Looking Back: 2 Years since my NASCAR Truck Series Debut
2022 was a whirlwind year for a lot of people in NASCAR, myself included, and for everyone wondering basically what ever happened to your favorite (or least favorite) one-offs in NASCAR for the yearly dirt truck race, here is my story on that, and it is a LONG one.
Going into 2022, I had no idea what my plans were as far as racing. I had been racing super dirt late models (albeit with mediocre success) across the midwest and Outlaw Figure 8 Late Models at my local asphalt home track, the Indianapolis Speedrome, a small 1/5 bullring on the east side of Indy. I had never once thought there would even a possibility of 2022 being a career defining year for me, I had always wanted to race in NASCAR, but the funding was never there, when I say we ran a lot of stuff on a budget, I meant a budget. I typically build all of our own late model motors out of junkyard LS's, some with 300,000+ miles on them, run older/hand-me-down equipment, and would rarely get a new set of sticker tires for a weekend.
Late December of 2021, basically through TikTok, I had learned of a small family-ran ARCA team out of Virginia that was looking for some drivers to come down and do the annual ARCA Daytona test in January. At the time we had no intentions whatsoever of running ARCA, nor did we have ambitions, I never personally thought I would make it to that level, it would just be something really really cool to say we did and if I got approval we could even maybe look at running some ARCA races later in the season. I reached out to the team and by the end of the December (less than a 10 day turnaround) I had a piece of paper saying we were going to test at Daytona. Testing went really well, we ended up I believe 35th out of 60+ drivers, and got a ton of experience in the draft and at speeds I was never really used to. We ended up working out a deal with the team to come back the nexth month to the World Center of Racing and compete in the ARCA Daytona race that year with Mullins Racing. I remember going into it, I had text from friends and competitors alike, wishing safety upon me, and upon my competition as I was going to wreck the field, put someone in an ambulance, etc etc, (I have probably only been in 3-4 accidents while racing in the past 4 years up to that point, none of them being my fault). To be honest, it really hurt, but I went out there and ran a perfect race, there was about a 13-14 car breakaway for the lead late in the race and I was right in the middle of it, with some luck I think we could have actually won the race. Nonetheless, a late race wreck and a restart shuffled us back to just inside the top-15 where we finished without a scratch, most people can't ask for a better debut than that.
Growing up watching NASCAR, I had always loved the NASCAR Dirt Truck race at Eldora, and with my dirt experience, there's nothing more I would to do love more than that. Unfortunately, it was moved to Knoxville for 2021-2022. At the time, we had a little extra funding leftover from Daytona and got in touch with Josh Reaume over at Reaume Brothers Racing, one of the smallest teams in the truck series. Just a couple of months before the race we went to Mooresville, North Carolina, met the team and Josh for the first time, and signed the paperwork. It was a very surreal experience, getting fitted in the car, going to Circle Track Warehouse to buy a used SFI racing seat since a custom one would've been very pricey, meeting a ton of people who I still call friends today and more.
Talladega rolled around for ARCA, I had a spectacular wreck where I got turned and ramped over at 180 miles an hour, cool story bro. With having an onboard camera for this race, and not really getting any mentions during Daytona, this wreck was my catalyst to being introduced to the NASCAR world and its fanbase. At this time we had the paperwork signed for Knoxville, we just had not made it public yet. I remember people saying that the Talladega wreck (Despite it not being my fault at all) would ruin me and my career and I shouldn't be shocked if I never heard from anyone at that level again. So we shortly announced my NASCAR Truck Series debut a little bit afterwards, but we knew it wouldn't be easy.
In 2022, the Truck Series was frequently sending home DNQ's, and with Reaume being one of the smaller teams, they were not high up in the Owner Point standings by any means and with Knoxville being so goofy ahh, we did NOT want to rely on a provisional at all. Race weekend rolls around, I've got a clean firesuit, pepperoni pizza helmet is cleaned, and a plethora of Casey's Pizzas between me and the racetrack, life was good. All we did Friday was have practice, we were one of the last teams to roll out and by then the track had gone dry slick pretty quickly and by no means were we setting the world on fire. We were towards the VERY bottom of the list as far as quickest laps, but because almost the entire field set a quick lap when the track was fine, we were still able to actually have decent race pace and set times similar to the rest of the field on the same track.
For the dirt races, they set the starting lineup via heat races and a points system which gave you a point for every truck you passed and points for your finishing position. Because of 38 trucks and 4 heat races, 2 heat races would only have 9 trucks instead of 10 trucks, meaning less points available for passing, but you can technically only finish 9th and automatically beat the 2 guys that finished 10th in the other heats. Basically, you did not want to be in one of the first 2 heat races with 10 trucks. I was in the NASCAR Hauler basically just standing there in my underwear getting weighed (first time driver thing) when they had the lineups made and posted them in there, this was about an hour or so before it was actually shared with the teams. It was a little bit lucky but unlucky, we ended up being in the first heat race with 10 trucks, by we were starting dead last, which meant if we could just pass one truck we wouldn't be in a bad position at all. However, I noticed Norm Benning was starting right beside me, one of my heroes. I was going to have to race one of my biggest heroes if I wanted to make the show, and Norm was already in a go or go-home situation. I remember some of the guys from the team was telling me whatever I did, I could not let Norm rough me up and beat me for the spot, they didn't care if I destroyed the truck in the process racing side by side, as long as we got the transfer spot in the end (basically what Norm had done many years earlier at Eldora)
Heat races rolled around, Norm had a great jump however his truck built very very tight throughout the first couple of laps. I quickly rolled him in, without making any contact I was able to make the pass and ended up finishing 9th, and didn't even get lapped in the process (upset a lot of people with that one) We knew we weren't exactly safe yet depending how everything played out but we liked our odds. I remember getting out and getting some cheers and high-fives for the crew but was devastated knowing I had just knocked Norm out of the show. While most drivers went back and relaxed, I went down to Turn 1 and watched the final 3 heat races from the infield bleachers there and followed live updates on Twitter/X as people were putting together passing points and results to "Build the Grid" and finally after the 3rd Heat Race I believe we knew we were locked in, and with that a huge sigh of relief, I would be officially starting 31st in my first ever NASCAR Truck Series race.
Overall race was very boring for us, no major wrecks like the previous year (other than Jessica Friesen flipping), we only lost 1 lap I believe through the 1st stage and stayed out to get the wave around, we ended up overheating a little bit and having battery issues so I had to back my pace down quite a bit, but by the end of the night we were still out there only a couple of laps down and was one of only about three trucks to finish without a single scratch on the truck. Josh Reaume said in years of owning trucks, this was the cleanest he had ever seen one after the dirt race, and he was very happy to say that too. Officially credited with a P27 finish and running at the end, for a small team like that, that was a huge victory. Next up on our docket, the truck race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, the truck series was returning to my hometown and I would be able to put on a show for all my hometown fans... until I wasn't. Despite finishing the race with no damage, never really touching anyone, and didn't do anything stupid, my NASCAR approval was rejected to race in the truck race at IRP that year. (Despite having 150+ short track starts on asphalt since 2012ish in go karts, street stocks, hornets, school buses, and Outlaw Figure 8 Late Models) Brett Bodine and the driver approval board did not wish for me to make my NASCAR Truck "Asphalt" debut during the playoffs, while heartbroken, I completely understood where they were coming from. So my return to the truck series would have to wait, and that is basically where we are at today, still waiting to return. Since then I have still been racing regionally, but been making a name for myself in the ARCA Menards Series running with smaller teams, but still getting a lot of great seat time I otherwise couldn't get anywhere else. I am still actively trying to get back to the truck series, and have since received approval for bigger tracks in truck competition thanks to my runs in the ARCA platform. To be honest, the biggest thing why I haven't been back is the same reason a lot of drivers never make it there at all, funding. I don't have a blank check sitting with my dad, uncle, grandma, etc just waiting for me. Almost every sponsor or source of funding I've had over the years, especially since the Knoxville race, has been someone just wanting to help out or been by me cold-calling/emailing and building that relationship.
I would love to get back to the truck series or any national NASCAR series, but the reality of it is, I am content with not making it back. Trust me, I am trying my hardest to try and get the funding and build the relationships, while also working full time, and somewhat trying to get an education, but at the end of the day I made it to a level I never thought I would make it to in racing, and a level that many people dream of making it to. For that, I will forever be grateful for that and could retire tomorrow at the age of 21 and be content with my career, since I never intended for it to make it this far to begin with.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have about this and I'd be happy to answer them.
TLDR: I made a truck start on this date 2 years ago and you probably forgot about it