Spire Motorsports Weather Guard Truck Race Advance

In eight NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Spire Motorsports has collected two top-five and four top-10 finishes. Kyle Busch earned a team-best second-place finish aboard the No. 7 Silverado last March. The Mooresville, N.C., organization fields the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Nos. 07 and 7 entries will see a rotating roster of all-star caliber drivers throughout the season, while Rajah Caruth and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Andres Perez de Lara will pilot the Nos. 71 and 77, respectively, for the full slate of races.
The Weather Guard Truck Race from Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live on FS1 Friday, April 11 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The sixth of 25 races on the 2025 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar will be broadcast live on the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Friday’s event marks the second-of-three events in the Triple Truck Challenge program. “The Trip” rewards the highest-finishing driver in an event who’s declared to collect CRAFSTMAN Truck Series points with a $50,000 bonus. Both Rajah Caruth and Andres Perez de Lara are eligible for the bonus.
During the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol, Spire Motorsports will take part in TWG Motorsports’ Coast to Coast activation, uniting the North Carolina-based organization with its sister teams across Formula E, INDYCAR and IMSA as they race simultaneously across the U.S. This weekend marks the one time this season where all four teams compete on TWG’s home soil, making it the lone opportunity to highlight one of the most diversified motorsports businesses in the world.

Kyle Larson – Driver, No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Kyle Larson will drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 07 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Elk Grove, Calif., native will pull triple duty this weekend. In addition to his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series responsibilities, Larson will also drive Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 Chevrolet in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series SciAps 300 and the No. 5 Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Food City 500.
Larson looks to become the second driver to sweep all three national series events in a single weekend and join Kyle Busch’s pair of three-peats at Bristol in August 2010 and August 2017.
HENDRICKCARS.COM is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop more than 30,000 new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protection programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
Last time out at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Larson recovered from a spin midway through the Final Stage to park the No. 07 Silverado in Victory Lane. He made an impressive run through the field over the event’s final 40 circuits, chasing down the leaders with two laps remaining to make the winning move.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion owns 16 starts in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, where he’s collected two pole awards, wins at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, Eldora (Ohio) Speedway, North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and Homestead-Miami, nine top fives and 12 top 10s.
Larson will contest his third CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race for Spire Motorsports Friday night. He made his initial appearance for the team in the 2023 Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro, where he started eighth and lead 138 of the event’s 250 laps en route to victory.
“Yung Money” will make his first CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearance on the Bristol concrete, but he competed in the 2021 Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt on Bristol’s dirt configuration. A Lap-99 incident ended the dirt ringer’s afternoon 52 laps prior to the checkered flag.
The 32-year-old has seen success across all three NASCAR national series at “The Last Great Colosseum.” In nine NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Larson has secured seven top fives, eight top 10s and paced the field for 746 circuits. He maintained a 4.7 average starting position, a 5.7 average finish and took the checkered flag in his last appearance on NASCAR’s junior circuit in “Thunder Valley” in August 2018. In 17 starts in NASCAR’s premier division, Larson has secured seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes, led 1,351 laps and secured victories in the Bristol Night Race in 2021 and 2024.
The blue and white HENDRICKCARS.COM colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-087. The truck’s first and only appearance came last month at Homestead-Miami with Larson at the controls.

Kyle Larson Quote
What did you learn from running the triple at Homestead that can help you this week at Bristol?
“It is a totally different racetrack, but I was able to get the timing down being on track with all three series. I am excited for the weekend, I love Bristol. Hopefully the track widens out for the truck race like it did last fall. If it is locked on the bottom, qualifying good is going to be huge. If we can get it done on Friday, I like our chances Saturday and Sunday.”

Atop the No. 07 Box – Crew Chief Allen Hart

Allen Hart calls the shots for the No. 07 team, an entry that will see a rotating roster of drivers throughout the 2025 campaign.
Hart earned his first career win in the crew chief role in last month’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After a spin midway through the Final Stage, Larson made an impressive run through the field over the event’s final 40 circuits, chasing down the leaders with two laps remaining to make the winning move.
As an engineer at JR Motorsports, the Midland, Mich., native helped Justin Allgaier to eight top fives at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” including a pair of runner-up finishes.
Last time out at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, the No. 07 team saw a top-10 effort dissolve after a left-front tire rub forced them to pit road. William Byron rallied over the final 15 circuits to finish 14th.

Corey Day – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Corey Day will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Friday’s 200-lap event will mark Day’s eighth CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start and fourth with Spire Motorsports. He made four series appearances in 2024 with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
HENDRICKCARS.COM is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop more than 30,000 new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protection programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
Last September, the Clovis, Calif., native competed in both the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series events at Bristol. He finished 18th in his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut hours after collecting his first ARCA Menards Series’ top 10 with a seventh-place result.
In his first CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race for Spire Motorsports at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 19-year-old secured his first Kennametal Pole Award and led the field to the green flag. He maintained his footing in the top five throughout the event’s first two stages until contact with another competitor cut his right-front tire, leaving him 27th in the final rundown. One week later, he earned a career-best 15th-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In the division’s most recent stop at Martinsville Speedway, Day’s top-15 was derailed after being collected in a multi-truck incident.
Day will return to the seat of the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado in two weeks at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway. After Rockingham, he will round out his eight-race slate at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway (May 30), Indianapolis Raceway Park (July 25) and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (Aug. 30).
The talented teenager will contest two more ARCA Menards Series events in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet SS later this season at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway (July 11) and Kansas Speedway (Sept. 26).
Day will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-081 Friday night. Kyle Busch has piloted the truck to victories at Texas Motor Speedway (April 2024) and Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season

Corey Day Quote
What are your thoughts heading into Bristol?
“Bristol (Motor Speedway) is another track that I’ve raced at before, so I’m excited to get back and improve on my first attempt. I’ve been able to get in the sim and really study ahead of this race and I know that Spire Motorsports will bring me a strong truck. My goal this weekend is to just work to improve and build off of what I know.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Brian Pattie

Brian Pattie returns to the top of the No. 7 pit box, an entry that will see a plethora of all-star caliber drivers behind the wheel throughout the 2025 season.
The Zephyrhills, Fla., native has called three CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races on the Bristol concrete, claiming a runner-up finish in 2024 with Kyle Busch at the controls. He also guided William Byron to a third-place finish on the dirt in 2023.
Pattie has stood atop the box for 28 NASCAR Cup Series events at “The Last Great Colosseum,” earning three top fives and eight top 10s.
In the inaugural NACAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race, Pattie helped Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. to a runner-up finish after racking up the most quality passes in the field (39).
The 24-year veteran spent 14 seasons in NASCAR’s premier division. As a crew chief, he has earned six wins in Cup Series competition and 11 in the Xfinity Series. He stands as one of 11 crew chiefs to win races across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.
Earlier this season, the No. 7 team defended its 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Kyle Busch behind the wheel. The Las Vegas driver spent all 135 laps in the top 15 while leading a race-high 80 laps and recording a field-leading average running position (3.2) and driver rating (124.6).

Rajah Caruth – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Rajah Caruth will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Caruth will make his fifth appearance on Bristol’s concrete configuration in a truck this weekend. He owns a pair of ARCA Menards Series starts in addition to a lone NASCAR Xfinity Series appearances at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”
In the series’ most recent trip to “Thunder Valley” last September, the Washington D.C. native rolled off third, averaged the second-highest average running position in the field (3.12), earned a stage victory and led nine laps en route to a third-place finish.
In the 2024 Weather Guard Truck Race, Caruth racked up the second-most green flag passes in the field (35) and finished eighth. The solid finish marked his fourth consecutive top-10 effort to open last season’s campaign.
Caruth has collected four top 10s in the last five events on concrete tracks dating back to last season with finishes of eighth, seventh, fourth, third and seventh, at Bristol (March 16, 2024), Martinsville Speedway (April 5, 2024), Nashville Superspeedway (June 28, 2024), Bristol (Sept. 19, 2024) and Martinsville (March 28, 2025).
The 2024 season marked a career year for Caruth where he tallied one win, a pair of Cometic Gasket Pole Awards and five top-five finishes, all of which were the first of his young career. The 12 top-10 finishes on the season tripled Caruth’s total of four in 2023, while his average starting position of 10.7 was four positions higher than 2023 and his 11.6 average finish was an impressive seven positions higher.
With his first career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win last season, Caruth became the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race.
Caruth and the No. 71 team qualified for the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs in 2024, the first such appearance for the former Washington, D.C., resident. Despite reaching the Round of 8, mechanical issues stalled his championship bid in the season’s penultimate event at Martinsville Speedway.
Caruth will be behind the wheel of Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-078. Nick Sanchez piloted the truck to victory last May at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
Last September you put together one of your best performances, competing up front for the entire evening. What are your expectations heading into Friday?
“It is hard to set an expectation on an outcome. I would say my confidence is pretty high entering the weekend and this part of the season. I feel pretty good about going to a racetrack where I’ve had success and I’ve had pace. I expect to be up front and compete, but a lot of things can happen in a race. It would be great to get the win, and I know Bono and my whole team is capable of building a Chevy Silverado that can get the job done. I will be gunning to be the best of the HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevys and snag that $50,000 bonus.”

How does a top-10 run last time out at Martinsville help build momentum given your tough start to the season?
“I think I have constantly been getting better at Martinsville. I feel like we have been competitive every week and I don’t expect anything different at Bristol. It would be good to put together another good result and continue climbing the standings. The two DNF’s to start the season left us 30th, but we have been on a slow and steady ascent. We don’t have to get it all in one race. Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m excited to get to Bristol this weekend, one of my favorite race tracks. Thanks to everyone at Spire Motorsports for making this happen, and the great people at Hendrick Automotive Group and Team Chevy for all their support.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion

Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion calls the shots for Rajah Caruth and the No. 71 team in 2025.
The 53-year-old earned back-to-back top-five finishes in the Bristol Night Race in 2010 and 2011 with driver Jamie McMurray during their time in the NASCAR Cup Series at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
The Boylston, Mass., native led Martin Truex, Jr., to Victory Lane in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at “The Last Great Colosseum” in March 2004. Truex led 134 laps en route to his first of six wins on the year.
Manion, a 31-year veteran of the sport, founded Spire Motorsports’ CRAFTSMAN Truck Series program alongside industry veteran Mike Greci in 2022. The team claimed their first victory in their second outing with William Byron behind the wheel at Martinsville Speedway.
The veteran crew chief has racked up six Cup Series victories – including the 2010 Daytona 500 – 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series triumphs and 11 CRAFTSMAN Truck series wins. Manion is also one of 11 crew chiefs to have called wins across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.
In 2023, Manion became one of few to call a race in all three of NASCAR’s national series in a single season, all of which came under the Spire Motorsports banner. He led the part-time effort on the No. 7 Silverado in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, helped in limited starts for Carson Hocevar in the Xfinity Series and took the reigns during the second half of the Cup Series season for Ty Dillon and the No. 77 team.

Andres Perez de Lara – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Andres Perez de Lara will pilot the No. 77 Telcel Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports in the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Last time out at Martinsville Speedway, Perez de Lara maintained valuable track position late in the event to secure a career-best seventh-place finish.
While the Mexico City native will make his first appearance at “The Last Great Colosseum” in a truck, he has made three ARCA Menard’s Series starts at the famed half-mile. He made his series debut at the facility in 2022 and claimed top-five finishes at the track in both 2023 and 2024. Last season, Perez de Lara maintained an average running position of 3.5 and claimed a fourth-place finish in the Busch’s Beans 200.
In 12 short track starts across two full-time ARCA Menards Series campaigns, the 20-year-old earned nine top fives, collected an average finish of 4.5 and scored a pair of runner-up finishes in 2024 at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Salem (Ind.) Speedway. He also made 13 appearances on short tracks in the NASCAR Mexico Series, racking up four top fives and nine top 10s.
Telcel is Mexico’s leading telecommunications company, providing nationwide coverage, cutting-edge mobile connectivity, and high-speed internet services to millions of users. With over 30 years of experience, Telcel continues to innovate in digital communication, offering solutions that keep people connected anytime, anywhere.
Beyond technology, Telcel is committed to supporting excellence in sports, particularly in motorsports. As a proud and long-time sponsor of Perez de Lara, Telcel fuels the passion for speed, precision and performance, driving success both on and off the track. Telcel will be a season-long partner with Perez de Lara and the No. 77 team.
Perez de Lara is in pursuit of Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2025 and sits second in the standings for the award, 22 points behind leader Gio Ruggiero.
The 2024 ARCA champion juggled his duties while also competing full time in the NASCAR Mexico Series. In 2023, he earned the Rookie of the Year award while finishing fourth in the division’s championship point standings and reaching the series’ version of the NASCAR playoffs. His lone win in the series came at Ovalo Aguascalientes, a 0.875-mile oval.
Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-079 will be driven by Perez de Lara Friday night. The truck has earned a pair of Kennametal Pole Awards at Kansas Speedway (September 2023 and May 2024) and earned a sixth-place finish at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway last July with Chase Purdy behind the wheel.

Andres Perez de Lara Quotes
How does going to a track you have seen before, like Bristol, help with your confidence level when approaching the weekend?
“I am excited to get to Bristol, there is no place like it. The atmosphere is second to none. It is one of the few tracks I have experience on the schedule, so I feel confident knowing that I have laps under my belt. I made my first-career ARCA start there, and have put together some really good runs. I grew up racing short tracks in Mexico, so I am quite familiar with everything that goes into being successful on that style of track. While there is nothing like Bristol in Mexico, I am confident with the experience I have gained in three ARCA starts at Bristol ,that I will be able to deliver a good result this weekend in the truck.”

How do you look to build momentum on your first top 10 of the year at Martinsville?
“Our finish at Martinsville a week or so ago helped my confidence a ton. It shows that I can be competitive in a truck. I am continuing to learn more and more with each sim session. We have continued to work hard on our trucks in the shop to keep building on that momentum. I believe with the preparation we put in over the off week, Bristol will be another great weekend for the No. 77 team. I am super thankful for my team and everyone at Spire Motorsports who continue to build fast Silverados.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Chad Walter

Crew chief Chad Walter will be atop the box for Andres Perez de Lara and the No. 77 team in 2025.
The 53-year-old has visited Bristol Victory Lane twice in Xfinity Series competition. He led Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier to victories in the spring event in 2006 and 2010, respectively.
In his five truck races atop the box, Walter has collected four top-10 finishes, highlighted by Rajah Caruth’s third-place finish last September.
On the dirt configuration at Bristol, the veteran crew chief helped Canadian-driver Raphael Lessard to a third-place result in the inaugural Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt in 2021.
The Albion, N.Y., native has racked up six wins, 52 top fives, and 130 top 10s between both the NASCAR Xfinity and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on March 21, 2025, when Kyle Larson took the checkered flag in the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2025, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team will also field the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the No. 77 Chevrolet in the ARCA Menards Series in select events.