Crews Shows Out In Truck Debut Before Late Spin

Brent Crews (1) battles Kyle Busch at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Matthew Thacker/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – A 22nd-place finish wasn’t at all representative of the banner day 17-year-old Brent Crews put together in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut.

The driver of the No. 1 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage remained consistent throughout Saturday’s Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, fighting inside the top 10 for much of the afternoon and even earning bonus points at the end of stage two.

That all changed with six laps remaining, however, when two-time Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes got into the left-rear fender of the No. 1, spinning Crews and eliminating his hopes of a solid finish.

Crews soared through the early stages of the race with surprising ease. Starting from 10th with limited practice and no qualifying due to weather, he efficiently navigated through the back half of the top 10 and held seventh place for most of stage one.

After the first caution of the event came out for a stalled Tyler Tomassi on the backstretch, Crews and company took on four fresh tires, pushing the Toyota GAZOO Racing development driver back to 13th for the restart.

Unfortunately, Crews barely missed out on stage points in the opening 80-lap stage, crossing the stripe in 12th but still impressing those around him.

Crews settled back to kick off stage two, slipping through a four-wide battle to sneak into second behind race leader Grant Enfinger on the restart. He dropped back into eighth later in the stage, but still ended inside the points before a strong pit stop lifted him into the top five to start the final stage.

Challenging for a potential top five, Crews’ promising debut came to a disappointing halt with six laps left in regulation, when Ben Rhodes washed up into the side of the No. 1 in a battle for sixth and sent Crews spinning.

Crews had to come to pit lane as a result and ended up trapped a lap down. Despite a chaotic overtime finish, which included his TRICON Garage teammate Corey Heim spinning out of the lead on the final lap, Crews ended up just outside the top 20 despite a prodigious afternoon.

While it wasn’t what he hoped for – or arguably deserved – Crews still left North Wilkesboro pleased with his personal effort and what he felt he showed on track.

“It was good. I got practice, and no qualifying, but I felt like we had a really good truck,” Crews said. “I felt like we were on track for a fifth- or sixth-place finish, and ultimately kind of got used up there going into (turns) one and two by the 99 (Rhodes). Regardless, though, I’m learning a lot and grateful to be here.”

Crews hopes to maintain his strong performance for his remaining eight starts in TRICON’s ‘All-Star’ entry, as he becomes the team’s anchor driver for the second half of the season.

“It helps a lot driving a super-fast truck all day,” he noted. “That, I think, makes my job a lot easier despite being new at a lot of these racetracks. On paper it’s not what we wanted, but we’ll build from this.”

Crews’ next Truck Series start comes when the tour visits the fast seven-turn road course of Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, one of three Truck Series road-course races this year.

It may be a positive setting for Crews, who earned a sports car championship in the Trans-Am TA2 Series in 2023, becoming the youngest-ever titlist in class history in a breakout road racing campaign.

Broadcast coverage of the LiUNA 150 at Lime Rock Park airs Saturday, June 28 at 1:30 pm ET, live on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.