NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – In the midst of a dominant performance by Chandler Smith in Saturday’s (July 18) FaithFest 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a fresh face continued to make a name for himself in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
That name is Landen Lewis, who piloted the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet to a fifth-place finish on a sweltering hot summer afternoon in North Carolina. The fifth now gives Lewis three top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 6.2 across five starts in the No. 45 this season.
Lewis, the 20-year-old from Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., had to pick his way up into the top five the hard way after qualifying mid-pack in 16th and enduring a tough start to the race.
“Just a solid day for us,” Lewis told Frontstretch postrace. “Honestly, the first stage just didn’t go as planned. We lost some track position by picking the wrong lanes and just kind of got back there.
“Going into the second stage, the No. 62 (Christopher Bell) and the No. 11 (Kaden Honeycutt) were back there with me, and they honestly couldn’t go anywhere either after they were running up front pretty much the whole [first] stage.”
From there, the No. 45 team and crew chief Phil Gould turned to pit strategy to advance their position.
“I knew at that point, we had to do something to get the track position,” Lewis said. So, we pitted right there in stage two, short-pitted it, and honestly just set us up good for stage three.”
The raced ended with a 99-lap green flag run to the checkered, which played right into the hands of Lewis and the No. 45 bunch.
“We just had a really good truck on the long run especially,” Lewis said. “I need about another 50 [laps] there and I think I could’ve picked off three or four more, so just happy with the truck we brought.”
Lewis will have more opportunities to accrue experience and compete for his first Truck Series win. He’ll be behind the wheel of the Niece No. 45 for the rest of the 2026 season while also looking ahead to 2027 plans.
“Yes, just continuing to be consistent,” Lewis said. “That’s probably the biggest thing for me. I just want to continue to learn and continue to be consistent week in and week out and get the finish that these guys deserve. So, we’ll just keep working hard together and keep plugging away at it.”
As Lewis adjusts to Truck Series competition, he has had a valuable mentor in his corner in Ron Hornaday Jr. A four-time Truck Series champion and the second-winningest driver in series history, Hornaday has spoken glowingly about Lewis’ talent and potential, and Lewis expressed his appreciation for Hornaday postrace.
“Yeah, he’s definitely just been a huge help,” Lewis said of Hornaday’s mentoring and advice. “Honestly, he’s just trying to help me with racecraft and all kinds of different things. It doesn’t hurt to have people in your corner to help you and want you to succeed.”
The Truck Series now moves on to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night (July 24), where Lewis will look to extend his current streak of three consecutive top-five finishes in Trucks.
“Just be consistent and keep knocking out good finishes,” Lewis said. “We continue to build this ladder and climb it, and we’ll just continue that and try to be better the next week.”
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 and is currently an editor and a weekly writer of Stat Sheet. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.