The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will hit Daytona International Speedway for the first event of the season on Friday, Feb. 14. The Valentine’s Day season opener currently has 41 trucks vying for its 32 slots, meaning nine will fail to make the field barring any changes to the entry list.
Full-time rosters for major teams remain the same, including ThorSport Racing and GMS Racing (four trucks each).
Niece Motorsports will field three trucks attempting the race – Ross Chastain in the No. 40, Natalie Decker in the No. 44, and Ty Majeski in the No. 45. Decker is the team’s newest addition and Daytona will be the first of her eight races in 2020.
The series’ full-time rookies include Majeski at Niece, Raphaël Lessard and Christian Eckes for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Zane Smith (GMS Racing) and Tanner Gray (DGR-Crosley).
Those drivers, alongside Derek Kraus (McAnally-Hilgemann Racing), Tate Fogelman (Young’s Motorsports) and Angela Ruch (Reaume Brothers Racing) will all begin the hunt for playoff spots in their first full seasons of competition.
Todd Gilliland makes the move to Front Row Motorsports’ new Truck Series team, piloting the No. 38 Ford F-150, while Tyler Ankrum slides over to GMS Racing’s new No. 26 truck.
Jason White returns to Truck Series competition for the first time since 2014, driving the No. 33 for Reaume Brothers Racing, and Kyle Busch Motorsports’ third truck will have Riley Herbst behind the wheel.
FULL NEXTERA ENERGY RESOURCES 250 ENTRY LIST
The 2019 NextEra Energy Resources 250 will get underway shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.