By: Ashley McCubbin

The theme of each NASCAR Silly Season is figuring out what the changes will be, so that way you can find the ride that your favourite driver(s) is(are) behind the wheel of. It’s why News From The Pits is here to help you sort through it all.

Being just a few months away from the start of the new season, a lot of people would hope to have many of the pieces for the upcoming NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series campaign in stone. However, there are still several blanks and mysteries left on the current 2024 chart. Is it a culmination of talent moving around, pressure to perform, or lack of sponsorship? Probably more so the last piece of the puzzle.

This may be alarming, but it should not be concerning – yet. If the grid is not filled out as we get into January, then there may be an argument to raising the red flags.

Tyler Ankrum will be joining McAnally-Hilgemann Racing after spending last season with Hattori Racing Enterprises. There was hope for him to have success this year in knowing HRE’s past success in the Truck Series with a championship with Brett Moffitt, but that was also in 2018. The team has not done much since swapping drivers, and it showed with Ankrum placing 17th in points with six top-10’s, highlighted by a fourth at the Circuit of the Americas.

Now with his fourth different team, the pressure will be on Ankrum to prove he can get the job done behind the wheel. After all, you cannot blame the equipment with Christian Eckes placing fifth in points with four wins and 10 top-five finishes.

#35: Jake Garcia, McAnally Hilgemann Racing, Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado

Jake Garcia was his teammate last season, and proved solid in his rookie campaign with three top-five’s and nine top-10’s – but is now set to replaced by Ankrum. The Georgian will make the transition to ThorSport Racing, which is another team that leaves no excuse to not perform considering they just won the championship for a second time with Ben Rhodes.

Garcia is replacing Hailie Deegan at the organization, as she will move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with AM Racing.

Niece Motorsports proved they can get the job done, as evident by Carson Hocevar making the Championship 4 with four wins and 11 top-five’s, earning him a NASCAR Cup Series opportunity with Legacy Motorsport. He will be replaced by Bayley Currey, who ran 11 races last season for Al Niece with three top-five finishes. A full schedule should see more consistent runs, but whether he becomes a title contender is yet to be seen.

Matt Mills also joins the organization on a full-time basis after running eight races in 2023 for Young Motorsports, highlighted by a fifth-place finish at Richmond Raceway. We have yet to see Mills’ full potential so the jury may be out here, as the team only scored two top-10’s last year with Kaden Honeycutt.

With GMS Racing closing their doors, it leaves a lot of questions for the drivers who were under their banner in 2023 – especially Grant Enfinger, considering he was part of the Championship 4. Although he has yet to confirm his plans, teammate Daniel Dye will be joining McAnally-Hilgemann Racing – which should prove to be a good move based on the above. You could say the pressure is there to get those numbers, as well, as he only scored a single top-10 finish last night.