Nemechek piloted the #62 to finishes of 5th and 8th to start this second team’s first full-time season.
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Timmy Hill, whose #56 Coble Enterprises Toyota failed to qualify for his only previous attempt of 2026 in the Daytona opener. He’d move up seven spots before the green flag, the first two due to pre-race penalties as 21st-place starter Mini Tyrrell for a transmission and clutch change on the #14 RAM-sponsored RAM, and 30th-place Cole Butcher was sent to a backup truck after he clobbered the Turn 4 wall in practice, then stopped against another barrier in his #13 Atlantic Tilt Load Ford. Butcher’s wreck resulted in by far the slowest lap of the abbreviated session, just 115.783 seconds (55.967mph). Among the other five who dropped to the back, Jackson Lee voluntarily surrendered the 24th spot in Team Reaume’s #22 Browning Chapman Ford along with teammate Carter Fartuch, slated to start 26th in the #2 Mazzaro Italian Market Ford. By the start, the last spot fell to 18th-place starter Tyler Reif, whose #42 DQS Solutions & Staffing Chevrolet stalled on the track near Turns 2 and 3 at the one-to-go signal. The start was waved off as Reif received a push, his engine re-fired.
At the end of Lap 1, the last spot fell to Derek White, whose #69 Elite Rewards Ford had lined up 32nd on the starting grid and appeared to be last to enter the frontstretch coming to the green. When the first lap was done, White was 20.450 seconds back of the lead and about two seconds behind Jackson Lee’s #22. This interval grew to 28.892 on Lap 3, shortly before Stewart Friesen bumped Justin Haley’s #16 Celsius RAM in Turn 1. Haley sat backwards in the run-off lane, unable to re-fire, drawing the first caution of the day. By the time Haley drove away, he’d lost a lap. The 35th spot also fell to Nathan Nicholson, making his series debut in Spencer Boyd’s #76 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet. Haley remained in last on the Lap 7 restart.
On Lap 9, Slimp tangled with Frankie Muniz’ #33 Morgan & Morgan Ford, sending both into a spin. The two continued without drawing a caution, putting Muniz in 32nd and Slimp in 33rd ahead of the now 34th-place White, 35th-place Nicholson, and last-place Haley. By Lap 14, Slimp dropped to 35th, and at the start of Lap 15 was noticeably off the pace between Turns 1 and 2 as then-leader Ben Rhodes made it past. Slimp continued to struggle with pace for the next lap, allowing the lapped Haley to pass him on Lap 16 and putting Slimp into last place. And on Lap 17, the leaders again caught Slimp as he crawled off Turn 2, putting him down a second lap. By Lap 20, the final circuit of Stage 1, Slimp was reportedly behind the wall, and now showed five laps down by the Stage 1 caution on Lap 21. His last completed lap clocked in at just 124.482 seconds, nearly ten seconds slower than Cole Butcher’s wreck-affected lap in practice. Slimp never returned to the track, and was still listed as “OFF” on FOX’s timing and scoring for much of the remaining race.
Taking 35th was Derek White, whose #69 stalled on the track in Turn 7 due to a fuel pump issue, drawing a late-race caution. Nathan Nicholson drove the Freedom Racing Enterprises #76 into the top half of the field before he clobbered the concrete barrier with the right side of his truck entering Turn 2, moments before Mini Tyrrell did the same in his #14 Ram-sponsored RAM. Tyrrell managed to claw his way to 28th while Dawson Sutton, who picked up right-front damage on his #26 W.A.R. Shocks / Rackley Roofing Chevrolet fell out with crash damage in 33rd. Finishing one lap ahead of Sutton and still on the track was Timmy Hill, who lost 17 laps before he finished the race under power.
Open-wheel stars the match of series veterans in Saturday’s race
As Townsend Bell mentioned during his work in Saturday’s TV booth, Saturday’s race was about “truck masters and track masters.” During this first of two straight NASCAR companion weekends with the IndyCar Series, open-wheel veterans and one-time St. Petersburg winners Dario Franchitti and James Hinchcliffe made a show out of the race. Franchitti remained in and around the Top 10 for much of the day in TRICON Garage’s #1 Dollar Tree Toyota, but lost a lap and finished 27th after a lengthy pit stops in the final 20 circuits. Hinchcliffe, who tangled with Franchitti in Turn 1 earlier in the race, overcame a spin and heavy right-side damage to take 10th in Spire Motorsports’ #77 Delaware Life Chevrolet. Both were exhausted by the physical race and the heat.
Among the “truck masters,” Colin Braun returned for his first Truck Series start in 15 years, now with a successful sports car career including a Rolex 24 at Daytona victory in 2023. Climbing aboard the “all-star” #25 Ram is Back RAM entry at the Kaulig RAM Racing team, Braun finished a sterling 9th, his first top-ten finish since he also took 9th at Michigan on August 20, 2011. Equally impressive was a newcomer in Landen Lewis, protégé of Kevin Harvick, who was in and among the leaders all day in Al Niece’s #45 J.F. Electric / Utilitra Chevrolet. Lewis came home 6th in this, just his fourth series start and first in two years.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #62 in a Truck Series race since July 23, 2022, when Todd Bodine wrecked after 12 laps around Pocono in what was his 800th and final career NASCAR start.
*This was also the first time a Truck Series driver finished last because of power steering issues since July 24, 2020, when Kevin Donaue’s #33 First Responder Racing Toyota fell out after 17 laps at Kansas.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #62-Wesley Slimp / 15 laps / power steering
35) #69-Derek White / 52 laps / fuel pump
34) #76-Nathan Nicholson / 55 laps / crash
33) #26-Dawson Sutton / 62 laps / crash
32) #56-Timmy Hill / 63 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Halmar Friesen Racing, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Niece Motorsports (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)
2nd) Toyota (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
