NASCAR Truck Series: Meet the 2020 rookies

The NASCAR Truck Series will have seven newcomers racing full-time and battling for the Rookie of the Year Award. Who are these rookie drivers?

The NASCAR Truck Series field size is 32 drivers. Of those 32 drivers, seven drivers will be competing in their inaugural full-time Truck Series season. Those seven drivers are Christian Eckes, Tate Fogleman, Tanner Gray, Derek Kraus, Raphael Lessard, Ty Majeski and Zane Smith.

With over more than one-fifth of the Truck Series field size slated to be rookies, let’s take a look at each of these newcomers.

Christian Eckes

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Christian Eckes is set to drive the #18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. He won the 2019 ARCA Menards Series championship. He won the championship on the strength of four wins despite missing one race due to an illness and subsequent hospitalization.

Eckes has made 12 Truck Series starts over the past two years. He has three top five finishes, seven top 10 finishes and three pole positions. In his three most recent Truck Series starts, he has led laps and averaged a starting position of 1.33. In his brief Truck Series career, he has only failed to finish on the lead lap in two races, both ending in DNFs due to a crash.

Atop the pit box for Eckes this season will be Rudy Fugle, who guided Erik Jones and Christopher Bell to Truck Series titles in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

Both Kyle Busch Motorsports full-time drivers face pressure to perform well this season after neither one of the team’s two drivers from last year, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland, made the playoffs. Eckes should be considered not only a contender to win the Rookie of the Year Award but also to make the playoffs.

Tate Fogleman

Tate Fogleman is arguably the biggest unknown in this Truck Series rookie field. He is 19 years old from Durham, North Carolina and is set to drive the #02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet. The organization will only field two full-time entries this season after fielding three last season. Spencer Boyd is slated to drive the #20 Chevrolet as Fogleman’s teammate.

Fogleman has only competed in three Truck Series races, all for Young’s Motorsports in 2018. In those three races, he only completed one, as the other two ended with DNFs. But in his three starts, his average starting position was 15.0, so will that be a precursor to how he will finish this season?

Fogleman cut his teeth racing in the CARS Super Late Model Tour. In 29 career starts, he won one race and recorded 12 top five finishes and 16 top 10 finishes.

Expanding to three teams last season did not go as planned last season for Young’s Motorsports. Tyler Dippel was suspended, Boyd only ran part-time and Gus Dean struggled mightily. Dippel and Dean will not race full-time in NASCAR this year.

Boyd won at Talladega Superspeedway and has competed in all three levels of NASCAR. Will his experience combined with a hopefully better allocation of team resources aid Fogleman in his first full-time foray into NASCAR?

Tanner Gray

After competing in the final three Truck Series races last season, Tanner Gray is slated to compete full-time in the series this season. The 20-year-old from Artesia, New Mexico is set to pilot the #15 DGR-Crosley Ford with veteran crew chief Shane Wilson calling the shots.

Gray finished second in the ARCA Menards Series East championship standings last season with a win at South Boston Speedway. In the main ARCA series, he has nine career starts with a best finish of fifth at Michigan International Speedway.

In his three Truck Series starts last year, Gray finished all the races, albeit with only one lead-lap finish. DGR-Crosley are expected to only field one full-time entry this Truck Series season, though the team will have an alliance with Front Row Motorsports and driver Todd Gilliland.

While I predict Gray will struggle in his maiden season in the Truck Series, he will have a sporty looking #15 Ford.

https://twitter.com/DGR_Crosley/status/1212729530655354881

Derek Kraus

After dominating in both the ARCA Menards East and West Series, Derek Kraus is ready to compete in the Truck Series. He won the 2019 ARCA Menards Series West championship and has 10 career wins in that series. In the East series, he has three wins, 12 top five finishes, and 15 top 10 finishes in only 18 career starts. He is ready!

Kraus is slated to drive the #19 McAnally Hilgermann Racing Toyota in a partnership between West series team owner Bill McAnally and Stratford, Wisconsin (Krauss’ hometown) businessman Bill Hilgermann.

The team have an alliance with Hattori Racing Enterprises. Kevin Bellicourt, who won three Truck Series races with Justin Haley in 2018, will be the crew chief. Bellicourt has been the crew chief for all five of Kraus’s Truck Series starts.

In his five Truck Series starts, Kraus has recorded two top 10 finishes, both eighth place finishes at Phoenix Raceway and Dover International Speedway.

Kraus is only 18 years old, but he is a star on the rise. He won the combination East and West series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. That race track has produced 18 different Truck Series winners in 19 races. Will this year’s edition produce Kraus’s first win?

Raphael Lessard

After competing part-time in K&N Pro Series East, the ARCA Menards Series, the Truck Series, and winning one race in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series last year, Raphael Lessard was named the driver of the #4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

He and teammate Eckes will battle it out in hopes of making the playoffs and winning the Rookie of the Year Award. Two-time Truck Series championship crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. will serve as Lessard’s crew chief, so he will bring a wealth of experience.

Frankly, I know very little about Lessard. He is 18 years old from Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec, Canada.

Ty Majeski

Niece Motorsports burst forth onto the Truck Series scene last year thanks to Ross Chastain. Ty Majeski is excited to continue the team’s success.

https://twitter.com/TyMajeski/status/1204480732946739200

Majeski is set to drive the #45 Chevrolet. He should be considered a favorite to win the Truck Series championship.

After a disastrous 2018 season in which he only finished on the lead lap in four of his 12 Xfinity Series races, Majeski thoroughly recovered last year.

He won three ARCA Menards Series races and accumulated top four finishes in all six of his starts. He helped Chad Bryant Racing win the ARCA Menards Series General Tire Superspeedway Challenge title.

In the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Majeski is set to be a teammate to Chastain and Natalie Decker. Driving for Niece Motorsports last year, Chastain and Timothy Peters both finished this race inside the top 10. Can this trio replicate that success?

In his racing career, Majeski has won 99 races. On Twitter, he denotes his quest to hit the century mark in victories with #chasing100. Speed 51 debated whether the best super late model driver of the 2010 decade was Majeski or Bubba Pollard.

Majeski is only 25 years old. He has incredible talent and a contending team in Niece Motorsports behind him. I’m confident he will earn his 100th career win this Truck Series season.

Zane Smith

After competing part-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series last season, Zane Smith joined GMS Racing to drive the #21 Chevrolet. Although he will be a rookie, his resume thus far definitely gives GMS Racing a stout driver lineup this season.

In 2018, Smith won four ARCA Menards Series races en route to a second place finish in the championship standings. In 36 career starts, he has 25 top 10 finishes to his name. Furthermore, two of his victories occurred at race tracks which the Truck Series visits, Talladega Superspeedway and Pocono Raceway.

Last year, he only made ten Xfinity Series starts, but he accumulated two top five finishes and seven top 10 finishes. His average starting position was 9.7 and his average finishing position was 10.3. Make no mistake about it; Smith is a talented 20-year-old driver.

Take a look at his ride for the season opener.

This Truck Series rookie class includes a bevy of intrigue with drivers such as Fogleman and Lessard and talent with drivers such as Eckes and Majeski.

The rookie battle will definitely be one to watch, especially as several of these drivers could make the playoffs. Tyler Ankrum won the Rookie of the Year Award last season as the lone rookie playoff driver; who will take home the honors this season?

The 2020 NASCAR Truck Series season is scheduled to begin at Daytona International Speedway with the NextEra Energy 250 on Friday, February 14. Live TV coverage is set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.