The Truck Series is always the most-volatile Nascar series in terms of driver lineups. So instead of listing each DRIVER, I’ll be ranking each TEAM, as well as their expected (or confirmed) rosters for 2023.
NOTE: No part-time teams listed
Teams are listed in their predicted order of points finish. Information provided is as accurate as possible.
Ranking. TEAM, #’s, (Drivers)
Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Multiple Manufacturers
*expected to use multiple drivers
Thanks to Jayski for the info and Wikipedia for the team logos, all of which are property of their respective teams
1. THORSPORT RACING, 13 Hallie Deegan, 66 Ty Majeski, 88 Matt Crafton, 99 Ben Rhodes. The standard-bearer of the Truck Series returns with three bonafide championship contenders (and yes, Matt Crafton is STILL a contender). But there’s two big changes that could affect the team this year—a switch back to Ford as their manufacturer (which shouldn’t affect them that much), and the addition to Hallie Deegan, which COULD weigh the team down with poor performance and wrecks. Note that I have nothing against HD personally, but I also am not one of those creepy Stans who act like a twelfth-place race finish is cause for celebration.
2. FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS, 38 Zane Smith. The Z-Man is the only driver of the Front Row Motorsports Truck Series operation, but he won the championship last year. This just goes to show you that if you have a talented driver, a good relationship with your manufacturer, and you can shuttle off Todd Gilliland to your Cup operation, you don’t need a bunch of trucks to win it all.
3. KYLE BUSCH MOTORSPORTS, 4 Chase Purdy, 51 Jack Wood Kyle Busch and more. For the first time the KBM Truck operation will NOT be affiliated with Toyota, as Rowdy’s move to RCR dictated a switch to Chevrolet. And don’t worry oldsters—there was ZERO chance of RCR becoming a Toyota team, so feel free to go on whining about how much Nascar’s changed even though it really hasn’t.
4. GMS MOTORSPORTS, 23 Grant Enfinger, 24 Rajah Caruth, 43 Daniel Dye. GMS is always a solid contender in the Truck Series, but they’ll have their hands full with a pair of rookies joining veteran Grant Enfinger. Here’s hoping they can live up to the lofty standards set by the team’s flagship star driver, Spencer Gallagher.
5. NIECE MOTORSPORTS, 40 ???, 42 Carson Hocevar, 44 ???, 45 ???. Niece would likely be higher on this list if they had their driver lineup set a bit earlier. But you can expect that Carson Hocevar and his teammates will contend for the Playoffs and be on the edge of legality in inspection.
6. TRICON Garage, 5 Dean Thompson, 11 Corey Heim, 15 Tanner Gray, 17 Taylor Gray and more. The former DGR operation switched to Toyota, becoming their top team almost by default. A roster of young drivers could put this team at a competitive disadvantage, but at least they all have a clear path towards Denny Hamlin whining about them being rumored to take his ride.
7. HATTORI RACING ENTERPRISES, 16 ???, 61 ???. HRE has quietly grown from an independent into arguably the second-best Toyota team, which is nothing to sneeze at. Here’s hoping they fill these rides with a veteran driver and a rookie—or as I like to call it, “The 80’s Buddy Cop Combo”.
8. HALMAR FRIESEN RACING, 52 Stewart Friesen. Slow and steady has been the improvement of the Canadian dirt-track standout and his team. And while they might not quite be a championship contender yet, you know they’ll bring their Eh-game. And yes, I have no shame for making that joke almost every year.
9. MCANALLY-HILGEMANN RACING, 19 Christian Eckes, 35 Jake Garcia (except Daytona). This mid-level team is primed to take a big step forward in 2023 with both a veteran (Eckes) and a rookie (Garcia), both backed with solid sponsorship. Speaking of sponsorship its nice to see NAPA expanding their sponsorship beyond Cup, and for that we’ll all agree to forget the whole Michael Waltrip thing in gratitude.
10. Rackley WAR, 25 Matt DiBenedetto. Its tough to be an independent team in any series, but this newer team has risen to the challenge. So good on them, even though Matty D is still bitter about his Cup Series experience.
11. REV RACING, 2 Nick Sanchez. This stalwart of Nascar’s regional series makes the move to the national stage with promising rookie Nick Sanchez. And its only in Nascar that you’ll see this happen—you’ll never see a random minor league basketball team move up to the G-League.
12. AM RACING, 22 ???. A Truck Series competitor since 2015, they’ll also be fielding an Xfinity Series ride in 2023. How will that affect the Truck operation? Well, hopefully they’ll give me something more to write about for next season.
13. YOUNG’S MOTORSPORTS, 12 Spencer Boyd. At this point its tough to find ANYTHING to write about, so just let me take this time to mention how much I enjoy tortellini.
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