There are several full-time entries this season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series that you could classify as an “all-star truck,” or a truck that features a rotation of drivers throughout the season.
These trucks are more so opportunities for drivers to make one-offs and gain experience in the Truck Series, all while going out to compete for good finishes and helping that truck number finish the best it can in the owner’s points.
These trucks include the TRICON Garage No. 1, the Spire Motorsports No. 7, the Reaume Brothers Racing No. 22, the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 91 and the Niece Motorsports No. 45.
Despite these rotational rides featuring as many as eight drivers, some of those rides still have one driver who serves as the truck’s primary driver.
For example, by season’s end, MHR’s No. 91 will have had five different drivers sit in its seat. That doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that Jack Wood will have been in the truck for 14 of the 23 races on the year. That leaves four drivers with nine races to split between them. Zane Smith got the most with four, while Corey Day will get two. Vicente Salas and Connor Hall got one start apiece.
The same can be said for Niece’s No. 45 truck. Four drivers will have contested the 23-race season in the truck. However, Johnny Sauter only got two races in the truck, while Connor Mosack got three and Ross Chastain five.
So who got the other 13 races?
That would be Niece Motorsports’ next big talent. At least, he should be.
Kaden Honeycutt has seemingly found a home with Niece after spending the first two seasons of his Truck Series career jumping between several different teams (including a one-off with Niece in 2023). He joined forces with Niece this season for a part-time campaign, in which it was announced he would share the No. 45 with the aforementioned Sauter, Mosack and Chastain.
However, I don’t think anyone saw a scenario in which he would compete in over half the season with the team, but here we are.
Maybe it was always supposed to be that way. Niece has announced its No. 45 driver on a race-by-race basis, so we never really got any schedule for any of the drivers. All we knew entering the season was that Sauter would open the season at Daytona International Speedway and Chastain could contest no more than five races since he’s a NASCAR Cup Series driver.
Honeycutt may also have a higher ceiling than Mosack, which is why he’s…
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