On October 30, 2017, it was announced that Austin Wayne Self moved to Niece Motorsports to drive the No. 22 truck full-time in 2018.[1] After the 2018 season, it was announced that Self would go to AM Racing for the 2019 season.[2]
In 2017, the No. 38 truck ran two races with T. J. Bell as a start-and-park team.
In 2018 the No. 38 truck planned to run at least four races with Max McLaughlin as the driver, starting at Eldora. McLaughlin qualified for the race and finished 12th in his NASCAR debut. However, the deal fell through and McLaughlin only ran at Eldora. Ross Chastain ran three races (Bristol, Texas in June and Homestead-Miami) with the best finish of twelfth at Bristol. Bell returned to the No. 38 in Las Vegas in September and finished 21st due to a crash. Landon Huffman also drove for the team, he failed to qualify at Martinsville in October and finished 25th at ISM Raceway.
In 2019, Bell returned once again to the No. 38 as a field-filler at Kansas, since only thirty trucks showed up. Chastain drove the No. 38 with sponsorship from TruNorth Global at Texas in June and finished tenth.
In 2021, Truex returned to the No. 40 for full-time schedule.[4]
In 2022, Dean Thompson would drive this truck full-time.[5] However, it was announced on December 5, 2022 that Thompson would not return to Niece Motorsports. Instead, he would drive the No. 5 for Tricon Garage in the 2023 season.[6]
In 2021, Carson Hocevar announced that he would drive the No. 42 full-time.[8] He returned to the 42 truck in 2022. On June 4, Hocevar was injured during the final lap of the Gateway race when his truck was broadsided by Tyler Hill.[9] He underwent surgery on his tibia prior to the Sonoma race.[10] Hocevar took the pole position before wrecking on turn 10.[11] On lap eleven, he was relieved by Daniel Suárez, who took the No. 42 to a sixth place finish.[12]
Hocevar started the 2023 season with a twelfth place finish at Daytona. He scored his first career win at Texas on double-overtime after race leader Nick Sanchez made contact with Zane Smith on the final lap and Hocevar spun Sanchez from behind.[13] Hocevar also scored wins at Nashville and Richmond.[14][15] He won at Homestead to make the Championship 4.[16] Hocevar finished 29th at Phoenix after Corey Heim slammed him on the fourth turn wall in retaliation for spinning him earlier in the race; he also finished fourth in the final points standings.[17] After Heim was penalized 25 driver points for intentionally wrecking him, Hocevar officially finished third in the points standings.
On October 12, 2023, Niece Motorsports announced that Matt Mills will drive the No. 42 full-time in 2024, as Hocevar would move up to the Cup Series in the Spire Motorsports No. 77.[18] Mills was renewed for a second season in 2025.[19] At 2024 Baptist Health 200, he was injured after Conner Jones intentionally sent him to the third turn wall.[20]
On January 31, 2019, Timothy Peters announced that he would join Niece for the first three events of the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series schedule.[21] After two top-tens in his first two events, Peters said that there is the possibility to run more races with the team.[22]Reid Wilson drove the No. 44 truck in two races (Martinsville in April and Dover) with a best finish of thirteenth at Dover.[23]Angela Ruch was originally scheduled to drive the No. 44 truck in twelve races in 2019. Jeb Burton drove the truck in the July race at Kentucky.[24]Ty Majeski drove the truck at ISM.[25]
Natalie Decker signed with the team for the 2020 season. On February 14, 2020, she finished fifth at Daytona, becoming the highest-finishing female driver in Truck Series history.[26] She missed the Pocono race after being hospitalized for bile duct complications related to her gall bladder surgery in December 2019.[27] On September 25, Decker was not medically cleared to race at Las Vegas; because her truck had cleared inspection and was placed on the starting grid, she was credited with a last-place finish in the race.[28]
In 2022, Kris Wright would drive the No. 44 truck full-time.[31] Wright was dropped from the team before the Richmond race, with Chad Chastain filling in for him.
Niece Motorsports made their debut in 2016 with Casey Smith driving for two races.
The team returned in 2017, at first planning on running only part-time but were able to run the full schedule with various drivers, with T. J. Bell driving most of the races.
In 2018, it was announced that Justin Fontaine would drive the No. 45 truck full-time.[34] Fontaine started the season with a top-ten finish at Daytona and Las Vegas.
On January 18, 2019, it was announced that Ross Chastain and Reid Wilson would split driving duties for the upcoming season.[23] Chastain started off the year with two of the best results in team history, a third at Daytona and a sixth at Atlanta.[22] In April, Kyle Benjamin joined the team for a seven-race schedule starting at Texas in June.[35] On May 10, 2019, Chastain delivered his first truck win and the team's first win at Kansas after Stewart Friesen's underfueled truck ran out of gas with three laps remaining.[36] In June, he announced his intention to switch to Truck Series points to compete for a championship in the series.[37] Chastain finished the season with three wins, ten top-fives, ninteen top-tens, one pole and finishing second in the standings.[38]
In 2021, it was announced that Brett Moffitt would drive the No. 45 truck full time.[41] After six races, Moffitt switched to Xfinity points.[42]Bayley Currey came in as replacement [43] and Erik Darnell return to truck competition for one race at Darlington. [44] Chastain drove at Texas.
On October 1 2024, it was announced that Kaden Honeycutt would drive full-time for Niece starting in 2025.[48] After sixteen races, he was released from the team due to signing with a different manufacturer for the 2026 season.[49]Connor Zilisch and Bayley Currey filled out the remaining nine races.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
