Niece Motorsports are fielding just one full-time truck during the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, that being the No. 44 Chevrolet for Andres Perez de Lara following his mid-season move from Spire Motorsports a year ago. But they ran four trucks in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Travis Pastrana was behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chevrolet for his first NASCAR national series start since 2023, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was behind the wheel of the No. 45 Chevrolet for what was surprisingly his first ever Truck Series race, and it was Cleetus McFarland who made his own NASCAR national series debut in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
McFarland, the YouTube sensation whose real name is Garrett Mitchell, entered his Truck Series debut with just four races of ARCA Menards Series experience under his belt, and it took only a few laps for his night to come to an end with a wreck.
Although Niece Motorsports brought back the No. 42 Chevrolet and the No. 45 Chevrolet for Tyler Reif and Stenhouse, respectively, this past weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway (now officially EchoPark Speedway), they did not run the No. 4 truck.
Cleetus McFarland replacement confirmed for St. Petersburg
In the series' inaugural street race in St. Petersburg, Florida, however, they are set to do so, and they are set to do so for Ben Maier.
Maier made his Truck Series debut a year ago with Young's Motorsports at the age of 16, finishing 18th at Lime Rock Park behind the wheel of the No. 02 Chevrolet. He added a 25th place finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval later in the year.
The 17-year-old Chester, Maryland native won the 2025 CARS Pro Late Model Tour championship with seven top five finishes in 13 races.
Niece Motorsports also plan to run the No. 42 truck and the No. 45 truck again in St. Petersburg. Tyler Reif is set to drive the No. 42 entry for the second race in a row, and Landen Lewis is set to drive the No. 45 entry for the first time this year.
The OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 is set to be shown live on Fox from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 28. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series street race!