Spade Racing 2021 Season Previews: Three Series, Three Categories (well, nine total) PART 3: Trucks

Now more than ever there’s a pretty solid caste system in Nascar—Championship Contenders, Race Win Contenders, and Independents.  Who fits in where?  Who will be making the 2021 Playoffs?  And will there be any races anywhere that Timmy Hill doesn’t compete in?  That’s what this preview is for!

Check out the three categories of Truck Series competitors, and see where YOUR favorite driver has wound up! (note: if you have more than one favorite Truck Series driver, please consider getting some more fresh air.)

Drivers listed in order of their expected finishing order—part-time drivers not listed.

WILY VETERAN TIER—drivers with a few years or more under their belts

#98 Grant Enfinger (106 National Series Starts)  Last year was a breakout year for Enfinger, posting four wins and making the final round of the playoffs.  But at age 35, he only has 10-15 years—maybe 18 if he’s lucky—to win a championship.

#13 Johnny Sauter (581 National Series Starts)  You read that right—over 500 starts in Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks for Sauter over the years.  Feel old yet?  Well if you don’t try this on for size—some day, we’re ALL gonna see Chase Elliott as a “wily veteran driver”.

#16 Austin Hill (107 National Series Starts)  With six wins in the past two seasons who says you can’t compete as a single car/truck team?  Ok, the past 25 years, but that’s all!

#45 Brett Moffitt (158 National Series Starts)  Brett attempts both the Xfinity and Truck Series full-time schedules.  And you can be sure that if there’s a scheduling conflict, Parker Kligerman will be there to substitute.

#88 Matt Crafton (484 National Series Starts)  With 476 of those starts coming in the Truck Series, Matt Crafton in the 88 ThorSport truck’s been about as sure a thing as there’s been in Nascar.  Well, besides that one year he ran for Kevin Harvick then inexplicably got replaced by Ron Hornaday Jr.

#52 Stewart Friesen (93 National Series Starts)  Friesen hopes to rebound from a disappointing year in which he failed to win and skipped a Truck Series race for a local short-track event.  Sure he won, but that's like skipping a Division 1 college football game to dominate a seven-on-seven flag football game.

#99 Ben Rhodes (129 National Series Starts)  While he hasn’t lit the world on fire, he has family sponsorship so just get used to him being a Truck Series driver.  Sorry Tyler Dippel, Todd Gilliland, Christian Eckes, and Josh Bilicki.

#38 Todd Gilliland (71 National Series Starts)  Todd has officially crossed-over from Young Gun to Wily Veteran.  I base that decision on...well, not much, but believe me, its a compliment.

#25 Timothy Peters (257 National Series Starts)  An old Truck Series standby returns to full-time competition with a brand-new team, the awkwardly-named Rackley WAR.  Kinda odd when your team already sounds like its been through a few mergers before its run a race.

#40 Ryan Truex (155 National Series Starts)  Despite failing to post a win in 150+ starts, Truex gets a shot in one of the series’ most-improving teams.  Nice to see the brother of a Cup Series champion get a fair shake once in a while, huh?

#3 Jordan Anderson (137 National Series Starts)  Jordan continues to get more publicity than some Cup drivers despite running mid-pack for his own independent team.  Just goes to show you that when you want to seem big as a giant when you’re 4’8’’, hire a PR agent.

#20 Spencer Boyd (91 National Series Starts)  Boyd matched his car number for his points finish last year.  Hey Spencer—#1 IS available, just sayin.

#22 Austin Wayne Self (107 National Series Starts)  The Man With a Serial Killer Name left Niece Motorsports to return to his own family operation.  Boy, that seems kinda regretful in retrospect.

#04 Cory Roper (27 National Series Starts)  While Cory hasn't made that many starts in Nascar his age of 43 puts him squarely in the "veteran" group.  Hopefully this year he can find enough funding to run a full schedule...and find the missing "E" for his first name.

YOUNG GUN TIER—drivers just starting out in Nascar.

#21 Zane Smith (34 National Series Starts)  Smith had a solid first year in the Trucks, and is Spade Racing’s odds-on favorite to win the 2021 championship.  By typing that, anyone who places that bet is legally bound to give me 10% of their winnings.

#2 Sheldon Creed (55 National Series Starts)  A champion at age 23, Creed returns to the series’ top team where the only real competition is from his teammates.  Kinda like being in sales.

#23 Chase Purdy (R) (9 National Series Starts)  Purdy gets a plum full-season ride with GMS Racing for his rookie campaign.  By the way that’s what the (R) means, not “Relegated”, “Restart-addled” or “Rodney Combs Fanclub Member”.

#17 Halie Deegan (R) (1 National Series Start)  Deegan seems to be the total package—legit driving talent, a winning pedigree, and sponsor appeal.  While that’s led to a Ford development deal AND a DGR Truck Series ride, its also led to hundreds of creepy old man fans.  Yeesh.

#42 Carson Hocevar (9 National Series Starts)  Carson’s overcome a lot on his way to a full-time Niece Motorsports ride.  No, not coming up through Nascar in the middle of a pandemic—dealing with having a last name that spellcheck constantly autocorrects to “However”.

#18 Chandler Smith (R) (16 National Series Starts)  Smith finished strong last year with five top-fives in his last six starts.  A Rookie of the Year title could mean more exposure…even if that exposure is just answering the same damn media questions every weekend about his team owner Kyle Busch.

#26 Tyler Ankrum (45 National Series Starts)  One year after a cinderella playoff berth Ankrum had a solid if not spectacular sophomore season.  Time will tell if he pours it on 2021 to establish himself as a future talent, or if he winds up running for second-rate equipment with fake-sounding sponsors like “Meltdown Ice Cream”, “NRG Caffeine Injections”, or “Singer Sewing Machines”.

#19 Derek Kraus (28 National Series Starts)  Kraus showed flashes of brilliance last year, but flashes don’t get you much in this world.  Well, besides 40 hours community service.

#11 Spencer Davis (23 National Series Starts)  Spencer Davis will be attempting to run his first-ever full-time Truck Series schedule with his own team.  I'm guessing he's so glad he made it, so glad he made it...

#12 Tate Fogelman (26 National Series Starts)  Fogelman returns for his sophomore effort while simultaneously going for his business degree in college.  A word of advice, Tate--take one statistics course and then RUN!

#02 Kris Wright (R) (1 National Series Start)  Wright, the latest young gun driver for Young's Motorsports, has a lot in common with Dale Jarrett.  Well, by "a lot" I mean they're both decent amateur golfers.

#41 Dawson Cram (17 National Series Starts)  This family run operation is planning on attempting the full season.  So that should net them at least one cloying pre-race feature on FS1.

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK TIER—John Hunter Nemechek

#4 John Hunter Nemechek (192 National Series Starts)  Why did JHN leave a steady if not spectacular Front Row Motorsports ride to return to the Truck Series?  We may never know, but he’s in a tier all his own now.

Spade Racing 2021 Season Previews: Three Series, Three Categories (well, nine total) PART 2: Xfinity

Now more than ever there’s a pretty solid caste system in Nascar—Championship Contenders, Race Win Contenders, and Independents.  Who fits in where?  Who will be making the 2021 Playoffs?  And will there be any races anywhere that Timmy Hill doesn’t compete in?  That’s what this preview is for!

Check out the three tiers of Xfinity Competition—Cup Affiliates, Strong Independents, and Backmarkers—and figure out if this is FINALLY the last year of Kyle Busch in the series.

Teams listed in order of overall “power rankings”, then drivers listed in order of expected finish within them, full time then part time.  *—new driver

TIER 1—Cup Affiliated Teams: These teams are either owned by a Cup team or operate in close tandem with one.

1. JOE GIBBS RACING (20 Harrison Burton, 18 *Daniel Hemric, 19 Brandon Jones, 54 Kyle Busch et al).  With Chase Briscoe promoted to Cup this year could see JGR be an all-conquering force in the Xfinity Series.  And with a maturing Harrison Burton, two solid Xfinity regulars, and the always dangerous Rowdy, there’s not much of a reason to expect them not to be.  Gulp.  FUN FACT—Kyle Busch said that if he wins 100 Xfinity Series races on his career (he’s at 97 now), he’ll retire permanently from the series.  So for the first time ever, we could ALL be rooting for Rowdy.

2. TEAM PENSKE (22 Austin Cindric).  While Cindric holds the best chance of competing with the Gibbs juggernaut, you gotta figure that with a 2022 Cup ride all but guaranteed, he’ll be spending most of 2021 testing the Next Gen Cup car.  Then again, too much testing COULD lead to unforeseen problems like, uh, well, hand cramping?  FUN FACT—Austin’s scheduled to run a few Cup races for seasoning this year.  So we’ll all pretend that the Wood Bros. car isn’t just the fourth Penske entry those weekends.

3. JR MOTORSPORTS (7 Justin Allgaier, 9 Noah Gragson, 1 Michael Annett, 8 Sam Mayer, Josh Berry, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.).  The Hendrick Motorsports-JR Motorsports partnership (they co-own the team) has proven fruitful, and all three full-time drivers return minus any change—even sponsorship is steady.  Much better than those days where it seemed like about a dozen guys ran that Navy car, huh?  FUN FACT—the 8 car features all three aspects of the Nascar Developmental System—a young inexperienced teenager (Sam Mayer), a more-seasoned late-model pro (Josh Berry), and an unknown with virtually zero fanbase (Dale Earnhardt Jr.).

4. KAULIG RACING (11 Justin Haley, 10 *Jeb Burton 16 AJ Allmendinger).  Kaulig Racing has made them most of its solid affiliation with RCR (they’re based on the RCR campus).  With Ross Chastain getting the #42 Cup ride, and Justin Haley a prime candidate for the #1 Cup ride, who knew that an RCR feeder team would feed to Chip Ganassi Racing?  FUN FACT—Chastain is expected to return for some races, presumably in a fourth car or, if necessary, as a substitute.  Either way the most exciting part of any Kaulig race win will still be seeing if it passes post-race inspection.

5. STEWART-HAAS RACING with BIAGI DENBESTE (98 * Riley Herbst).  The 98 was a dominant force in 2020 with Chase Briscoe, who got promoted up to Cup.  Now there’s a new driver with new sponsorship who’s going to shake things up—hopefully more in the metaphorical sense than smashing the car into the wall.  FUN FACT—Riley Herbst is the only driver for whom being called “Terrible” is a compliment.

6. RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING (2 Myatt Snyder, 21—???).  RCR scales back to a full-time schedule for one car alone in 2021.  And with Myatt being the son of Marty Snider, technically this continues the streak of RCR only hiring legacy kids.  FUN FACT—Slayer sponsoring a car is bad, but TaxSlayer is ok.  Huh.

TIER 2—Somewhat competitive teams with limited resources.

7. OUR MOTORSPORTS (02 Brett Moffitt, 03 various drivers).  Brand-new last year, this little outfit came out of nowhere to run competitively almost every week.  Having Brett Moffitt full-time this year could see them take a step forward in the car number made famous by such luminaries as Hermie Sadler, young Mark Martin, and original hair Ryan Newman.  FUN FACT—The “Our” in Our Motorsports refers to team owner Chris Our, not to be confused with pirate-themed race team Arr Motorsports.

Tier 2.5--Could post
a few top-tens, could
leave for another series
after three races, could be
banned for life
?. SAM HUNT RACING
(26 Santino Ferrucci)

8. RSS MOTORSPORTS (39 Ryan Sieg, 38 ?, 93 ?).  Nascar’s Official Underdog continues to put up solid results on a shoestring budget.  A reminder that “shoestring budget” means spending a very minimal amount, NOT paying for things with old shoestrings.  I learned THAT the hard way.  FUN FACT—this team receives engines and chassis from RCR, but doesn’t get any tuning or test track info with them.  Its like buying an expensive Lego set on deal because it doesn’t come with an instruction manual.

9. JEREMY CLEMENTS RACING (51 Jeremy Clements).  This long-running single-car team will need new sponsorship after losing Repairable Vehicles.  Who knows what generic fake-sounding company will take their place?  Associated Services?  The Company Company?  FUN FACT—JCR has competed in 339 Xfinity Series races going into this season with one race win.  That level of success is comparable to me asking girls out on dates.

10. BRANDONBILT MOTORSPORTS (68 Brandon Brown).  Its unknown if this team will run its “B-team” car the #86 next year, although you can be sure that any of this team’s cars will have a cartoon bird on the side.  FUN FACT—Making the playoffs is a major accomplishment for this team.  Next up on the goals hierarchy is “making the playoffs and not having it be a surprise”.

11. JDM w/GARY KELLER (15 Colby Howard, 0 Jeffrey Earnhardt, 4 *Landon Cassill, 6 Ryan Vargas).  Always good for a longshot drive to a Playoff berth, JD Motorsports returns with what I can only assume will be really red paint schemes.  FUN FACT—Now that Flex Seal doesn’t seem to be involved with the team, how will they repair the boats they sawed in half?

12. SS-GREEN LIGHT RACING (08 Joe Graf Jr., 07 ???).  While this small, independent team has yet to visit victory lane in the Xfinity Series, their team owner Bobby Dotter was cool with me when I met him, so there’s that.  FUN FACT—time will tell if Ray Black Jr. runs any races for them this year, allowing Michael Waltrip to make plenty of diving puns.

13. DGM RACING (92 Josh Williams, 90 ???, 36 Alex Labbe).  The Canadian Invasion has been, well, pretty tame, as this team continues to show up and occasionally contend.  Polite and unassuming—just like a Canadian, eh?  FUN FACT—Alex Labbe’s pre-race Facebook Live feeds are my weekly reminder that I didn’t learn anything in three years of high school French.

14. HATTORI RACING ENTERPRISES (61 Austin Hill, ???).  HRE is really the only non-JGR Toyota team to even threaten for top-tens, but their lack of a full-time program has them at the bottom of Tier 2.  FUN FACT—nobody other than me cares about where HRE ranks on this website.

TIER 3—Typically just trying to survive.

15. MARTINS MOTORSPORTS (44 Tommy Joe Martins)

16. B.J. MCLEOD MOTORSPORTS (5 Matt Mills, 78 *Jesse Little, 99 various drivers)

17. MBM RACING (49 ???, 66 ???)

18. JIMMY MEANS RACING (52 *Gray Gaulding)

19. RICK WARE RACING (17 ???, ? ???)

20. MIKE HARMON RACING (47 Kyle Weatherman, 74 Bayley Currey)

So if we’re being honest, none of these teams have a shot to win outside of a plate track or a rainy road course with a ringer.  But if we’re NOT being honest, all of these teams represent the spirit of racing in Nascar, real throwbacks to the early days of the sport, made up of men trying their best just to make an impact.  FUN FACT—each of these teams has a Facebook page with at least one frequent commenter who seems determined to point out that they do, in fact, suck.

Spade Racing 2021 Season Previews: Three Series, Three Categories (well, nine total) PART 1: Cup

Now more than ever there’s a pretty solid caste system in Nascar—Championship Contenders, Race Win Contenders, and Independents.  Who fits in where?  Who will be making the 2021 Playoffs?  And will there be any races anywhere that Timmy Hill doesn’t compete in?  That’s what this preview is for!

Read further to see who will outperform their equipment, who will disappoint, and what team will constantly get lapped every week (hint: rhymes with “Nick Bare”).

CUP SERIES

Drivers listed in predicted order of regular season points finish—teams expected to run the full-time schedule (or capable of doing so) only.

Ranking. Car #—Driver (Team—biggest sponsor/sponsors)

TIER ONE—Championship Contenders

1. 11—Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing—FedEx)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: A bunch of wins and a regular season title, but at this point you gotta figure Denny just wants to skip the regular season and redeem himself in the Playoffs.  Well, that and eliminate pit road speeding penalties.

Team chart--click to enlarge

2. 18—Kyle Busch (JGR—M&M’s/Interstate)  CHANGES: New crew chief.  PREDICTION: The bounce back year of all bounce backs as Kyle Busch earns a new nickname—The Rubber Band Man (copyright 2021 Moxoc Media all rights reserved).

3. 4—Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing—Mobil 1/Busch)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Harvick has revenge on his mind in 2021 for last season’s disappointing finish.  This is shaping up to be a good revenge story, like Taken, and not a bad revenge story, like anything with Charles Bronson.

4. 22—Joey Logano (Team Penske—Shell/Pennzoil)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: One of the steadiest contenders over the past few years, Joey is the kind of guy broadcasters call “a good little driver”, but I will be respectful and call him “a good driver of average size for his profession”.

5. 5—Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports—???)  CHANGES: New driver, new sponsors, new car number (this was the 88 team).  PREDICTION: Look for Kyle Larson to give Chase Elliott a run for his money as the top HMS/Chevy driver thanks to a car that’s changed very little.  As for sponsorship, be prepared to see lots of HendrickCars.com, Hendrick Chevrolet, and Rick Hendrick’s Lemonade Stand.

6. 2—Brad Keselowski (Penske—Discount Tire)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Look for BradK to perform in a contract year.  While it should get him a nice extension (or a good deal with another team), hopefully his boss won’t use his grace under pressure as an excuse to give him constant one-year deals.

7. 19—Martin Truex Jr. (JGR—Bass Pro Shops/Auto-Owners)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Truex was a little under-the-radar in 2020.  Expect a similar 2.5 win regular season in 2021 (the half coming from fuel mileage, a plate track, or taking advantage of a JTG-D car spinning out).

8. 9—Chase Elliott (HMS—NAPA)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Chase might not light up the track in the regular season, but he’s money in the playoffs.  Well, unless he has two out of three below-average races, because that’s the system we have.

9. 3—Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing—Dow)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: RCR continues its comeback story with some well-timed strategy calls for Austin Dillon.  Because last time I checked, a win on pit strategy still counted as a win.

10. 1—Kurt Busch (Chip Ganassi Racing—Monster)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Kurt keeps overachieving in what could be his final full season.  Kurt Busch is old enough to be retiring—let that sink in for one depressing minute.

11. 12—Ryan Blaney (Penske—the usual gang of sponsors)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Yep, its looking like another regular season of Penske, Gibbs, and Kevin Harvick dominance.  But this time, Blaney joins in the fun (note: fun not guaranteed your level of glee may vary).

12. 48—Alex Bowman (HMS—Ally)  CHANGES: New driver and crew chief.  PREDICTION: The steady improvement of HMS paired with a maturing Alex Bowman means he could be a trendy dark horse pick for the Cup Championship.  Good for him—better than being known as “that guy who replaced Dale Jr.”, “that guy who replaced Jimmie Johnson”, or “that guy who got splashed by Bubba Wallace”.

TIER TWO—Race Win Contenders

13. 10—Aric Almirola (SHR—Smithfield)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: SHR has seemed a little bit like “Happy Harvick and The Rest” for the past few years, but if AA doesn’t turn it around (and I think he will), he may find himself forced to fall back on his other skill set—arguing with Brian Scott.

14. 20—Christopher Bell (JGR—Rheem/Stanley)  CHANGES: New driver, new crew chief.  PREDICTION: Its put up or shut up time for C.Bell, but his career has shown his consistent ability to “put up” when needed.  Plus nobody likes a driver who’s always quiet.

15. 41—Cole Custer (SHR—Haas Automation)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Could there be a sophomore slump?  Yes.  Could Cole “build the notebook” and win again?  Yes.  Could the Haas F1 team avoid finishing in last place?  No.

16. 24—William Byron (HMS—Axalta/Liberty U)  CHANGES: New crew chief.  PREDICTION: Even with Chad Knaus getting promoted expect William Byron to “point” his way into the playoffs, although it’ll be interesting to see if Chad tells any of his engineers that “if we win, I’m gonna need you to wreck your laptop”.

17. 21—Matt DiBenedetto (Penske—Menards/Motorcraft)  CHANGES: Austin Cindric to get this ride in 2022.  PREDICTION: You can see it now—post-race of the last regular season race.  Matty D has missed the playoffs by a single point.  He’s tearing up, openly questioning what the future holds for him.  …and he probably winds up at Front Row or something.

18. 6—Ryan Newman (Roush Fenway Racing—Oscar Mayer/Wyndam)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Let’s be honest—Newman could blow an engine in the Duels, get caught speeding on pit road in the 500, and come home the last car running and it would STILL be preferable to how the opening of his 2020 went.

19. 42—Ross Chastain (Ganassi—Credit One)  CHANGES: New driver.  PREDICTION: Chastain’s like he’s a rookie.  But he’s really not.  Yet, a tough year awaits him.  …Garth, that was a haiku!

20. 14—Chase Briscoe (R) (SHR—High Point/Haas Automation)  CHANGES: New driver, new lead sponsor.  PREDICTION: Chase is all but guaranteed the 2021 Cup Rookie of the Year award, putting him in such rarified air as Johnny Benson and Stephen Leicht.  So there’s that.

21. 17—Chris Buescher (RHR—Fastenal/FifthThird)  CHANGES: None.  Is it the driver or the car?  Its hard to tell, but unless he wins a plate race, he’ll likely miss the playoffs by a lot.  What’s that?  Oh, fine—TAPERED SPACER RACE.

22. 8—Tyler Reddick (RCR—Caterpillar)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: If RCR can’t find a way to run two Cup teams consistency, Reddick will likely be the odd-man out.  This is referred to as “being Skinnered”.

23. 23—Bubba Wallace (23XI—Doordash/Dr Pepper)  CHANGES: Completely new team.  PREDICTION: Building a team from the ground up is a difficult task, so 2021 will likely be a year of sussing out who can put up with outsized pressure, constant scrutiny, and having to eat Domino’s on every single late night.

24. 47—Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG-Daugherty—Kroger/Clicklist)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Being this generation’s Todd Bodine isn’t much to write home about.  Then again, most people don’t write home anymore.

TIER THREE—Independents

25. 43—Erik Jones (RPM—CashApp/USAF)  CHANGES: New driver, new sponsorship.  PREDICTION: Some Richard Petty fans are happy that the team is going the “safe route” with a proven, non-controversial driver.  To that end the team will likely improve somewhat from 2020, but nobody else will care.

26. 34—Michael McDowell (Front Row—Love’s)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: 2020 was a step-up for the longtime small-time operation.  But no matter what happens this year, they can always remember one thing—they have the series’ tallest driver.

27. 38—Dale Allen (Front Row—Fox Point/Christina’s Brandy)  CHANGES: New driver and sponsors.  PREDICTION: John Hunter Nemechek gets dislodged for an Xfinity Series driver with no wins just because he has solid sponsorship?  Hard to believe…because I just made all of that up.

27. 38—Anthony Alfredo (R) (Front Row—???, MDS)  CHANGES: New driver.  PREDICTION: People want to know why a driver with only part-time Xfinity experience is now in a Cup ride.  Including me.

28. 99—Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse—???) CHANGES: Completely new team.  PREDICTION: Its going to be a tough road ahead for Nascar’s OTHER new team, but there is hope.  Hope that they use the theme to Nickelodeon’s Roundhouse for driver intros, but hope nonetheless.

29. 37—Ryan Preece (JTG-D—Kroger/vendor partners)  CHANGES: None.  PREDICTION: Ryan Preece is looking more and more like the modern version of David Gilliland—and he doesn’t even get a cool M&M’s car out of it.

30. 7—Corey LaJoie (Spire—???)  CHANGES: New driver, new team.  PREDICTION: By getting in on the (relative) ground floor of a newish team, Corey could be the next Martin Truex Jr.  Or he could be the next Ty Dillon.

31. 77—??? (Spire—???)  CHANGES: New driver(s).  PREDICTION: Who knows what will happen here, but we can be pretty confident that somehow Justin Haley will randomly lead a race at Daytona or Talladega.

32-35.  15, 51, 52, 53 (RWR—???)  CHANGES: a-plenty.  PREDICTIONS: As usual not much is known about the four Rick Ware Racing entries.  And as usual, other than the occasional late-race caution, not much of an impact is expected.

36. 96—??? (Gaunt Bros.—???)  CHANGES: new driver, may run part-time.  PREDICTIONS: The Gaunt Bros. are a lot like the Wood Bros.  That is, if you look at the Wood Bros. about 15 years ago when they were running with Ken Schrader.

37. 78—BJ McLeod (Live Fast—Keen)  CHANGES: New team.  PREDICTIONS: Not much is known about this team that purchased the GoFas charter will run, but rest assured that their team leader BJ McLeod will has the sport’s slickest hair.

38. 00—Quin Hoff (StarCom—???)  CHANGES: New sponsors.  PREDICTIONS: Quin’s got nowhere to go but up.  Unfortunately even THAT looks like a difficult step to take.

39. 49/66—Timmy Hill (MBM—???)  CHANGES: New sponsors.  PREDICTIONS: Timmy ran the most races amongst the three national touring series in 2020.  There—that’s a thing you know now.