Brenden Queen will make his NASCAR Truck Series debut in the No. 1 truck for TRICON Garage at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
[autotag]TRICON Garage[/autotag] teased a prominent announcement on Thursday, which met expectations. On Friday morning, TRICON Garage announced that [autotag]Brenden Queen[/autotag] will drive the No. 1 truck in the NASCAR Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 18. It will be Queen’s debut in the Truck Series.
The 26-year-old driver, who goes by the nickname “Butterbean,” won four races in the CARS Tour last season before finishing second in the point standings. Queen’s truck will carry sponsorship from Best Repair Company at North Wilkesboro. This announcement comes after TRICON Garage hired Jack Hawksworth to drive the No. 1 truck at Circuit of the Americas.
Queen hopes his Truck Series debut goes well, as the No. 1 truck has proven to be good equipment. TRICON Garage has brought fast trucks to the race track to start the 2024 NASCAR season, which provides optimism toward his effort. Queen shouldn’t be expected to win the race, but a top-10 finish would be excellent for him.
TRICON Garage announced on Monday morning that Jack Hawksworth will drive the No. 1 truck in the NASCAR Truck Seires race at COTA.
[autotag]TRICON Garage[/autotag] has landed a big-name driver ahead of the next NASCAR Truck Series race at Circuit of the Americas. On Monday morning, TRICON Garage announced that [autotag]Jack Hawksworth[/autotag] will drive the No. 1 truck for the organization at Circuit of the Americas on March 23. Hawksworth is the reigning IMSA GTD PRO champion.
The 33-year-old driver is in his eighth season of full-time IMSA competition, with 11 wins, 25 podiums, and 10 poles. Hawksworth also has championships in the IMSA GTD Sprint Cup and GTD PRO categories. He was a full-time NTT IndyCar Series driver from 2014 to 2016, with one podium. Finally, Hawksworth has made one NASCAR Xfinity Series start with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019.
This is a massive addition for TRICON Garage, as Hawksworth is a road course ace that should run well at Circuit of the Americas. The NASCAR organization has shown enough speed to suggest that he can compete if he adapts well. Hawksworth will make the Truck Series event more exciting and could come away with his first NASCAR victory.
TRICON Garage had a good year in the NASCAR Truck Series. Here, you can check out the NASCAR team’s 2023 season in review!
[autotag]TRICON Garage[/autotag], formerly David Gilliland Racing, transitioned to Toyota’s flagship team in the NASCAR Truck Series for 2023, and it came with great success. Corey Heim made the Championship 4 and was arguably the best driver all year. Heim earned three victories but came up just short of a title due to incidents with Carson Hocevar in the season finale.
Outside of Heim, there actually wasn’t much success. Dean Thompson, Tanner Gray, and Taylor Gray failed to make the playoffs but ran very well on different occasions. There wasn’t enough consistent speed to make the playoffs on points or by a win. Overall, it was still a very good season for TRICON Garage.
In 2024, the organization should expect more of the same. Heim, Thompson, and the Gray brothers are all set to return, and they should build more momentum after a year of unknowns. TRICON Garage will only become better moving forward, and Heim could be the one to lead them to their first Truck Series championship.
TRICON Garage announced on Friday morning that Taylor Gray will return to the No. 17 truck in the NASCAR Truck Series for 2024.
[autotag]TRICON Garage[/autotag] announced on Friday morning that [autotag]Taylor Gray[/autotag] will return to the organization in the NASCAR Truck Series for 2024. Gray drove the No. 17 truck alongside teammate and brother Tanner Gray for 20 races after missing the beginning of the season due to age restrictions. The 18-year-old driver finished the year with three top-5 finishes and six top-10 finishes.
Gray has been close to victories before with the most notably coming in 2022 at Lucas Oil Raceway. The No. 17 truck was in front with two laps to go but former Kyle Busch Motorsports driver John Hunter Nemechek dumped him. Gray will have his brother Tanner, Dean Thompson, and Corey Heim as teammates in 2024. The status of the fifth entry has not been revealed yet.
Overall, this is a good move for Gray and TRICON Garage as the driver has been running very well for his age. Gray is only 18 years old and has shown that he has potential in NASCAR. Now, he will receive his first true full-time season behind the wheel after missing the first three races of 2023.
TRICON Garage announced on Thursday afternoon that Tanner Gray will return to the No. 15 truck in the NASCAR Truck Series for 2024.
[autotag]TRICON Garage[/autotag] announced on Thursday afternoon that [autotag]Tanner Gray[/autotag] will return to the No. 15 truck in 2024. Gray has been in the NASCAR Truck Series on a full-time basis since the beginning of the 2020 season and had one of his best years. In 2023, Gray had three top-5 finishes and six top-10 finishes.
The driver of the No. 15 truck has not won a race in NASCAR yet. In his first three seasons, he drove for David Gilliland Racing, now known as TRICON Garage, and Ford. Gray has been working on becoming a better driver and another season with TRICON Garage should help. Especially alongside Corey Heim, who made the Championship 4.
Overall, this is a good move for both Gray and TRICON Garage. It doesn’t hurt to give the partnership another go and he will do so alongside his brother Taylor Gray. For now, Gray will focus on making the Truck Series playoffs for the first time, whether that be by a victory or on points alone in 2024.
TRICON Garage announced on Monday afternoon that Dean Thompson will return to the No. 5 truck for the 2024 NASCAR Truck Series season.
[autotag]TRICON Garage[/autotag] announced on Monday afternoon that [autotag]Dean Thompson[/autotag] will return to the No. 5 truck on a full-time basis for the 2024 NASCAR Truck Series season. Thompson is currently in his first full-time year with TRICON Garage and has run well for a rookie driver. Through 22 races, he has two top-5 finishes, four top-10 finishes, and a 23.0 average finishing position.
Thompson will return with Corey Heim, who was also announced for a second season in the No. 11 truck for TRICON Garage. While Thompson hasn’t seen the same amount of success compared to Heim, he has still run well with four top-16 finishes in the last five races. He would have seen more success if he didn’t have significant issues in 10 races that didn’t let him finish.
Overall, this is a good decision by TRICON Garage as Thompson deserves another opportunity in the No. 5 truck. It has been a rough year for the 22-year-old driver but the organization believes he can turn it around and run even better during the 2024 NASCAR season.
Frank Kimmel had a fruitful racing career. The only 10-time champion in ARCA Menards Series history, Kimmel earned 80 victories in 503 starts. He also made starts in all three NASCAR national series. So, at 61 years old, no one could blame Kimmel …
Frank Kimmel had a fruitful racing career. The only 10-time champion in ARCA Menards Series history, Kimmel earned 80 victories in 503 starts. He also made starts in all three NASCAR national series.
So, at 61 years old, no one could blame Kimmel for going off and enjoying life with his family away from racing. The only problem is that Kimmel doesn’t know how to do that and has no interest in it, either, which is why you can find him with Dean Thompson in the TRICON Garage pits on a Craftsman Truck Series race weekend.
“I think sometimes when you get my age and people that are my age, when you start sitting around and not doing as much, you fall apart,” Kimmel told RACER. “I don’t want to do that, and (wife) Donna would kill me if I did. So, I’ve got to do what she tells me, too. But I just really enjoy being around the cars, and David Gilliland and all the guys have made it a really good place for me to work.
“It’s the best of both worlds. I can go work on cars and be a part of it, I get to go to the racetrack and still have that urge to do that sort of thing. It’s what we’ve always done, so I don’t know anything a whole lot different.”
Kimmel serves as the truck chief for Thompson, a second-year driver in the Truck Series but in his first with TRICON Garage. With crew chief Derek Smith being so hands-on, which Kimmel can appreciate, Kimmel works alongside the team’s head mechanic, working on the truck every day. And some of the other team members will report to Kimmel, who takes matters to Smith.
“It’s our situation, it’s a little different (from other teams) because Derek’s there all the time, so it’s really not that big of a step one way or another,” Kimmel said. “But on some of the other truck teams that we have, the crew chief acts more like a crew chief, and he really takes care of sim and all the things he has to do to organize the whole program. The truck chief does 90% of all the work and guides all the crew members.
“Each team deals with it a little bit differently. think I’ve fallen into a really good spot here because it’s nice to be able to work on the trucks, but it’s not so bad to where I’m working myself to death.”
Alongside his illustrious career in ARCA, Kimmel, pictured here in 2013, raced in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series and continues to utilize his expertise outside the cockpit. Scott LePage/Motorsport Images
Before going to work for Gilliland’s operation, Kimmel previously spent time with Brad Keselowski’s now-shuttered Truck Series team. BKR was founded in 2008 and ran through the 2017 season before Keselowski made the difficult decision to shut down.
Upon joining Gilliland’s team, formerly known as David Gilliland Racing, Kimmel initially worked on the ARCA Series program, but that went away with the transition to Toyota for the 2023 season as TRICON Garage. In doing so, the focus shifted to its five Truck Series teams.
“Just a natural progression,” Kimmel said. “In some ways, it’s a little easier than the ARCA deal was because it’s not so demanding on each individual crew member. We have more people and more help. The pit stop guys come in and do that and they get all the pit boxes put back together and bring them back to the trailer, which in ARCA, the crew has to do. So, in some ways, it’s a better deal, and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been fun to do something I’ve really never done on a full-time basis before.”
Thompson, shown here with crew chief Derek Smith, finds the experience of Kimmel a great resource to draw on. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images
Thompson is 22 years old and loves working with Kimmel, giving high praise to the veteran for his support and constructive criticism. There are times, Thompson knows, that he’s going to hear when he did something wrong, but Kimmel does it in a way that doesn’t tear down the driver’s confidence.
“I’ve been racing all my life, and I’ve got a lot of experience,” Kimmel said. “Talent is something you can’t really teach, and Dean obviously goes out and does very well when it comes to running fast. We come off the truck almost every single week in the top 10 in speeds, and we’ve been qualifying well and doing better across the board than what he has in the past. So, he’s definitely making big improvements. Some of that is on him, and some of that is on the quality of race truck we bring.
“But when I do see him make a mistake and do something that he can actually change in himself, I feel like that’s part of my job, too. We’ll sit down and I’ll say, ‘OK, this might hurt your feelings a little bit, are you ready to hear this?’”
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But it’s a fine line for Kimmel, who views Thompson as a customer of the team. Kimmel might not be Thompson’s crew chief or team leader, but he speaks up only when he feels necessary. The good news is that Thompson is always receptive to feedback and doesn’t argue.
“And I’ve had the other side that looks at you and thinks you’re crazy, you’re old and don’t know how things are nowadays,” Kimmel said. “There is probably some truth to that, but there are some things I probably still know. Dean has not ever made me feel that I’m talking to a blank wall.
“He’s also taking it in and he may not always agree with me, and that’s OK, but at least he’s listening and hearing what we’re saying, and I think our product that we’re going to the racetrack with has gotten better every time we got out. That’s the most important thing.”
Although it’s been a career year statistically for Thompson, who has three top-10 finishes, it’s also been frustrating for all involved. Kimmel doesn’t shy away from that and doesn’t sugarcoat the performances. There have been great performances where Thompson has run inside the top five but the finish doesn’t reflect that.
On the other hand, there have been weekends where Thompson has caught up in incidents, some not of his own doing and hasn’t finished the race. Thompson has a series-leading (of full-time drivers) 10 DNFs through 20 races.
“There are things we could do better and could have, should have done better,” Kimmel said. “That’s as a group. The thing I’ve tried to help him (Dean) with is just making good decisions in the car and there are times when another guy might wreck you, and it’s your responsibility to say, do I really need to push this at this point? Do I need to step back out of this a little bit, and we’ll go back, and we’ll battle that guy later? Sometimes we haven’t done that.
“It’s a part of growing and that’s why he’s here. He’s trying to learn to be better at his craft and across the board, we’re always trying to improve.”
Kimmel, Thompson and the No. 5 team return to action Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.
