Tony Stewart is not the only driver that will be making their debut in the Craftsman Truck Series on February 13; Ricky Stenhouse Jr has signed on with Niece Motorsports to drive the number 45 truck for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
The former O’Reilly Auto Part Series champion and Daytona 500 winner will be in the 45 truck at Daytona and in Atlanta at Echo Park Speedway.
Stenhouse spoke on the opportunity to drive the truck saying, “I’ve always wanted to run a truck, but never had the opportunity to put something together. When Cody (Efaw, Niece’s CEO) called me, I definitely had a lot of interest to see what all they have been building here at Niece Motorsports, especially looking at their level of competition. With it being at Daytona, obviously winning the 500 was awesome, and I’d love to win a Truck Series race there, too. I’ve always wanted to race a truck, but I wanted it to be competitive — and this checks all of those boxes.”
Stenhouse has made a total of 582 starts in NASCAR across the Cup and O’Reilly Parts Series.
Niece Motorsports CEO Cody Efaw spoke on Stenhouse joining the team saying, “we are all very excited to welcome Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to our team for his first time racing in the Truck Series. I’ve known Ricky for several years now dating back to our time at Roush (now RFK Racing), and he’s always been a natural on superspeedways. I believe he will have a true shot at contending for the win at both Daytona and Atlanta.”
Last year Greg Fowler of J.F. Electric and Joh Morris of DQS Solutions & Staffing joined the ownership team at Niece Motorsports.
Greg Fowler also spoke on Stenhouse saying, “Josh Morris and I are thrilled to welcome Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to Niece Motorsports for his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Daytona. There’s no bigger stage for a debut than Daytona, and we believe Ricky gives our team a real opportunity to contend for the win. We’d love nothing more than to be celebrating together in Victory Lane at the end of the race.”