This Saturday (June 28), the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series takes on a brand-new racetrack that it has never raced at, yet one that has tons of history. The Truckers head to northwest Connecticut, where the famed Lime Rock Park sits tucked in the hills of Lakeville.
Lime Rock is an interesting racetrack — despite being a road course measuring a smidge over a mile and a half in length, it is fast. The track record there is a whopping 45.105 seconds, set by Juan Manuel Fangio II in 1993. Stock cars can complete a lap around the track in approximately just under a minute — the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (now ARCA Menards Series East) was the most recent stock car series to compete there, and in the final race in 2010, Andrew Ranger won the pole with a speed of 97.732 mph, timing in at 55.253 seconds.
The entry list for the LiUNA! 150 is stacked with road course ringers who decided to travel out and try their hand at winning in a one-off. Spire Motorsports has two of those ringers at its disposal, with Thomas Annunziata driving the No. 07 and IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Series driver Jordan Taylor behind the wheel of the No. 7. Alex Labbe also will join the field, driving the No. 22 for Reaume Brothers Racing.
Additionally, Repco Supercars Championship driver Cam Waters will return to the Truck Series, driving the No. 66 for ThorSport Racing — the same team and number he drove for in two races last season. Two debutants, William Lambros (RBR No. 2) and Wesley Slimp (driving a second Halmar Friesen Racing truck) also have extensive backgrounds specifically in road course racing.
With the amount of road course ringers in the field, could one of them stun the Truck Series regulars?
Spire’s lineup certainly has a chance with Annunziata and Taylor. Annunziata comes from a Trans-Am background, and has taken underfunded ARCA rides to solid finishes, notably a fourth-place finish at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last season — that could have easily won, mind you — in a severely underfunded ride. Running a Spire truck is arguably Annunziata’s biggest NASCAR opportunity yet, and he has a very solid chance to capitalize if he plays his cards right.
Taylor, meanwhile, has oodles of IMSA experience, not just on road courses, but at Lime Rock itself. He also has made a couple Cup and Xfinity Series starts in the past, but never a Truck Series start. With his experience at Lime Rock and a bad fast Spire-mobile, Taylor should be one of the fastest trucks on Saturday.
Labbe has found himself a home with DGM Racing in the Xfinity Series, but will defect to the Truck Series for the inaugural race at Lime Rock. His one drawback is that RBR’s equipment is not up to par with some of the others around him, namely Annunziata and Taylor (hell, throw Slimp into that as well). However, Labbe carries loads of experience on road courses from his time in the NASCAR Canada Series — with that experience, equipment deficiency can prove to be nonexistent.
Then there’s Lambros and Slimp, who will both make their debuts in not just the Truck Series, but NASCAR in general. Lambros is a Skip Barber Racing School driver, and Lime Rock was a Skip Barber track from 1984 to 2021. Lambros will be teammates with Labbe, but will also bring loads of experience that could see him as a dark horse for a top 10.
Slimp, on the other hand, has experience from competing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series. While a stock truck is a completely different world for him, he will add much-needed data to a still-struggling HFR program, despite its most recent win at Michigan International Speedway.
Each of these drivers come from unique backgrounds, giving them each an upper hand over the Truck Series regulars that have never seen Lime Rock before.
So can one of them mount an upset? Absolutely — and depending on who, it would be a stretch to call it an upset.
In this author’s opinion, if there’s any one of these drivers who can find victory lane in their one-off, he’s picking Taylor to get it done. His experience at this track in IMSA will likely give him more of an upper hand than most may realize. His experience is aided by the fact that he’s driving one of the fastest trucks in the field with Spire.
In that same vein, don’t count out Annunziata either. In reality, he and Taylor form a lethal tag team that could give Spire a leg up on the field. Both trucks that Annunziata and Taylor are driving have been to victory lane this season, and they were definitely great choices for Spire to get a road course victory up in the northeast.
But who knows? Maybe a Truck Series regular will learn the track quickly and deny the upset.
There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to tune in.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ inaugural LiUNA! 150 begins at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Saturday (June 28), with television coverage provided on FOX (check your local listings).
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.