The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the 29th season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a Pickup truck racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 17 at Daytona International Speedway, and ended with the Craftsman 150 on November 3 at Phoenix Raceway.
This was the first season of the Truck Series with Stanley Black & Decker as the series sponsor. Camping World, the title sponsor of the series from 2009 to 2022, did not renew their title sponsorship of the series. Although the Craftsman brand had sponsored the series from 1995 to 2008, it was under a different company ownership (Sears).
Zane Smith entered the season as the defending champion, returning to the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 truck full-time in 2023 seeking to win a second consecutive championship.
Corey Heim of Tricon Garage accomplished a rare feat in NASCAR during the season. He was the points leader heading into the 2023 Toyota 200 at Gateway, which he had to miss due to being sick, and after that race, (although only by 1 point) he was still the points leader. At the conclusion of the 2023 Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond, Heim claimed the regular season championship. In addition, Nick Sanchez of Rev Racing won NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. Ben Rhodes of ThorSport Racing won his second Truck Series championship at season's end.
Teams and drivers Complete schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Chevrolet CR7 Motorsports 9 Colby Howard Doug George Michael Shelton GMS Racing 23 Grant Enfinger Jeff Hensley 24 Rajah Caruth (R) Chad Walter 43 Daniel Dye (R) Travis Sharpe Blake Bainbridge McAnally–Hilgemann Racing 19 Christian Eckes Charles Denike 35 Chase Elliott Mark Hillman Jake Garcia (R) Kyle Busch Motorsports 4 Chase Purdy Jimmy Villeneuve 51 Jack Wood Brian Pattie Kyle Busch William Byron Matt Mills Niece Motorsports 41 Travis Pastrana Mike Hillman Jr. Ross Chastain Bayley Currey Chad Chastain Tyler Carpenter Conor Daly Shane van Gisbergen 42 Carson Hocevar Phil Gould 45 Lawless Alan Wally Rogers Rackley W.A.R. 25 Matt DiBenedetto Chad Kendrick Chandler Smith Trevor Bayne Stefan Parsons Rev Racing 2 Nick Sanchez (R) Danny Stockman Jr. Young's Motorsports 02 Kris Wright Andrew Abbott Chris Hacker Layne Riggs Will Rodgers Stefan Parsons Matt Mills Josh Bilicki Kaden Honeycutt Garrett Smithley Brad Perez 12 Spencer Boyd Brad Means Tyler Young 20 Derek Kraus Joe Lax Matt Mills Mason Maggio Ed Jones Stefan Parsons Brad Perez Nick Leitz Kaden Honeycutt Chad Chastain Mason Massey Greg Van Alst Ford Front Row Motorsports 38 Zane Smith Chris Lawson Reaume Brothers Racing 33 Mason Massey Gregory Rayl Pedro Lopez John Reaume Todd Parrott Mason Maggio Josh Reaume Chase Janes Derek Lemke Memphis Villarreal Keith McGee ThorSport Racing 13 Hailie Deegan Rich Lushes Brian Ross 88 Matt Crafton Shane Wilson Jeriod Prince 98 Ty Majeski Joe Shear Jr. Ron Calhoun 99 Ben Rhodes Jeriod Prince Brian Ross Rich Lushes Toyota Halmar Friesen Racing 52 Stewart Friesen Jon Leonard Blake Bainbridge Bob Heilbrun Hattori Racing Enterprises 16 Tyler Ankrum Doug Randolph Hill Motorsports 56 Timmy Hill Terry Elmore Tyler Hill Tricon Garage 5 Dean Thompson Derek Smith 11 Corey Heim Scott Zipadelli Jesse Love 15 Tanner Gray Jerame Donley 17 Sammy Smith Billy Wilburn Jacob Hampton John Hunter Nemechek Taylor Gray
Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Rounds Chevrolet BlackJack Racing 21 Dexter Bean Mario Gosselin Bret Holmes Racing 32 Bret Holmes (R) Jerry Baxter Jeff Stankiewicz R. J. Otto CR7 Motorsports 97 Codie Rohrbaugh Michael Shelton FDNY Racing 28 Bryan Dauzat Jim Rosenblum Henderson Motorsports 75 Parker Kligerman Chris Carrier Sean Hingorani Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Steve Kuykendall NEMCO Motorsports 8 Samuel LeComte Joe Nemechek Niece Motorsports 44 Kaden Honeycutt Cody Efaw Tim Mooney Chad Chastain Danny Bohn Norm Benning Racing 6 Norm Benning Dan Killius Spire Motorsports 7 Corey LaJoie Kevin Manion Alex Bowman Jonathan Davenport Kyle Larson Marco Andretti Austin Hill Layne Riggs Derek Kraus Carson Kvapil 77 Derek Kraus Andrew Overstreet Trey Hutchens Racing 14 Trey Hutchens Bobby Hutchens Ford AM Racing 22 Josh Reaume Ryan London Entries were fielded in a collaboration with Reaume Brothers Racing. Max Gutiérrez Logan Bearden Chase Briscoe Stephen Mallozzi Josh Williams Mason Maggio Austin Wayne Self Christian Rose Jason M. White Front Row Motorsports 34 Brett Moffitt Seth Barbour ThorSport Racing 66 Joey Logano Bud Haefele Conner Jones Jake Drew Toyota Cook Racing Technologies 84 Clay Greenfield Tucker Wingo G2G Racing 46 Norm Benning Tim Silva Brennan Poole Akinori Ogata Dale Quarterley Armani Williams Jerry Bohlman At Richmond in July (race 16), Jerry Bohlman drove the No. 46 in practice but he was replaced by Memphis Villarreal for qualifying. Memphis Villarreal Halmar Friesen Racing 62 Jessica Friesen Tripp Bruce Hattori Racing Enterprises 61 Christopher Bell Jon Leonard Jake Drew Sean Hingorani On Point Motorsports 30 Chris Hacker Carol Hines Ryan Vargas Colin Garrett Tanner Carrick Jonathan Shafer Brad Perez Peck Motorsports 96 Todd Peck Frank Fuhrman TC Motorsports 90 Justin Carroll Terry Carroll Tricon Garage 1 Jason A. White Seth Smith Kaz Grala Layne Riggs William Sawalich Toni Breidinger Bubba Wallace David Gilliland Jesse Love Ford G2G Racing 47 Andrew Gordon Tim Viens Toyota Tim Viens Memphis Villarreal Dawson Cram Dan Killius Toyota Chevrolet GK Racing 95 Clay Greenfield Tucker Wingo Toyota Reaume Brothers Racing 34 Jason M. White Dan Stillman Pedro Lopez Josh Reaume John Reaume Gregory Rayl Ford Josh Reaume Keith McGee Mason Filippi Stephen Mallozzi Mason Maggio Caleb Costner Ford Chevrolet Roper Racing 04 Kaden Honeycutt Craig Roper Bruce Cook Johnny Sauter Cory Roper Landen Lewis Spencer Davis
Notes
Changes Teams On October 1, 2022, Bret Holmes stated in his post-race interview after the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 250 that he and his team would like to run full-time in the Truck Series in 2023. On February 3, 2023, Holmes officially announced that he and his team would run full-time in 2023. On October 5, 2022, Kelly Crandall from RACER Magazine reported that David Gilliland Racing would field four full-time trucks in 2023 after a manufacturer switch from Ford to Toyota. DGR fielded three full-time trucks in 2022. The fourth truck would be for a rotation of Toyota development drivers. Toyota's development drivers have driven part-time in the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 truck for several years, but KBM will switch from Toyota to Chevrolet in 2023 as a result of Kyle Busch's move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series. On October 27, DGR officially announced their 2023 plans which included everything Crandall reported except for that the fourth truck for the development drivers (the No. 1) would be fielded part-time instead of full-time and that the team would also change its name to Tricon Garage. On December 5, Tricon announced that they would be adding a fourth full-time truck, the No. 5, making the part-time No. 1 truck a fifth truck for the team. Hill Motorsports, which used the No. 5 in 2022 for a second part-time truck for the team driven by Tyler Hill, will be giving up the number to Tricon. On January 17, 2023, Hill Motorsports announced that they would not field a part-time second truck in 2023 with a different number. On October 25, 2022, GMS Racing announced that they would be fielding a third full-time truck, the No. 43, driven by Daniel Dye. Team President Mike Beam stated that the team would be expanding their Truck Series program although the number of trucks the team will field in 2023 was not specified. Reaume Brothers Racing, which used the No. 43 in 2022, will be giving up the number to GMS. The team revealed on January 24, 2023 that they would renumber their No. 43 truck to the No. 34 (the number of that truck in 2021). On November 4, 2022, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced it would downsize from three truck teams to two in 2023: the No. 4 and the No. 51. On November 4, 2022, ARCA Menards Series team Rev Racing announced that they would expand into the Truck Series, fielding one full-time truck, the No. 2 driven by 2022 main ARCA Series champion Nick Sanchez, in an alliance with Kyle Busch Motorsports. On January 16, 2023, it was revealed that Hattori Racing Enterprises would only field one full-time truck in 2023, the No. 16 driven by Tyler Ankrum. The No. 61 truck, previously driven by Chase Purdy (who left to drive the KBM No. 4 truck), will only be fielded part-time in 2023. The driver lineup and which races it will be entered in have yet to be determined. On March 17, 2023, Hattori announced that Christopher Bell would drive the No. 61 truck in the race at North Wilkesboro, making his first Truck Series start since 2018. On March 27, 2023, a new team based in Pittsburgh, TriPoint Racing, announced that they plan to make their Truck Series debut in the race at Mid-Ohio, fielding the No. 37 truck. The team did not announce their driver, sponsor, crew chief and manufacturer at the time. The team ended up not entering the race at Mid-Ohio. On August 17, 2023, it was revealed that Dexter Bean would re-start his own team, BlackJack Racing, which he and his family fielded in the Cup Series in 2009, and would enter a truck in the race at Milwaukee in his home state of Wisconsin. Bean also ran the last Truck Series race there in 2009. That was also the last year he raced in the Truck Series. On October 26, 2023, Spire Motorsports announced that they would field a second truck, the No. 77, for the first time in the season-finale at Phoenix with Derek Kraus as the driver.
Drivers On October 5, 2022, it was announced that Chandler Smith, who drove the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 truck full-time in 2021 and 2022, would leave to move up to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2023 to drive the Kaulig Racing No. 16 car (replacing A. J. Allmendinger, who would return to the Cup Series full-time in 2023 driving Kaulig's No. 16 Cup car). On October 5, 2022, Kelly Crandall from RACER Magazine reported that Corey Heim would move from Kyle Busch Motorsports, where he drove their No. 51 truck part-time in 2022, to David Gilliland Racing to run full-time in one of their trucks in 2023. DGR would also switch from Ford to Toyota and Heim would remain in Toyota's driver development system after KBM's switch from Toyota to Chevrolet. On October 27, 2022, DGR, which also announced its name change to Tricon Garage for 2023, officially announced that Heim would drive for the team full-time in their new No. 11 truck. On October 10, 2022, Chris Knight from Catchfence reported that 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion Nick Sanchez would likely drive for a Chevrolet team in the Truck Series in 2023. It would be Sanchez's debut in the Truck Series. On November 4, it was announced that Sanchez would drive full-time for Rev Racing (his ARCA team) which would expand into the Truck Series in 2023. On October 10, 2022, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver Thomas Krasonis announced that he would make his Truck Series debut in 2023. The team he will drive for has yet to be announced. He would be the first driver from Greece to compete in the series. On October 18, 2022, it was announced that Chase Purdy would not return to the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 61 truck in 2023. On November 4, it was announced that Purdy would drive the No. 4 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2023, replacing John Hunter Nemechek.