Besides full-timers Carson Hocevar and Lawless Alan, Niece Motorsports will field a multi-driver #41 for the entire 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. Travis Pastrana will kick off the season in the truck at Daytona International Speedway, while others expected to also pilot the #41 include Ross Chastain and his younger brother Chad, as well as Bayley Currey, among others yet to be revealed.
While Pastrana is known for his action sports exploits, he has been eager to dip his feet back into NASCAR since the turn of the decade. This is most notably highlighted by his hopes of making the Daytona 500 and by extension his Cup Series début for 23XI Racing, with the Daytona Truck race taking place two days prior. All five of Pastrana’s Truck starts have come at 1.5-milers, four being at Las Vegas while the exception was at Kansas in 2020. His 2017 and 2020 Truck races all came for Niece, whose general manager Cody Efaw was his crew chief during his lone full season in the Xfinity Series in 2013.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Al (Niece, team owner), Cody, and the Niece Motorsports crew quite a bit since the team was formed,” said Pastrana. “I was looking to be part of as much racing as possible during Daytona Speedweeks this year and couldn’t be happier to have the opportunity to drive their #41 truck with support from WWEX Racing in my first Daytona start in the Truck Series.”
Ross Chastain finished runner-up in the 2019 Truck Series championship with Niece before moving up the ranks and becoming one of Cup Series’ hottest names, especially following his since-banned video game wallride at Martinsville last year en route to a second-place points run. He has continued to race for Niece in the years since graduating to the Xfinity and eventually Cup tiers, scoring a win at Charlotte in the #41 in 2022.
Chad Chastain, who is six years younger, has four Truck starts to his name, all for Niece since 2021. He ran three races in 2022 in the #41 and #44, curiously finishing thirtieth in all of them.
Currey, set to run the full Xfinity season for JD Motorsports for a second year, has run the occasional Truck race for Niece since 2019. In three 2022 starts in the #44, his best finish was fifteenth at Bristol.
“This is shaping up to be a great season for Niece Motorsports,” Efaw stated. “We’re really optimistic heading into this year. We are excited to have Travis in the truck in Daytona. He always brings a lot of energy and excitement, and it’s really an honour to work with him. On top of that, to be able to run the #41 truck full-time this season, anchored by Ross, that’s huge for our organisation.”
The #41 inherits owner points from the #40, which was vacated when Dean Thompson joined TRICON Garage for 2023.
