With his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Alex Bowman recovering from a fractured vertebra, Kyle Larson will take his place in the #7 Chevrolet Silverado RST of Spire Motorsports for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on 20 May.
Besides serving in relief duty, the start is intended to provide Larson with some track experience before the Cup Series’ NASCAR All-Star Race the following day.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to run the Truck race at North Wilkesboro next weekend with Spire Motorsports,” said Larson. “It’s a shame that Alex won’t be able to compete. We wish him a speedy recovery so he can return to the track soon. Since I’ve never raced at North Wilkesboro, I think it could be beneficial to get some additional laps in at the track. I’m looking forward to double duty All-Star weekend.”
Larson will make his first Truck start since the 2021 Bristol Dirt Race, where he crashed out for Niece Motorsports. Unlike in the Xfinity and Cup Series, he has never run a full Truck schedule, making at most four starts as a 20-year-old prospect in 2012. He has two Truck wins at Rockingham in 2013 and Eldora three years later.
In his main series, Larson is currently eighth in points with a pair of wins at Richmond and Martinsville. His Hendrick team-mates have all made starts in Spire’s #7, with William Byron winning in his lone race with them at Martinsville in 2022.
The #7 has entered four races so far in 2023 with Bowman, Corey LaJoie, and Jonathan Davenport. Bowman failed to qualify in his lone attempt at COTA when his wheel came off during qualifying. Davenport holds its best finish of the year of fourteenth at Bristol.
Byron will also use the North Wilkesboro Truck race to prepare for the All-Star, as will Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace at Toyota.
