NASCAR Draft Kit: 2024 Truck Series Rankings

This article is part of our NASCAR Draft Kit Series

1. Corey Heim – No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota – With so many driver promotions impacting the Craftsman Truck Series, we expect to see a shakeup at the top this season. Heim returns to the No. 11 TRICON team and will look to build on his career-best three wins and 19 Top-10 finishes of last season. The young driver would race for the championship last November, but would come up just a bit short at Phoenix, finishing third in the final standings. With no Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith nor GMS Racing around in 2024, the series seems ripe for Heim's taking. Scott Zipadelli returns at crew chief for this strong team, and he'll look to guide Heim to many wins and possibly a first-ever truck series championship.  
2. Ben Rhodes – No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford – While Rhodes' 2023 campaign lacked some of the wins and Top-10 finishes of other drivers, the ThorSport Racing veteran would get consistent and hot during the playoffs to walk away with his second Craftsman Truck Series championship in the last three years. That has been the model for the No.  99 team in recent seasons. Rhodes has not been dominant (only four wins in three seasons) but his incredible consistency and knack for heating up during the playoffs have rewarded this veteran driver with two titles and a runner-up finish in the points. Rhodes will be in the mix for another championship again in 2024. ThorSport will give him good trucks and crew chief Brian Ross will continue calling the shots for this team.
3. Christian Eckes – No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet – Things seemingly fell into place for Eckes last season. The young talent nabbed his first multi-win season (four) and racked up 10 Top-5 finishes. Eckes would fall short of the Craftsman Truck Series title, but would still finish a very encouraging fifth in the final driver standings. Now the No. 19 MHR team will look to reload and re-fire in their quest to win the championship. Eckes now has 91 starts in this division of NASCAR and that growing experience is beginning to pay off. His qualifying was greatly improved last season, and it resulted in much better finishes. Eckes will once again be paired with veteran chief Charles Denike and the two will look to continue winning races and advancing towards a championship.
4. Ty Majeski – No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford – Majeski posted his second-straight Top-10 points campaign in 2023. The ThorSport Racing veteran nabbed one victory and 14 Top-10 finishes en route to a respectable eighth-place finish in the points. However, Majeski would have liked to achieve more and contended more vigorously for the championship last season. We believe he'll do that in 2024. Majeski returns to the No. 98 Ford and crew chief, Joe Shear Jr., as well as the rest of the ThorSport team returning. The duo has spent the last two seasons together building chemistry and momentum, and this could be the year when they hit it big. With now 66 starts of experience under his belt, Majeski seems to be coming of age.           
5. Nick Sanchez – No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet – Last season's Rookie of the Year winner will return to the No. 2 Rev Racing squad. Despite having a winless campaign, Sanchez would check a lot of boxes last season. The young driver would grab two Top-5 and 12 Top-10 finishes. In addition, he'd storm to five pole positions. It would all add up to a very surprising sixth-place finish in the final driver standings. What will Sanchez do for an encore? We believe he'll makes some big strides and likely grab his first-ever truck series win. He'll have to do it with a new crew chief as Danny Stockman moves up to the Xfinity Series. No replacement has been named at the time of this writing, but the team situation is good enough to endorse without the piece of the puzzle yet.
6. Layne Riggs – No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford – The 21-year-old talent will take on his first full Craftsman Truck Series season and be top contender to win rookie of the year. Riggs has proven his skill in late model stock car racing and is now ready to progress his skills to the next level. This is the same No. 38 FRM team that propelled Zane Smith to two wins and 10 Top-5 finishes last season. Gone is crew chief Chris Lawson, but Dylan Cappello steps up from his engineering role with the team to lead Riggs' first full season. This is a solid, steady and proven race team with the capability to win races. Riggs has bundles of talent and we believe after a brief adjustment, he'll be racing among the top drivers in the series.    
7. Grant Enfinger – No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet – GMS Racing shuttered its doors at the end of 2023 and ended one of the more competitive teams in the Craftsman Truck Series. Enfinger's last campaign with GMS would net three wins and 13 Top-10 finishes en route to a runner-up finish in the points. By a lot of measures, it was a career-best campaign for the 39-year-old veteran. Enfinger now moves to the young CR7 team and the No. 9 Chevrolet. This team has only been in existence for six seasons and only racing full-time for the past two years. They're looking to step up to the big time with the combination of Enfinger's experience and sponsorship that comes with him, as well as veteran crew chief, Jeff Stankiewicz. The team has a technical alliance with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, which will help as the picture comes into focus and the team grows.
8. Jake Garcia – No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford – Garcia wound up second in the ROTY chase last season, but he still had a very successful rookie campaign. He would grab three Top-5 and nine Top-10 finishes with his former team at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. The 18-year-old talent now moves into the No. 13 Ford of ThorSport Racing that was piloted by Hailie Deegan last season. They'll not only have a new driver for 2024, but new sponsors and a new crew chief. So the No. 13 team is hitting the reset button to a good extent. However, it's the same team excellence that we've come to expect from ThorSport Racing. With Garcia behind the wheel, this should easily be a Top-10 team at season's end.  
9. Matt Crafton – No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford – He's no longer the championship contender that he was 2019 and prior, but Crafton still brings consistency and excellence to the race track each week. The 23-season veteran nabbed two Top-5 and nine Top-10 finishes last season and would rank ninth-place in the driver points after Phoenix. Crafton will return to the No. 88 team and crew chief, Jeriod Prince. He hasn't won a race in the last three campaigns, and we suspect that won't change in 2024. However, Crafton should flirt with double digit Top 10's once again and race to another Top 10 points performance. With over 500 starts, 15 victories and three championships in this division of NASCAR, he's becoming near-legendary status.
10. Ty Dillon – No. 25 Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet – After a run of seven-straight seasons racing in NASCAR's top division, Dillon returns to the trucks in 2024. The veteran driver joins the No. 25 Chevrolet team of Rackley W.A.R. for the upcoming season. This is the same truck that was piloted by Matt DiBenedetto last year to two Top-5 and 12 Top-10 finishes and a 10th-place championship standings finish. They'll tape Dillon's 13-years of competing in NASCAR's top three divisions to hopefully push this team up a level. Dillon's last full truck series season was long ago, but he did grab two wins and 12 Top-10 finishes as well as a runner-up performance in the points in 2013. Crew chief Shane Wilson will guide Dillon's efforts and the two should hit the ground running in 2024.
11. Stewart Friesen – No. 52 Halmar Racing Toyota – The veteran driver is coming off one of his less consistent and less productive campaigns in the past three years. Friesen would only manage seven Top-10 finishes and a 12th-place points effort in 2023. His average finish would balloon from 9.9 to 17.6 year-over-year. We expect a rebound to a certain extent for the 39-year-old driver in the upcoming season. Friesen is capable of double digit Top 10's and challenging for race wins, and while he may not get all the way back to that level, he should get close. Jimmy Villeneuve joins the team as crew chief and brings his 43 starts of experience to the table. He guided Chase Purdy to 11 Top-10 finishes and two poles last season. Friesen should enjoy a bit of a resurgence in 2024.    
12. Chase Purdy – No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – Spire absorbed the former Kyle Busch Motorsports over the off-season, so this is not really a new team as much as it is a rebranded team. Purdy marched to a career-best 11 Top-10 finishes in 2023 in the KBM No. 4 Chevrolet. This will be the same team, but new is crew chief, Jason Trinchere, who brings a wealth of experience to bolster Spire's new truck series effort. His past four seasons of Xfinity Series experience netted five total victories and 51 Top-10 finishes, which are very respectable numbers. Purdy is young and talented, and this team should give him the tools to press the numbers he posted last season. 
13. Matt Mills – No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet – Mills makes the move from part-time driver to full-time driver in 2024. The journeyman split 12 starts between the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series last season. Now Mills will get a full slate of races in the Niece Motorsports' Chevy truck. This is the same team that Carson Hocevar enjoyed a lot of success with over the past three years. He would grab four wins and 13 Top-10 finishes last season alone and challenge hotly for the championship. Mills will have some pretty big shoes to fill, and while he doesn't have the resume of accomplishments that Hocevar has, he does have some experience. Mills boasts close to 150 starts over the past seven seasons and is no newcomer to the truck series. He'll have some ups-and-downs along the way, but crew chief Phil Gould should help him succeed.
14. Kyle Busch/Other Drivers – No. 51 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – This truck was the second Kyle Busch Motorsports team to be acquired by Spire Motorsports over the off-season. It featured multiple drivers in 2023 and will again in 2024, but notably, this is the truck that Busch pilots five times a season in the Craftsman Truck Series. He would grab two victories last season and the conglomerate of drivers would net 10 Top-10 finishes. From a fantasy standpoint, it's kind of a mixed bag really. The team has homerun potential with Busch and other experienced drivers in the seat, but tends to fade when the younger and lesser experienced drivers take the wheel. It will likely be another season of that type of performance in 2024.
15. Dean Thompson – No. 5 TRICON Garage Toyota – Thompson returns for another season in the No. 5 TRICON entry. The young driver had a rough ride last season posting just five Top-10 finishes vs. 10 DNF's. The inconsistency and struggles overshadowed some of the better performances. However, Thompson showed some real upside heading into the off-season. He would nab two Top-10 finishes in the final three events of 2023 and end the campaign on a high note. TRICON is an up-and-coming team that is growing and they've shown a vote of confidence in Thompson. We should expect better results and more consistency from him in the upcoming season, but he won't be ready to win just yet.
16. Tyler Ankrum – No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet – Ankrum comes off a bit of a lackluster season with just six Top-10 finishes and a subpar 17th-place finish in the final driver standings. The young driver will look to rediscover some of the swagger he showed three-to-four seasons ago in 2024. Ankrum moves from the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota and into the No. 18 Chevrolet truck of McAnally-Hilgemann. This is the same truck that Jake Garcia piloted last season to nine Top-10 finishes and a respectable 13th-place showing in the driver points. Ankrum has race winning and Top-10 driver potential as he showed in the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. The youngster will be paired with Mark Hillman at crew chief and the two will look to keep this team elevated and to boost Ankrum's performance to its former competitiveness. Having championship contender, Christian Eckes, for a teammate will certainly help in the feedback loop.
17. Bayley Currey – No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet – Currey only competed part-time (11 races) with this team last season, but they produced reasonably good results. Currey nabbed three Top-5 and four Top-10 finishes in those 11 starts. He'll get a full slate of 23 races in 2024. When we project these half-season stats out over a full year, the potential outcome is interesting. If Currey can maintain that level of performance over the full campaign, he could slot 11th-14th in the driver standings. Mike Hillman Jr. returns at crew chief and these two will look to see what they can accomplish over a full season. Currey has over 150 combined starts between the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series, so he's a very seasoned young driver.
18. Taylor Gray – No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota – Gray would make some nice progression in 2023. It would be his first full Craftsman Truck Series slate of action and he wouldn't disappoint. The youngster would grab three Top-5 and six Top-10 finishes on his way to a very solid 14.6 average finish. It all added up to a respectable 15th-place finish in the final driver standings. Gray's best tracks were intermediate ovals and short tracks for the most part, although he did have a couple nice drives on road circuits. Gray's potential is just being tapped as he's a tender 18-years-old to start the 2024 season. He'll be paired with veteran crew chief, Jeff Hensley, this season and the two will look to continue his development and improvement.
19. Tanner Gray – No. 15 TRICON Garage Toyota – Gray's fourth full season in the trucks was a reasonably good campaign. He'd nab three Top-5 and six Top-10 finishes, as well as grab his first-career pole position. Still, Gray would like to achieve more growth and higher levels of performance with now near-100 starts in this division of NASCAR under his belt. The driver of the No. 15 Toyota truck returns to pretty much the same team and sponsor lineup, but he gets a new crew chief for 2024. Gray will be paired with Jerame Donley and the two will look to find more Top 10's and lower that average finish of 16.7 from last season. This is a growing, multi-truck race team and Gray clearly has talent. He could easily climb these driver rankings over the course of the upcoming season.    
20. Unknown Driver – No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota – Gone is Tyler Ankrum and at the point of this writing, Hattori Racing Enterprises has still not named their driver of the No. 16 Toyota for 2024. The team has been pretty competitive in recent seasons. They won the truck series championship in 2018 with Brett Moffitt and they've generally been a Top-15 team since then. Ankrum netted six Top-10 finishes with this truck last season and raced to 17th in the final driver standings. Hattori would like to do better and they're capable of doing better as they have shown. It's largely going to fall on the shoulders of their unnamed driver at this point. Watch the news for this team's signing closely in the coming days and weeks. It could potentially push this team up these rankings.
21. Daniel Dye – No. 43 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet – Dye had a bit of a lackluster rookie season in 2023 with the former GMS Racing. He'd struggle to just one Top-10 finish and wind up 18th in the final driver standings. The talented youngster showed that in good equipment he could be pretty consistent and excellent in the ARCA Menards Series. He'll get another season with the MHR team in this same No. 43 Chevrolet. Dye has a lot to prove in 2024 as his average finish of 20.2 in his rookie campaign fell short of expectations. At the point of this writing, his crew chief has not been named by the team. This will be a pretty key piece to any potential improvement and success. Dye is clearly talented but still has a lot to learn about driving this NASCAR trucks.
22. Unknown Driver – No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet – Lawless Alan departs this team after last season's 22nd-place points finish. Niece plans to regroup and fill this seat for the upcoming campaign. At the time of this writing, the driver has not been announced for the No. 45 Chevrolet. Alan netted just one Top-10 and two Top-15 finishes in this truck in 2023. However, the team has shown much more potential in the recent past. In the 2021 season a conglomerate of drivers was pretty competitive in this same seat. The bottom line is that depending on who Niece Motorsports signs to drive this truck will largely dictate their potential in 2024. There are some suitable, young drivers in the free agent market right now that could elevate this team.
23. Lawless Alan – No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford – The young driver's second full season of truck series competition would yield just one Top-10 finish in 2023, but some incremental improvements were noticeable. Alan lowered his average finish year-on-year from 24.2 to 22.3, a nice improvement. His qualifying efforts also improved by over two spots. Alan moves from Niece Motorsports to Reaume Brothers Racing for the upcoming season. This truck was driven by multiple drivers last season, so the hope is that Alan's constant presence will improve performance for this team. The young Californian has 53 starts now in this division of NASCAR, so his experience is coming into focus. Still, this small race team has a lot of headwinds, so improved performance is not completely a given.
24. Bret Holmes – No. 32 Brett Holmes Racing Chevrolet – The long-time ARCA Menards Series veteran got his first full season of truck series action in 2023. Holmes would make 21 of the 23 events and finish 23rd in the final driver standings after Phoenix. With just three Top-15 finishes during last season, the hope was for some better consistency. The 23.0 average finish fell short of expectations in a lot of ways. At the time of this writing nothing official has been announced, but it expected that this team and driver will return for 2024. It's a small operation, so equipment and resources are limited. Holmes will hope to make some gradual steps forward in the new season. With the help of veteran crew chief Jerry Baxter, hopefully he can find more consistency.      
25. Thad Moffitt – No. 46 Faction 46 Chevrolet – The 23-year-old talent has been a fixture in the ARCA Menards Series for the last few seasons. Moffitt makes the jump to full-time trucks in 2024. He'll get his rookie campaign rolling with a new race team, Faction 46. The team is in a technical alliance with Niece Motorsports and will be headed up by veteran crew chief, Doug George. Moffitt got a taste of truck series action in 2022, making four starts with a couple different teams, so he's not completely unfamiliar with these NASCAR trucks. The youngster did not compete in any NASCAR touring series in 2023, so this is a bit of a career reboot of sorts. Moffitt faces many challenges hitting the ground running with this brand new race team.
26. Spencer Boyd – No. 76 Freedom Racing Enterprises Chevrolet – Boyd left Young's Motorsports at the end of last season and used the opportunity to buy some trucks and equipment from the shuttered GMS Racing organization. With that, the veteran driver is starting his own race team for 2024. Boyd has secured some sponsors and put Greg Ely in charge at the crew chief position, and he will set out racing for himself in the upcoming season. Boyd is a veteran of 108 Craftsman Truck Series starts, and despite owning one victory to his credit, he's never fared better than 17th in the driver points. With a new, small race team and limited resources he'll be challenged to crack the Top 25 in the driver standings this season.
27. Timmy Hill – No. 56 Hill Motorsports Toyota – Hill Motorsports returns for the upcoming season. Owner/driver Hill split this seat with younger brother Tyler in 2023, but he'll take on the full slate of races in 2024. Last season the duo grabbed one Top-10 and six Top-20 finishes in the No. 56 Toyota truck. Hill will look to build on that campaign and hopefully improve upon it. The 25th-place finish in the driver points of 2023 was acceptable, but Hill would like to do even better this season. He's a veteran of close to 500 starts between the top three touring series of NASCAR, so Hill is not short on experience. However, his team situations have always been shoestring operations, and the results show it.
28. William Sawalich – No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota – Sawalich is one of the interesting, up-and-coming talents in NASCAR. At just 16-years-old last season, he marched to four victories in the ARCA Menards Series and caught a lot of attention. Sawalich also managed six starts in the Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage, earning a very impressive three Top-10 finishes in those limited efforts. As the old saying goes "he's the goods" and a very raw, young talent. TRICON has given him another part-time opportunity to race in this division of NASCAR in 2024. Sawalich will take on nine events in the upcoming season and get more opportunities to learn and impress us with his driving. He'll be on the entry lists for less than half the events this season, but he's sure to perform when he suits up.
29. Jack Wood – No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet – Wood competed part-time with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2023 and earned two Top-10 finishes in a respectable showing. He moves on to MHR for the upcoming season and once again will be the part-time pilot of a Chevy truck. Wood's focus will be on his championship pursuit for this team in the ARCA Menards Series West. However, he'll also make a considerable 14 starts for the team in the Craftsman Truck Series. Kevin Bellicourt comes on board to serve as crew chief and will bring his 95 starts and three victories of truck series experience to the table. The two will look to form chemistry right away and make as big of impact as possible with the 14-race slate.
30. Marco Andretti – No. 04 Roper Racing Ford – Andretti has shifted more and more away from the NTT/IndyCar Series and more into NASCAR over the past couple seasons. The veteran driver has made four combined starts between the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series the past two years, and now he looks to expand even further into NASCAR in the upcoming season. Andretti has partnered with Roper Racing and Cook Racing Technologies to take on a 14-race slate in the ARCA Menards Series and seven events in the truck series. He'll pilot the team's No. 04 Ford and look to further develop his stock car talents. Andretti earned a couple Top-20 finishes last season in this division of NASCAR with Spire Motorsports, so there's little doubt he can race competitively.  
31. Unknown Drivers – No. 02 Young's Motorsports Chevrolet – This was the most competitive of the Young's trucks. It featured a driver rotation of many, but mainly relied on a steady diet of Kris Wright and Kaden Honeycutt in 2023. The team would rack up one Top-10 and four Top-15 finishes in the full schedule. While no driver plans have been announced for 2024, we should be looking at a similar situation where many drivers will fill the seat during the upcoming season. While competitive at times, the inconsistency in drivers will hamper overall performance. Andrew Abbott should return at crew chief for the No. 02 Chevrolet and he'll do his best to guide these multiple drivers.
32. Unknown Drivers – No. 20 Young's Motorsports Chevrolet – At the time of this writing, Young's has not announced the driver lineup for the team's No. 20 Chevrolet. This truck featured multiple drivers in 2023 and they netted one Top-10 and six Top-20 finishes. There was a real diverse mix of drivers last season (11 total) but the schedule was largely rounded out by Greg Van Alst as he piloted the team's entry for five of the last seven events. Joe Lax is expected to return to crew chief this team and depending on the driver rotation, that will largely dictate their capabilities in the upcoming season.   
33. Unknown Drivers – No. 12 Young's Motorsports Chevrolet – Spencer Boyd was the primary driver for this team last season. However, he departs to start his own truck series team in 2024. He would labor to just one Top-20 finish (Bristol dirt) last year and the truck would actually DNQ on three occasions. The average finish would check in around 27.5, which fell way short of expectations. It's not yet known who will pilot the No. 12 Chevrolet truck in the upcoming season. Will Young's hire one driver or turn this into a driver rotation like their other truck series entries. As with the other Young's entries, driver determination will play a big part in this team's potential success in 2024.