TRICON Garage took to social media to reveal its crew chief lineup for the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
The host of names that will occupy TRICON’s crew chief lineup for next season features the return of four names from the previous season and one new name returning atop the pit box for the first time in two seasons.
Beginning in 2025, Jake Hampton will be working as a crew chief for TRICON’s No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro team. The No. 1 entry will be fielded as the team’s “all-star” entry for a third consecutive season and piloted by multiple competitors that have yet to be named. Hampton had previously served as a crew chief for TRICON’s Nos. 15 and 17 entries through 11 of the remaining 12 events on the 2023 schedule.
For the list of familiar names returning in 2025, Derek Smith and Scott Zipadelli will remain as crew chiefs for TRICON’s Nos. 5 and 11 Toyota entries, respectively. Smith, who spent the previous two seasons working with driver Dean Thompson, will be paired with Toni Breidinger, the latter of whom replaces Thompson and is set to make her first full-time campaign in the Truck Series after she competed on a full-time ARCA Menards Series basis for Venturini Motorsports in 2024. Meanwhile, Zipadelli, the 2018 Truck Series championship-winning crew chief who enters his third consecutive season with TRICON, will remain paired with driver Corey Heim. Together, the duo of Zipadelli and Heim have notched nine victories, five poles, 26 top-five results, 37 top-10 results, the 2023 Truck Series Regular Season Championship and two Championship 4 appearances, where they settled in the runner-up spot in the 2024 driver’s standings.
Lastly, crew chiefs Jeff Hensley and Jerame Donley will return to TRICON as both will also be switching teams in 2025. Hensley, a veteran crew chief with 22 Truck victories who first joined TRICON and worked atop the No. 17 pit box for driver Taylor Gray a year ago, will transition to TRICON’s No. 15 Toyota team and work with Tanner Gray, Taylor’s older brother. As a result, Donley, who first joined TRICON in 2023 to crew chief the No. 15 entry and Tanner Gray, will assume Hensley’s former position atop the No. 17 pit box for newcomer Gio Ruggiero, the latter of whom is set to make his first full-time campaign in the Truck Series after spending this past season competing in the ARCA Menards Series East division for Venturini Motorsports.
This past season, Donley was replaced by Jason Burdett at the No. 15 team prior to the seven-race Playoff stretch, but he worked as a crew chief for the No. 1 entry that was piloted by William Sawalich for the remaining three events on the schedule.
In addition to the crew chief lineup, Matt Puccia, a three-time race-winning crew chief in the Cup Series, will remain as TRICON’s competition director for a third consecutive season.
The 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to mark TRICON Garage’s third season of existence since being rebranded from David Gilliland Racing and changing manufacturers from Ford to Toyota. Since 2023, the organization has notched nine victories, all of which have been recorded by driver Corey Heim, crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the No. 11 team. In addition, the organization has also recorded a combined eight poles, 48 top-five results, 150 top-10 results and 1,467 laps led. This past season, Heim and Taylor Gray represented TRICON in the Playoffs as the organization continues to pursue its first championship in the Truck Series division.
TRICON Garage’s 2025 Truck Series season is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 14 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
