Spire Motorsports North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Race Advance

• In three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (CMS), Spire Motorsports has earned one top-10 and two top-15 finishes. Last season, Connor Mosack collected a team-best eighth-place result at CMS. 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 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will be televised live on FS1 Friday, May 23 beginning at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 11th 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.

B.J. McLeod – Driver, No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• B.J. McLeod will drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 07 Pigeon Force Racing Coaster Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• The co-owner and founder of Live Fast Motorsports has 41 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts to his credit and will make his first series appearance since May 2021 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. In 2015 he made a lone CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at CMS where he started 25th and finished 31st.
• Friday will mark the third time McLeod has competed under the Spire Motorsports banner. He made back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series starts aboard the No. 77 Chevrolet at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in June 2020. Veteran crew chief and current road mechanic for the No. 77 Cup Series team, Peter Sospenzo, was atop the box for both events.
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• The Wauchula, Fla., native has registered over 100 Super Late Model victories and multiple championships throughout the southeastern United States, including triumphs in the 2006 Bright House Challenge Series and 2010 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
• In August of 1997, McLeod achieved his first Super Late Model victory at the Orlando (Fla.) Speed World at 13 years old. Two months later, he became the youngest to compete in an American Speed Association (ASA) National Tour event, finishing 18th in the North Carolina Sweet Potato 400 at Southern National (N.C.) Motorsports Park.
• The 41-year-old is also a veteran of 359 NASCAR National Touring Series starts, 19 of which have come at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He collected a venue-best 17th-place finish in the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series event behind the wheel of a JD Motorsports Chevy.
• The Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-073 Friday night. Chase Purdy earned a chassis-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in 2023 when it was the property of Kyle Busch Motorsports.

B.J. McLeod Quote
You haven’t raced a truck since 2015. What are your thoughts heading into Charlotte and making your first start behind the wheel of a Spire Motorsports Silverado?
“I’m really excited to get back in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. I love truck racing. I am looking forward to Friday and having the opportunity to compete up front in a really fast Spire Motorsports Silverado that this No. 07 team has worked hard to put together. It’s going to be something I’ve never experienced and am looking forward to getting to work.”

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.
• Last season, the 43-year-old served as the race engineer for Nick Sanchez and the No. 2 team that claimed victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Sanchez restarted seventh on a late-race restart with nine laps remaining, making the move for the lead before the field reached the stripe. He held the top spot for the final nine circuits to score his second-career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory.
• Last time out at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, the No. 07 team and driver Kyle Busch battled back from a pair of pit-road speeding penalties to secure a ninth-place finish.
• The Midland, Mich., native 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 10 races, No. 07 team sits sixth in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of one win, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.

Kyle Busch – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Kyle Busch will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• The 40-year-old will contest his 178th CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at Charlotte, his best track, statistically speaking. In 15 starts, Busch has accrued eight wins, 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes, while leading the field for 789 circuits. To add to his complete domination of a stat column, the veteran driver has maintained an average starting position of 5.5 and a 2.8 average finish.
• Busch secured his first of 67 series victories at the facility in 2005, driving a Chevrolet for longtime friend and team owner Billy Ballew.
• In addition to his impressive resume behind the wheel of a truck at CMS, nine of the Xfinity Series’ all-time winningest driver’s 102 checkered flags came at the Concord, N.C., venue. He rounds out his long list of NASCAR national touring series victories at “America’s Home for Racing” with a 2018 Coca-Cola 600 crown.
• The two-time Cup Series champion has made 82 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts on 1.5-mile tracks, racking up 39 wins, 60 top fives, 70 top 10s, 3,978 laps lead and an average finish of 5.3. He has emerged victorious in 47.5 percent of his mile-and-a-half starts while securing a top-10 finish 85 percent of the time.
• The Las Vegas native holds the record for most CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins (67) and lowest average finish in series history (6.5), while ranking second on the series’ all-time laps led list (8,130).
• In his past 13 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearances, Busch has finished in the first or second position nine times, six of which ended with a trip to Victory Lane.
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• In Busch’s most recent CRAFTSMAN Truck Series outing with the No. 7 team, he defended his 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, spending all 135 laps in the top 15, leading a race-high 80 laps and recording both a field-leading average running position (3.2) and driver rating (124.6).
• In five starts last season with Spire Motorsports, Busch snagged two wins (Atlanta and Texas Motor Speedway), three top fives and 263 laps led.
• Busch will return to the No. 07 Chevrolet next weekend at Nashville Superspeedway before rounding out his five-race CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule at Watkins Glen International on August 8.
• “Rowdy” will pilot Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-081 on Friday. He has driven the truck to victories at Texas (April 2024) and Atlanta earlier this season.

Kyle Busch Quote
What are your thoughts heading into Friday’s race at Charlotte?
“Charlotte is the track where I won my first Truck Series race with Billy Ballew back in 2005 — kind of crazy that was 20 years ago. It’s been a few years since I’ve raced the Charlotte truck race, so I’m really looking forward to it. I know we’ll have a lot of support from all the friends and families of Spire employees out cheering us on. We had a lot of speed in our truck earlier this year at Atlanta and I know that Brian (Pattie, crew chief) and that team had a lot of speed in their trucks at Texas and Kansas. I’m confident that we’ll have a Gainbridge Chevy capable of bringing home another win Friday night.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Brian Pattie

• Brian Pattie stands atop 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 only prior occasion in which the Pattie-Busch duo teamed up at Charlotte Motor Speedway came in Busch’s Xfinity Series debut in May 2003. The young driver led 33 laps aboard NEMCO Motorsports’ No. 87 Chevy but was forced to settle for the runner-up position behind Cup Series star Matt Kenseth.
• The Zephyrhills, Fla., native has called two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at CMS, highlighted by an eighth-place finish with Connor Mosack last season.
• Last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Sammy Smith battled day-long handling woes to secure a 10th-place finish in the No. 7 Silverado, his fourth such result in seven CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearances.
• Through nine races, the No. 7 team sits 10th in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of two wins, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.
• The No. 7 team defended its 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February with 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).
• Earlier this month, Pattie called Carson Hocevar to victory at Kansas Speedway as the Michigan-native led 75 of the event’s 134 laps. The win marks Spire Motorsports’ eighth CRAFTSMAN Truck Series triumph.
• 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 pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Friday evening’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• The 22-year-old has made two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at CMS, highlighted by an 11th-place result in 2023.
• In a lone ARCA Menards Series appearance at “America’s Home for Racing,” the recent Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University graduate drove a WSSU Rams-sponsored Chevrolet to a third-place result after pacing the field for 27 laps.
• Last week at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Caruth had an inevitable top-five finish erased after he was collected in a last-lap incident. He eventually crossed the line in 15th.
• Through the first 10 events on the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar, Caruth has earned two top fives and five top 10s, while pacing the field for 115 circuits – doubling his total of 56 from the 2024 campaign.
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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-080. The truck has seen action five times, securing a chassis-best third-place finish in its most recent appearance at Texas earlier this month.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
You have shown race-winning speed on mile-and-a-half tracks. What do you need to do this weekend to seal the deal?
“Mile-and-a-half tracks have definitely been a strong suit for me. I obviously won at Vegas last year, but have shown speed at Texas and Kansas in the past, in addition to Charlotte. I really should have won the ARCA race there a couple years back, and was moving forward in the truck race last year when a caution put us on the wrong side of strategy. I think we will be very competitive come Friday.”

How do you rebound one-week removed from a disappointing last-lap incident that knocked you out of a top-five finish?
“It was a disappointment for sure. I was top of three-wide when the leaders got together and I just had nowhere to go. If we had gotten by it clean, I think we could have finished fourth or better. We were able to get some stage points, which helps us in maintaining in the standings, but you are left wondering what could have been. Everything is business as usual. All focus is on Charlotte this week and maximizing our day and points earned.”

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

• Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has called seven CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events at Charlotte, collecting two wins, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.
• As a crew chief at Chip Ganassi Racing, Manion helped Jamie McMurray to a runner-up finish in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600. Four months later, the pairing scored their third win of the season when the series returned to the Concord-oval for the Bank of America 500.
• Manion secured his first of two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins at “America’s Home for Racing” with Kyle Busch in the 2017 event. Busch dominated the night, leading 90 of the event’s 134 laps en route to Victory Lane.
• Last season, the 52-year-old called Nick Sanchez and the No. 2 team to victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Sanchez restarted seventh on a late-race restart with nine laps remaining, making the move for the lead before the field reached the stripe. He held the top spot for the final nine circuits to score his second-career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory.
• 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 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 Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• The 20-year-old will make his third career start at the 1.5-mile oval and his first in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In two prior starts in ARCA Menards Series (AMS) competition, Perez de Lara has logged two top 10 and one top five. In the 2024 General Tire 150, he secured a third-place finish after securing the General Tire Pole Award.
• In six AMS appearances on 1.5-mile ovals, the 2024 ARCA Menards Series champion has collected one top-five and three top-10 finishes.
• 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.
• The 20 year-old has made 12 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, nine of which were behind the wheel of a Spire Motorsports Chevy Silverado. He registered 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. His lone win in the series came at Ovalo Aguascalientes, a 0.875-mile oval.
• Fueler Brandon Chapman was part of the crew that claimed victory in last week’s Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The No. 71 Delaware Life crew clocked a 12.857 second stop, besting their nearest competitor by a mere three one-thousandths of a second.
• Perez de Lara will pilot Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-082 on Friday. Rajah Caruth drove the truck to a pair of top 10s in his 2024 playoff run.

Andres Perez de Lara Quotes
You have had speed at Charlotte during your time in the ARCA Menards Series. How do you feel about your first CRAFTSMAN TRUCK series start at the track?
“I am excited to get back to Charlotte. This is one that everyone looks forward to it because it is close to home. This is the one true home track for everyone. I feel like my experience in ARCA will help me a lot here. Last year, I sat on the pole and ran up front for the whole race. Even during my rookie season in 2023, I qualified well and was in contention for a good finish all day. I feel comfortable with the weekend. I will have to be patient and maintain my track position to be there at the end.”

You took part in a rookie test at Charlotte last month. How do you feel the added track time has helped you prepare for the weekend?
“The test at Charlotte was beneficial for me and my No. 77 team. We were able to run a bunch of laps and make changes to help get our Silverado better. I got comfortable with the lines I need to run to make speed in our Telcel Silverado and to get familiar with my surroundings. We were able to run competitive lap times throughout the test, so hopefully that will translate to Friday. I feel like we have worked better together as a team since the test. Can’t wait to see how all the hard work has paid off this Friday.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Chad Walter

• Crew chief Chad Walter has called four CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Walter-prepared trucks own an average starting position of 7.5 and secured a venue-best 11th-place result with Rajah Caruth at GMS Racing in 2023.
• While paired Caruth in 2024, Walter called the young driver to four top 10 finishes on 1.5-mile ovals, including his first-career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• In 14 appearances atop the box in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at CMS, Cornell (N.Y.) University graduate has amassed three top fives and five top 10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish with Casey Mears and Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 team in 2007. One day later, Mears claimed his only Cup Series victory in the Coca-Cola 600.
• 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 10, 2025, when Carson Hocevar took the checkered flag in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway.

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.