Entering the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, all seemed to be business as usual. There weren’t any major changes to the entry list, no major news or storylines came out of its three-week absence from competition.
Then, a surprising development occurred in the hours leading up to the green flag on Friday, June 28, as it was found out that Faction46, a team formed just before the start of this season, would have a last-minute driver change. Dawson Cram would replace Thad Moffitt in the No. 46 for the race.
Moffitt, one of three Rookie of the Year contenders, took to social media to make a statement, stating the change was due to “circumstances out of my control.”
Moffitt and Faction46, both in year one in the Truck Series, have had less than desirable results. Some were due to bad luck, but by and large it was clear there were growing pains for the startup team and rookie driver.
The team politely declined comment to Frontstretch on the decision to bring Cram in.
Interestingly, the rear windshield of the truck displayed Cram’s last name instead of Moffitt’s – usually, with a last minute driver change, the original driver’s name remains on the rear windshield. That gives the impression that this was a pre-planned driver change that wasn’t announced until hours before the green flag in Nashville.
Cram finished 20th, recovering from a mid-race spin on a restart stack-up. That was Faction46’s second-best finish all year, only behind Moffitt’s 18th-place run at Darlington Raceway.
At a surface-level, this had all the looks of Moffitt and his team, Faction46, parting ways. It seemed that Faction46 bringing Cram in was the equivalent of what AM Racing did in the Xfinity Series when it benched Hailie Deegan in favor of Joey Logano at the Chicago street course. That later led to the announcement that Deegan and AM were parting ways.
This seemed no different. It appeared as if Cram was brought in to test whether the team’s issues were driver- or team-based. Cram’s finish gave the impression that it was a driver-issue and Faction46 would proceed with other funded drivers the rest of the year in hopes of turning its season around.
However, Moffitt did make it known that…
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