NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series silly season has certainly taken quite a turn since Stewart Friesen suffered a crash in a dirt race in Quebec, Canada, on July 28.
Friesen’s unfortunate injury has spurred a flurry of moves across the garage area over the last three weeks, moving several drivers around in the process.
Here’s how all the dust has settled.
Stewart Friesen/Kaden Honeycutt
Let’s start with the obvious: Friesen is out for the remainder of the 2025 season. It was announced earlier on Thursday that he won’t seek a playoff waiver.
Cup Series star Christopher Bell took over for Friesen at Watkins Glen on Aug. 8, but it’ll be Kaden Honeycutt driving the truck for the final eight races. Honeycutt has all but locked up a Truck Series playoff spot going into the regular season finale at Richmond and is looking to make a strong playoff run in his first full-time season.
Honeycutt will chase both the driver’s and owner’s championship with the No. 52 team for the remainder of the season.
But Honeycutt started the 2025 season with a different organization. That leads us to our second domino to fall.
Kaden Honeycutt/Bayley Currey
On Aug. 4, Niece Motorsports made a shocking announcement when it released Honeycutt as the driver of the No. 45 Chevrolet. This was reportedly an effect of Honeycutt signing with TRICON Garage and Toyota for 2026, which opened the door for him to take over Friesen’s No. 52 Toyota for the remainder of 2025.
Honeycutt’s release opened the door for Bayley Currey, who has contested eight races in 2025, to take over the No. 45 for the rest of the season. Currey is a veteran of 73 Truck Series starts and has driven for Niece in some capacity since 2019.
Currey’s departure for the No. 45 opened up the seat of the No. 44 Chevrolet for Niece Motorsports, however — and a Truck Series rookie was ready to fill it.
Bayley Currey/Andres Perez
Enter 2024 ARCA champion Andres Perez. Like Honeycutt, Perez began his 2025 campaign with a different team in Spire Motorsports. On Monday, Spire announced that Perez had been released. Minutes later, Niece announced that it had signed Perez for the final eight races of 2025, giving Perez an opportunity to win Friday’s race at Richmond and qualify for the Truck Series playoffs.
Rumors had swirled for weeks regarding the future of Spire’s Truck Series program, and Perez’s sudden departure seemed to confirm the fact that something was amiss.
In releasing its young star, Spire made the decision to bring back an old vet that should know his way around the shop floor.
Andres Perez/Corey LaJoie
Corey LaJoie has seen his NASCAR career be turned upside down in the span of just one calendar year. Once the flagship driver of Spire’s Cup Series program, he’s only run four Cup Series races with Rick Ware Racing in 2025 and had a partial Truck Series schedule planned with Spire. The bulk of that schedule was comprised of the Truck Series playoffs, so when Spire came calling this week, LaJoie didn’t even have to change his plane tickets. LaJoie will step into the No. 77 Chevy left vacant by Perez, but there is one major casualty for Spire’s Truck Series program moving forward.
No. 07 Shuts Down
Spire’s “All-Star” No. 07 will no longer be seen on track. Spire has opted to shift the owner’s points from the No. 07 entry to the No. 77 of LaJoie. Spire is now down to three trucks: the No. 77 of LaJoie, the No. 71 of Rajah Caruth and another All-Star truck in the No. 7.
Unfortunately, the No. 07 received a very unceremonious end at Watkins Glen on Aug. 8, when mechanical issues relegated Kyle Busch to a last-place (36th) finish.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.