After two years with Chevrolet, Dean Thompson will move to Toyota as he joins TRICON Garage for the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. He will pilot the #5 Toyota Tundra TRD.
After back-to-back Irwindale Speedway late model championships, Thompson débuted in the Trucks with Niece Motorsports at the 2021 season finale before elevating to the full 2022 schedule. He finished twenty-third in points with a best run of eleventh at Las Vegas.
“I am thrilled to start the next chapter of my career with TRICON Garage and Toyota Racing Development,” said Thompson. “The team and manufacturer have quickly made a statement in the Truck Series as striving to be the best of the best. I’m ready to take on the challenge and live up to the expectations of being a driver for TRICON.”
TRICON, formerly known as David Gilliland Racing, switched to Toyota from Ford for 2023. By becoming a TRD outfit, the team inherits prospects like Corey Heim from the Chevrolet-bound Kyle Busch Motorsports but will also retain Tanner and Taylor Gray, whose grandfather Johnny co-owns TRICON.
“We’re really excited to welcome Dean into the TRICON programme for 2023,” Gilliland commented. “Our goal is to develop future stars of the sport, and he has all the intangibles of a driver with a long NASCAR career ahead of him. He shares our commitment to growing this team into a premier Truck Series organisation, and we can’t wait to hit the track with him at Daytona.”
