The place else are you going to see an early 2000s sitcom star, an excessive sports activities athlete usually in comparison with Evel Knievel, a NASCAR Corridor of Famer who has been away for nearly a decade, and a well-liked YouTuber who hates sleeves battle one another at speeds approaching 200mph? Solely this Friday the thirteenth on FOX Sports activities 1, when the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence (NCTS) season formally will get underway.
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Norm Benning, Toni Breidinger, Bryan Dauzat, Greg Van Alst, Timmy Hill, Tyler Tomassi, Justin Carroll).
The NCTS is the third degree of NASCAR’s nationwide divisions, and infrequently its wildest as youngsters face-off towards veteran champions in machines that don’t thoughts getting muscled round.
And whereas the Daytona 500 is in fact the crown jewel occasion of the week, there’s a really particular motive why you shouldn’t miss the Truck race both — nicely, a number of causes.
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Simply check out the drivers competing on this race, and also you’ll perceive why.
Ram is again…and so is SmokeTimothy ‘Mini’ Tyrrell, No. 14 Kaulig Racing Ram
Timothy ‘Mini’ Tyrrell, No. 14 Kaulig Racing Ram
Initially, the occasion will function the long-awaited return of Ram to the Truck Sequence as Kaulig Racing brings a five-truck fleet to Daytona. The enduring model has been absent from the grid since 2013! Their drivers embody reigning ARCA champion Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen, who might be competing in a Truck race at a superspeedway for the very first time. Ram additionally has Mini Tyrrell, a promising racer however one who has by no means finished something like this earlier than. He is right here after successful a actuality present competitors towards 14 different racers, securing a full-time journey with Kaulig because the prize.
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And these two can have a number of teammates, together with a reputation identified by even probably the most informal NASCAR viewers – Tony Stewart. And whereas ‘Smoke’ hasn’t competed in NASCAR since 2018, his final Truck begin got here nearly twenty years in the past in 2005, he’s right here to win. Did we point out he’s the winningest driver in Daytona historical past not named Earnhardt?
Tony Stewart, No. 25 Kaulig Racing Ram
Tony Stewart, No. 25 Kaulig Racing Ram
A TV star, a YouTuber and an excessive sports activities athlete
It will get wilder, so hold studying. Frankie Muniz is driving the No. 33, embarking on his second full-time season as a Truck racer. The ‘Malcolm within the Center’ star earned his career-best end on this race one yr in the past, putting tenth. If he needs to finest that effort, he’ll need to face the drivers we talked about, but in addition wild males like Travis Pastrana and Cleetus McFarland.
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It’s tough to correctly encapsulate Pastrana, who’s a stuntman, an excessive sports activities star, and X-Video games legend whose record of death-defying achievements are simply so long as his skilled racing resume. He’s the one one who can say they gained practically a dozen X-Video games gold medals, began the Daytona 500, holds the document for the longest leap ever recorded in a rally automobile, and stepped out of a airplane with out sporting a parachute.
And but, Pastrana’s loopy is perhaps eclipsed by teammate Cleetus McFarland, whose actual title is Garrett Mitchell. He has 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube, and over two billion views on his channel — and he’ll tear the sleeves off each shirt he comes throughout, as his teammate Pastrana discovered within the Media Middle earlier this week. Each Mitchell and Pastrana are high-energy personalities, and also you by no means know what they will do or say subsequent. He is additionally racing in honor of NASCAR legend Greg Biffle, a detailed buddy and racing mentor who died in a tragic aircraft crash in the course of the low season.
Cleetus McFarland rips the sleeves off Travis Pastrana’s shirt
Cleetus McFarland rips the sleeves off Travis Pastrana’s shirt
This race will function numerous rookies, but in addition two former Daytona 500 champions as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023) and Michael McDowell (2021) be a part of the fray. They aren’t the one lively Cup drivers within the discipline both, as John-Hunter Nemechek and Carson Hocevar are right here as nicely. Hocevar is without doubt one of the most aggressive drivers in NASCAR right now, incomes him the moniker ‘Hurricane’ Hocevar, and it will start a weekend the place the rising star plans to finish triple-duty. No different driver is trying that over the subsequent few days.
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The youngest driver within the discipline is nineteen years outdated (Gio Ruggiero), and the oldest is 54 (Stewart).
Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
here is Stewart Friesen, who’s again for the primary time after struggling extreme accidents in a dust modified crash final summer time, and he is a confirmed winner in Vehicles. And Corey LaJoie, in search of redemption after lacking out on the Daytona 500 discipline in a last-lap crash throughout his qualifying race. He is additionally driving for a staff (Henderson Motorsports) looking for their very own redemption, as they gained this Truck race one yr in the past earlier than being disqualified in post-race inspection.
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This sequence has factory-backed tremendous groups and complicated growth packages, but it surely additionally has unbiased racers driving for family-owned groups with three full-time staff.
So, tune in and watch worlds conflict across the excessive banks of Daytona Worldwide Speedway on Friday the thirteenth, underneath the lights, within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence.
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