Jordan Anderson is entrusting his #3 Chevrolet Silverado to J.R. Heffner for 27 March’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt layout. On Thursday, Jordan Anderson Racing announced Heffner will run his first Truck race since 2018 in the #3.
A big block modified racer who primarily competes at Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York, Heffner was regularly tasked with running the Truck Series’ race at Eldora Speedway—then the only dirt race in NASCAR’s national series—from 2013 to 2018. While he failed to qualify in 2013 and crashed out in 2017, he finished eighteenth (2014), fifteenth (2016), and twenty-fourth (2018) in the other. 2014 also saw Heffner run an asphalt race at New Hampshire for MB Motorsports and finish twenty-third.
Although Eldora was removed from the Truck schedule in 2021, the slate gained two new dirt races at Bristol and Knoxville Raceway in July. The team did not confirm if Heffner will also run the Knoxville event.
“I am extremely excited for this opportunity with Jordan Anderson Racing and crew chief Bruce Cook to get back in a NASCAR Camping World Truck on dirt, and of all places at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway,” Heffner stated. “After running the Truck races at Eldora and having some success with it, I feel like I have a handle on the way these heavy trucks handle on the dirt.
“Mix in Bruce Cook’s knowledge and Jordan Anderson’s infrastructure, this is going to be my best opportunity yet. With majority of my success in the Big Blocks coming at the high-banks of the Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York, I am hoping my experience there can easily translate to what the high banks of Bristol is going to offer.”
The New Hampshire Truck start was not Heffner’s lone foray into asphalt stock car competition as he also sporadically competed in what is now the ARCA Menards Series. Between 2007 and 2011, he ran eight races with a best finish of thirteenth at Lucas Oil Raceway in 2011.
Anderson has operated JAR as an owner/driver since 2018, scoring runner-up finishes in the 2020 and 2021 Daytona season openers. Although the team moved to a full-time Xfinity Series schedule in 2021 with Anderson driving, a lack of owner points and rainout at Daytona has resulted in him having yet to run a race in the series. In the meantime, JAR continued Truck racing as Anderson shares the #3 with brothers Roger and Bobby Reuse.
Heffner’s addition will mark the third time that JAR hired a ringer for a dirt race. Ryan Newman and Carson Hocevar drove the #3 at Eldora in 2018 and 2019, respectively; both drivers are also in the field for next Saturday’s Pinty’s Dirt Truck Race, with Newman being a one-off while Hocevar is competing full-time in the Trucks.
“To partner with someone like J.R., who has tons of dirt experience, having him step into our Chevy Silverado with our crew chief Bruce Cook for the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol, gives our team a great opportunity to run up front and come home with a great finish for our program,” Anderson commented.
