Luke Baldwin On Top 15: ‘It’s Just A Blessing To Race Trucks’

Luke Baldwin racing down the backstretch at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Luke Baldwin earned his first top 15 in Saturday’s Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in just his third career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start.

The solid effort for the 18-year-old Baldwin, son of longtime NASCAR and modified team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr., saw him barely miss out on a top-10 finish.

Baldwin made his first Truck Series start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April, showing pace by leading practice, but made a mistake in qualifying and spun during the race, ultimately finishing 22nd.

He also raced at Kansas Speedway a week prior to North Wilkesboro, but blew a tire and finished 31st, so his 13th-place run Saturday was welcomed.

Though he started 30th at the five-eighths-mile oval after qualifying was washed out by rain, Baldwin climbed as high as ninth at one point and spent nearly 70 percent of the race inside the top 15.

“[On] the last restart I just messed up getting into (turn) one and overcooked it,” Baldwin said after the race. “We were going to have a top 10, but it is what it is. I learned from it.

“I don’t know if I didn’t get [the tires] clean enough or just overcooked it and carried too much speed into the corner. But we were able to save it and polish it into 13th. All in all, it was a good day.”

Baldwin was able to feel everything out throughout the race aboard his No. 66 Mohawk Northeast Ford F-150, isolating more fine-tuning he feels will make him better in the future.

“I think throughout any long run, we just needed more. The truck needed to be a little more connected. I needed the front to cut a little bit better, and then on entry, I needed all four wheels to stay together and plant it on the racetrack. That’s what we were missing,” Baldwin explained. “Overall we were a bit tight, especially in dirty air. [We] did what we could coming up through the field. It was a lot of fun being able to actually finish a truck race, though. It was a blast.

“After Kansas, I think my confidence was pretty down, but luckily, I have a lot of really, really good people in my corner that were able to lift me up going into this weekend,” continued Baldwin. “I had a lot of confidence after running decent in the [CARS Tour Pro] Late Model [race] and fighting [through] some adversity there. [I] was able to learn how these guys race a little bit more and come through the field a little bit.”

Baldwin won the 2024 SMART Modified Tour championship, a title he clinched at North Wilkesboro last October, and has a win in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour under his belt this year at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C.

But even though Baldwin has risen through the ranks quickly at such a young age, the fact he is racing at the national level now is not lost on him.

“It's a blessing to come out here and race these trucks,” Baldwin said.

“There were like 10 times throughout a green flag run or under caution where I was sitting there and saying to myself, ‘Holy crap, I’m racing a [NASCAR] truck right now.’ It's the coolest thing I've ever done in my life,” he noted. “[I’m] just super thankful for the opportunity from ThorSport and Mohawk Northeast for helping out to make it possible.”

North Wilkesboro marked Baldwin’s final scheduled Truck Series start this season. He’ll continue to race part time in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour for Rick Ware Racing, as well as try to defend his SMART modified title.

The next Truck Series race is Charlotte Motor Speedway’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday, May 23. Coverage airs at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.