Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his first-ever starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2026, piloting the No. 45 for Niece Motorsports, the team announced Jan. 14.
Stenhouse will first run the truck at Daytona International Speedway and then follow it up with a start at EchoPark Speedway.
JF Electric will sponsor the effort.
“I’ve always wanted to run a truck, but never had the opportunity to put something together,” Stenhouse said in a team release. “When Cody (Efaw, Niece CEO) called me, I definitely had a lot of interest to see what all they have been building here at Niece Motorsports, especially looking at their level of competition.Â
“With it being at Daytona, obviously winning the [Daytona] 500 was awesome, and I’d love to win a Truck Series race there, too. I’ve always wanted to race a truck, but I wanted it to be competitive — and this checks all of those boxes.”
Stenhouse joins a No. 45 lineup that also includes Landen Lewis and Ross Chastain this season.
“We are all very excited to welcome Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to our team for his first time racing in the Truck Series,” Efaw added. “I’ve known Ricky for several years now dating back to our time at Roush, and he’s always been a natural on super speedways. I believe he will have a true shot at contending for the win at both Daytona and Atlanta.”
Despite hundreds of NASCAR national series starts dating back to 2009, Stenhouse has never run a Truck race and has only competed in a non-Cup event twice in the last 10 years. In 2025, he earned one top five and three top 10s in Cup for Hyak Motorsports.
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.