The 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is underway.
With a new season comes a new crop of rookies looking to not only make a name for themselves, but outpace each other in hopes of earning the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title this season.
The 2026 rookie class is unique though, in that all three of them come from the late model world. While one of them has been out of that world regularly for over a year, the other two are fresh out of them. Two of them are teammates, and the third is a native of Canada. Perhaps the craziest part? All three of their numbers are back-to-back-to-back.
Let’s meet the three Rookie of the Year hopefuls in the Truck Series.
Brenden Queen
Affectionately known by fans and media alike as “Butterbean”, Brenden Queen is no stranger to big-bodied stock vehicles as he’s coming off a 2025 season where he absolutely dominated the ARCA Menards Series en route to the championship.
Queen is no stranger to the Truck Series, having made five combined starts across the 2024 and 2025 seasons with TRICON Garage and Spire Motorsports. Of those races, his best finish was on debut at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he finished fourth as is his forte when you consider his background.
Queen was a full-time driver with the zMAX CARS Tour, where he won the 2024 championship before moving up to ARCA. Hmm. 2024 CARS Tour champion, 2025 ARCA champion. Not saying 2026 will be the year of Butterbean, but the current trajectory is looking good for him — especially since he started the season with a seventh-place run at Daytona International Speedway.
Queen joined forces with Kaulig Racing this season, the same team he ran a few Xfinity (now O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series races last season. Queen does so in a year where RAM is re-entering the sport — in fact, Queen was the first RAM driver announced for Kaulig. He will drive the No. 12 this season with full-season sponsorship from Cummins. Queen will no doubt be a threat at the short tracks and any tracks that he’s seen before in ARCA, Trucks or O’Reilly.
It’s no stretch to believe that Queen will find victory lane this season. And if/when he does, it will be popular with the fans — and whichever local Waffle House Butterbean and “Bean Nation” decides to celebrate at that night.
Cole Butcher
If I had a nickel for every time ThorSport Racing signed a Canadian rookie with short track experience to drive its No. 13, I’d have two nickels — which isn’t a lot, but…ah, hell, you get the rest.
Cole Butcher appears to be the new Cameron Hayley, as other drivers such as Brad Perez momentarily thought at Daytona.
Like Hayley in 2015, Butcher was hired out of the grassroots scene — though instead of coming from the K&N Pro Series East and West (now ARCA East and West) like Hayley did, Butcher hails from the Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA Stars National Tour. He’s won a few short tracks majors, such as the Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway twice, the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway twice and the Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway once.
Butcher made a pair of Truck Series starts last season in a second Halmar Friesen Racing truck, at Bristol Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. Coincidentally, he finished 23rd in both of them.
At 30 years old, Butcher is one of the older rookies in recent Truck Series history, and with just two starts prior to the season, one may be forgiven for having low expectations for driver No. 13. But make no mistake — much like his rookie peers, Butcher will be a threat to win on the short tracks. Not to mention, he’s with a team in ThorSport that has won four titles in the last seven seasons and could’ve had more had its drivers gotten another break or two.
This isn’t the same ThorSport team that Hayley had in 2015 and 2016. This is a team who can bring the most out of its drivers. Just look at Jake Garcia — even though he hasn’t won yet, he’s certainly improved since he first joined the team in 2024.
Butcher may not be the Rookie of the Year favorite, but he’s won in just about every vehicle he’s set foot in — don’t count him out.
Mini Tyrrell
Crazy enough, one of Queen’s biggest competitors in the CARS Tour is now one of his teammates.
Mini Tyrrell also hails from the CARS Tour world, fresh off of a fifth-place points finish in the Late Model Stock Car division. The Virginia native earned his seat with Kaulig by winning the team’s reality television show, RAM: Race for the Seat, over 14 other grassroots-based drivers. Speaking of 14, that’s the number Tyrrell will drive this season.
Tyrrell is arguably the question mark of the rookie class. Not because he doesn’t have the talent, but because up until the television show, Tyrrell had no plans in the works to run anything other than a late model in 2026. This is an entirely new experience for him. Much like Butcher and Queen, he’ll certainly be one to watch at the short tracks, but 2026 will more or less be a learning year for him.
Tyrrell noted that he’s on a one-year deal with Kaulig, meaning that he’ll have to learn and perform well simultaneously for a shot at staying with the team next season (lest a second season of RAM: Race for the Seat be greenlit). But for Tyrrell, he actually has less stress than usual — he was a regular in the CARS Tour, but the car he ran was one he fielded himself. He’s in a factory-backed truck, where he doesn’t have to worry about not only money, but labor as well. Now that he can literally just show up and race, he might have a bit more capability to learn and grow throughout the season.
With the aforementioned Queen as his teammate, he might turn more heads than people are expecting — unfortunately, those who watched the show are likely going to hold Tyrrell under a microscope more because, let’s be totally honest, he did not look like the best driver in the show. But all that matters is that he has the seat now, and he has the chance to go from a question mark to an exclamation mark.
There are a litany of other young drivers who will be contending in the Truck Series race(s) this season for the first time and/or regularly, just not enough to declare for Rookie of the Year. Those drivers include (but are certainly not limited to) Tyler Reif, Parker Eatmon, Carson Ferguson, Jackson Lee, Landen Lewis, Adam Andretti, Garrett Mitchell (known by fans as Cleetus McFarland) and Nathan Nicholson.
But Queen, Butcher and Tyrrell are the three vying for the Rookie of the Year honors. Of the three, this author’s pick leans toward the No. 12 of Queen. He seems the most Truck Series-ready of the three, and he’s already off to a great start after a top-10 finish at Daytona. For reference, Butcher finished 14th and Tyrrell finished 19th.
But one thing’s for sure — it’s nice to see the grassroots drivers finally getting their shot in NASCAR, and when the short tracks come around especially, look for the rookies to provide must-see entertainment.