Brent Crews On Truck Debut: ‘It’s Time To Execute’

Brent Crews (Ted Malinowski/ARCA Racing photo)

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – To say Brent Crews has been eager for his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut to arrive would be a massive understatement.

Bursting at the seams might be a better description for how the 17-year-old from Mooresville, N.C., has been feeling ahead of Saturday’s Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“I’ve been excited for, honestly, a couple of months … from the first time I found out I was going to be able to drive at [the Truck Series] level,” Crews said Thursday on SiriusXM Speedway.

“To drive the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage is an amazing opportunity that I definitely couldn’t pass up.”

Crews will make his first appearance in one of NASCAR’s three national touring divisions at the five-eighths-mile short track that has been a part of stock car racing’s rich history for decades.

It’s the latest step for a young talent regarded as one of the top rising prospects in the sport, who has been a winner at every level he’s competed in so far.

After starting out as a sensation in go-karts at Trackhouse Motorplex and dirt outlaw karts at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway, Crews has gone on to win in national midgets, Trans-Am TA2 sports cars, late model stock cars, super late models, and most recently in the ARCA Menards Series.

Crews is already a three-time winner in national ARCA competition and is coming off an ARCA Menards Series East victory last month at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway with Joe Gibbs Racing.

While it’s been a meteoric rise for the teenager, it’s been “all part of the plan,” according to Crews.

“I’m so fortunate to have the supportive family that I do, and people around me who are so wise in racing,” he noted. “My dad has been a race fan his whole life, and from the time I was growing up, we looked at Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Jeff Gordon … knowing that the best guys raced absolutely everything.

“The thought process has always been that once I could learn how to win in a certain car, to head on to the next hardest thing,” Crews continued. “It’s always about getting ahead. As soon as I started to win in Trans-Am, my dad was looking at, ‘OK, what’s the next thing?’ In late models, it was the same thing … head straight to ARCA from there. The Truck Series became the next logical step after that.

“It’s been a great career path so far, and I really like the choices we have now for where we can go from here.”

Many of Crews’ pathways have been paved in part due to Toyota GAZOO Racing (formerly Toyota Racing Development), which he’s been involved with for a half-decade, going back to 12 years old when Crews was just venturing into the pavement chapter of his driving career.

Five years later, Crews looks to be perhaps one of the manufacturer’s leading candidates to have a shot at a long-term future in NASCAR, potentially able to climb all the way to the premier Cup Series.

Brent Crews is already a multi-time ARCA Menards Series winner, including earlier this year at Arizona's Phoenix Raceway. (Charlie Ramirez/ARCA Racing photo)

“That’s always the goal in a position like mine, right?” Crews pointed out. “I’m super grateful for the positions that I’ve been put in, thanks to Toyota and so many of the mentors I’ve been fortunate enough to work with to get to this point. God has blessed me and my family and I’m blessed to be in the position of racing for … what I feel are the best teams in both series that I’m in right now (ARCA and the Truck Series).

“Toyota GAZOO Racing has put me on the right track and gotten me here; without their support and guidance I wouldn’t have the opportunity that I have to go truck racing starting this weekend.”

Crews joins an organization in TRICON Garage that currently leads the Truck Series point standings with Corey Heim – another highly-touted product of Toyota’s vaunted driver-development program – and has won repeatedly over the past three seasons at NASCAR’s third-highest level.

It’s the first of nine planned Truck Series starts for Crews in TRICON’s ‘all-star truck’ this year, but his immediate focus is on North Wilkesboro, particularly since Saturday marks the first time he’ll experience true live pit stops – something he knows will be a challenge.

“I’ve done a whopping total of zero (live stops in competition) in my career, so that’s going to be a great learning curve for me and one I’ll have to acclimate to, for sure,” said Crews. “But I’m excited, also, because it’s a whole new chapter of my career now that I get to experience.

“I’ve been working on pit road practice with TRICON … they have great training aids to be able to use even for someone like me before I get out on track in the truck, so I have no real excuses to mess anything up on race day other than that it’s my first start in the Truck Series. I’ve done a lot of prep work to head into the weekend with, and hopefully it all pays dividends.”

Iin addition to his nine Truck Series starts, Crews has nine additional ARCA races with Joe Gibbs Racing on his agenda and selected other major events later in the year, including the Snowball Derby super late model race in December.

But perhaps his most valuable race outside the Truck Series comes Friday night at North Wilkesboro, when he’ll get extra track time by running the CARS Late Model Stock Tour feature at the track for Rackley W.A.R. in partnership with Kevin Harvick Inc.

“North Wilkesboro was a really good first race idea for the truck stuff, because I’ve already been there twice in late models and will get to race Friday night in the late model stock … but we were good there last year and raced for the lead for a while before we had some issues that knocked us out of contention,” reflected Crews. “I feel like it’s the perfect place for me to have my first Truck Series start.

“Hopefully this season can go well and these nine can be the first of many for us.”

As for his expectations for Saturday, Crews doesn’t want to go in thinking he’ll light the world on fire, but much like one of his good friends and mentors – NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love – says often, Crews wants to “control what we can control” and go from there.

“I feel like I don’t try to set any crazy expectations in anything that I do, at least early on,” he said. “I just kind of go with the flow. I told my crew chief (X) and spotter (X) that my goals for the weekend are to do the best I can to not make any mistakes on pit road and keep the truck in one piece all day. Those are things I’ve been living by coming into this weekend … and I’ll also try to not make too many people upset with my bumper or my door.

“I feel like we should have a pretty good day if I manage to focus on those things,” Crews added. “It’s a surreal feeling to finally be at this point … but now it’s time to execute.”

Broadcast coverage of Crews’ Truck Series debut, the Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, is slated for Saturday afternoon, May 17 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.