- The DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 Powered by Precision Vehicle Logistics marks the first time Spire Motorsports will field a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series entry at Michigan International Speedway. The Mooresville, N.C., organization fields the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets 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 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 125-lap event will be televised live on FOX Saturday, June 30 beginning at noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 13th 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.
Corey LaJoie – Driver, No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado
- Corey LaJoie will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 07 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in Saturday’s DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
- Saturday’s 125-lap event will mark the Concord, N.C., native’s sixth CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start, fourth with Spire Motorsports and first since February 2024 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. LaJoie registered a career-best 10th-place result at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in August 2014.
- LaJoie returns to Spire Motorsports having been a key player in building the team’s NASCAR Cup Series program. He made 136 starts behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, tallying four top fives and eight top 10s, while registering a career-best fourth-place finish three times, most recently in the 2024 season-opening Daytona 500.
- The father of three owns 11 Cup Series starts at the two-mile D-shaped oval, earning a career-best 15th-place finish in the 2023 event.
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- LaJoie will compete in nine events with the No. 07 team in 2025, returning to the seat in August at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. He will round out his schedule at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (Aug. 30), Bristol Motor Speedway (Sep. 11), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Sep. 20), Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (Oct. 3), Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 17), Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (Oct. 24), and Phoenix Raceway (Oct. 31).
- “Supershoe” will be at the controls of Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-091 Saturday afternoon. The truck made its maiden voyage at Kansas last month, finishing in the runner-up position with William Byron at the wheel.
Corey LaJoie Quote
What will be the challenges of getting into a truck while a majority of your experience comes in Cup Series cars?
“I’m excited to get acclimated back into the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The No. 07 team has had some good runs this year, so hopefully we can have a couple more. I’ve only ran three truck races with Spire, so I’ll have to get used to these draggy things. The trucks drive like a cup car with a 40-foot trailer attached to the back. It will be an adjustment. Michigan is one of my favorite racetracks, so we should be good to be in contention, which is what we’re all going for here.”
Atop the No. 07 Box – Crew Chief Allen Hart
- Allen Hart calls the shots for the No. 07 team, an entry that has seen a rotating roster of drivers throughout the 2025 campaign.
- The Midland, Mich., native returns to his home state, competing at a venue only a mere two hours from his hometown. The 2005 mechanical engineering graduate earned his degree from Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State University, located in University Center.
- Last Friday at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, the No. 07 team and driver Kyle Busch were forced to serve an early drive-through penalty for a restart violation, putting the team at a severe track position disadvantage. The Gainbridge Silverado lacked rear grip throughout the night and crossed the finish line in 15th.
- The 43-year-old earned his first career win in a crew chief role in March’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After a spin midway through the Final Stage, Kyle 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.
- Through 12 races, No. 07 team sits ninth in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of one win, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.
Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado
- Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 7 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado, will make his third CRAFSMAN Truck Series start of the season in Friday’s DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
- The Saturday afternoon’s 250-miler will be Hocevar’s second of three races this week. He’ll first take to the track Tuesday night at Berlin Raceway near Grand Rapids in the Money in the Bank 150 Super Late Model race. Hocevar won the prestigious event in 2020 and 2021 and will compete alongside fellow Cup Series competitor and Michigan native Erik Jones. On Sunday, he will resume his normal duties behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet ZL1 in the FireKeepers Casino 400.
- The last time the Michigan-native competed at Berlin Raceway he secured a victory in last August’s Battle at Berlin 250.
- Last month, Hocevar and the No. 7 team claimed victory in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway. He led 75 of the event’s 134 laps and survived last-lap contact with a competitor en route to his fifth victory in the series and first aboard a Spire Motorsports-prepared Silverado.
- The Portage, Mich., native is a veteran of 79 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races, earning five wins, 22 top fives and 34 top 10s while leading 675 laps. He made the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs in all three full-time seasons, reaching the Championship 4 in 2023.
- The five-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race winner will will round out his four-race CRAFTSMAN Truck Series slate at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in two weeks.
- The 22-year-old driver is fresh off his second runner-up finish of the Cup Series season after a stout showing at Nashville Superspeedway. Hocevar started 26th for the 300-lap event, steadily working his way toward the top five by the conclusion of Stage Two. From there, the reigning Cup Series Rookie of the Year ran consistent lap times and was aided by a lightning-fast pit stop from the No. 77 team to claim the second position with 30 laps remaining in the event. The result tied his career-best finish in NASCAR’s premier series, first earned on February 23 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- Hocevar’s finish at Nashville resulted in a gain of five positions in the Cup Series driver point standings, placing the No. 77 team just four points behind the Playoff cut line with 12 races remaining.
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- Hocevar will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-086 Friday night, the same truck he raced at Texas last month before falling out of contention for a top-five finish when he lost voltage under green-flag conditions and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. The team ultimately finished 17th.
Carson Hocevar Quote
How much does it benefit you to race in events outside of the Cup Series?
“I feel like it helps a lot. Not so much in terms of things specific to the car and what we can do, but just having that time on track to be in race mode. I love racing and I’m happiest when I’m getting to do that, but I think it does help that I can be in that racing mindset more often and earlier in the weekend. I also really enjoy getting to be around fans. It makes me a better driver to hear what they love about our sport and know that we’re making a difference.”
Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Brian Pattie
- Brian Pattie stands atop of the No. 7 pit box, an entry that has seen an abundance of all-star caliber drivers behind the wheel throughout the 2025 season.
- Pattie will team up with Carson Hocevar for the third time this weekend, fresh off their victory last month at Kansas Speedway.
- The 50-year-old has yet to call his first CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event at the two-mile D-shaped oval, but has been atop the box for 27 NASCAR Cup Series events. He has earned one top five and nine top 10s, highlighted by a fifth-place result with Clint Bowyer in the August 2013 Pure Michigan 400.
- Last Friday at Nashville Superspeedway, Corey Day registered a career night by earning his first-career top-10 finish in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with a fifth-place result. His previous best was 15th in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- Through 12 races, the No. 7 team sits eighth in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of two wins, five top-five and six top-10 finishes.
- The No. 7 team defended its 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February 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).
- The 24-year industry veteran spent 14 seasons in NASCAR’s premier division. As a crew chief, he has amassed six wins in Cup Series competition, 11 in the Xfinity Series and seven in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. He stands as one of 11 crew chiefs to win races across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.
Rajah Caruth – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado
- Rajah Caruth will be behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Saturday’s DQS Solutions and Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
- Caruth held off a hard-charging Corey Heim and Layne Riggs to earn his second-career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory in last Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. After hitting pit road for the final time in the third position, the No. 71 pit crew nailed the stop, putting the driver out front to start the Final Stage. He led the final 51 laps en route to the win.
- The 22-year-old’s only prior Michigan start came in the 2022 ARCA Menards Series event. He rolled off from the fourth position and crossed the finish line in sixth. Additionally, Caruth owns an Xfinity Series appearance at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway, another two-mile D-shaped oval, in 2023 with Alpha Prime Racing.
- Through the first 12 events on the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar, Caruth has earned one win, three top fives and seven top 10s, while pacing the field for 186 circuits – tripling his 57 laps led entering the year.
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- The 2024 season marked a career year for Caruth, tallying 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 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last season, Caruth became the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race, joining 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Wendell Scott and current Cup Series star Bubba Wallace.
- 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 (Va.) Speedway.
- The blue and white HENDRICKCARS.COM colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-090. In the truck’s maiden voyage last month at Kansas, Caruth was competing comfortably in the top five until a late-race pit-road speeding penalty derailed the evening.
Rajah Caruth Quotes
Coming off the win last weekend, how do you carry the momentum into Michigan?
“The biggest thing I am focusing on is keeping up with my process and doing the same things. It keeps my mind at peace. Compared to Vegas last year, I am a lot better equipped to handle the personal side of it away from the racetrack. It is always a good thing for me to go back to the track and get in the mindset to compete. I am not someone who gets too high or too low. I keep rolling with the punches. I’m excited to get to Michigan this week and compete for another win. We are right in General Motors’ backyard, and hopefully we can have a good showing for them.”
Michigan marks the sixth and final race of the six-week stretch. How do you assess how this run of races has gone and how do you finish on a high note?
“I think closing out this stretch will be good for our guys. They’ve been working really hard the last six weeks. Tracy (Ramsey, hauler driver) has been logging a lot of miles and spent a lot of time on the road. It will be good for everyone to chill out next week and be with their families.
“Over the six weeks, we have been consistently faster than when we started the season. I’m really proud of it. I have been improving through the year, but so has my team and the Silverados they have been bringing to the track. A good finish would be good to keep the momentum up over the off week and heading into the final stretch before the playoffs.”
Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion
- Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has called five CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events at Michigan International Speedway, tallying one win and two top fives. In 2020, Manion led Zane Smith to his first-career win in the series. Smith lined up sixth for a second NASCAR Overtime restart and completed the winning pass in Turn 2 on the final lap. The event that took place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic stands as the last visit to the track located in the Irish Hills of Michigan.
- The Boylston, Mass., native adds two Xfinity Series top-five results and a pair of runner-up finishes in the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series events at the track, all of which came with driver Martin Truex, Jr.
- 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 53-year-old has racked up six Cup Series victories – including the 2010 Daytona 500 – 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series triumphs and 12 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 umbrella. 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 DQS Solution and Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
- Last week at Nashville Superspeedway, Perez de Lara finished 19th after losing valuable track position on the final restart of the day.
- The Mexico City native will make his third career start at Michigan International Speedway and his first in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In two ARCA Menards Series appearances, the 2024 series champion secured a pair of General Tire Pole Awards and finished in the runner-up position last August, a mere seven-tenths-of-a-second behind race-winner Connor Zilisch.
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- 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.
- The 20-year-old has made 14 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, 13 of which were behind the wheel of a Spire Motorsports Chevy Silverado. He earned his first-career top 10 in his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut last June at World Wide Technology Raceway via a ninth-place result. His career-best seventh-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in March marked his second top 10 in the series.
- The Sunoco Rookie of the Year Contender 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.
- Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-088 will be driven by Perez de Lara Friday night. The truck made its first appearance last month at Kansas Speedway.
Andres Perez de Lara Quotes
You’ve shown speed and put together good runs at Michigan in ARCA. What are your thoughts heading to the track for the first time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series?
“I am super excited to head to Michigan this week. It is one of my favorite tracks . I had my best results in ARCA there. I was close to the win there last year but came up short in the closing laps. The track is still fresh in my mind and the trucks have not been there in a long time. I think that gives me an advantage. I know the track and I know my team will bring me a fast Telcel Silverado this weekend. I hope we get to show our speed this weekend.”
Through your preparation heading into the weekend, what do you believe are the similarities between the trucks and ARCA cars at Michigan?
“In my simulator time, the trucks and ARCA cars drive pretty similar at Michigan. One thing that will differ is how demanding the race will be. Michigan is one of the most demanding tracks I have raced on, and with the race this weekend being longer, it will be even more demanding. The speeds we will carry in the draft will add to it. I know that Chad (Walter) and the rest of the No. 77 team has built a fast Chevy Silverado that we can go compete with this weekend.”
Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Chad Walter
- Walter has called one CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race in Michigan’s Irish Hills. Driver Tyler Ankrum avoided late-race carnage to collect a hard-charging fourth place finish on August 7, 2020.
- In eight NASCAR Xfinity Series events atop the box at Michigan, the Cornell (N.Y.) University graduate collected two top fives and four top 10s, collecting a venue-best fourth-place result with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin in 2008.
- The 51-year-old is no stranger to success at another high-speed two-mile oval, Auto Club Speedway, serving as the lead race engineer for Kyle Busch’s first-career Cup Series win. He led a race-high 95 laps en route to victory in only his 31st start.
- Between NASCAR’s Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, the Albion, N.Y. native has racked up six wins, 52 top fives and 131 top 10s.
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 May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
In 2025, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team also fields 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.