In 11 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Spire Motorsports has collected one win, three top-five and five top-10 finishes. William Byron led 94 laps en route to the organization’s first series victory in April 2022. The Mooresville, N.C., organization fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets full time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The No. 7 entry will see a rotating roster of all-star caliber drivers throughout the remainder of the season, while Rajah Caruth and NASCAR Cup Series veteran Corey LaJoie will pilot the Nos. 71 and 77, respectively.
Throughout the month of October, Spire Motorsports is trading its signature “Ascent Yellow” for “Breast Cancer Pink” in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month, honoring the incredible strength and resilience of those who have been affected by the life-altering disease. Fans can purchase limited edition “Spire Goes Pink” merchandise online or at the team’s race shop located at 351 Mazeppa Road in Mooresville, N.C. All proceeds will be donated to support breast cancer research. In addition to the financial contribution, Spire Motorsports will recognize the team’s employees, friends and family members who have been impacted by breast cancer. Their stories will be shared across the organization’s social media channels throughout October.
The Slim Jim 200 will be televised live on FS1 Friday, Oct. 24 beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The third and final race in the Round of 8 of the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs, and penultimate event on the series’ 2025 calendar, will be broadcast live on the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.

Brenden Queen – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Brenden Queen will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
Queen will compete in his sixth CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event and second with Spire Motorsports. In his series debut at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway last May, “Butterbean” secured a career-best fourth-place finish.
In his last race with the team at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July, Queen started 14th and finished 16th.
The short track ace will pull double duty on the weekend, also driving Kaulig Racing’s No. 11 Chevrolet in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series’ IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250.
Behind the wheel of the No. 28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet, Queen clinched the 2025 ARCA Menards Series championship, Bounty Rookie Challenge honors and the CGS Imaging Four Crown mini-championship. He became the second ever to win both the championship and rookie of the year in the same season, and first to win all three point-based titles in the 69-year history of the Automobile Racing Club of America.
The 2025 ARCA Champion racked up eight General Tire Pole Awards, eight wins, 17 top fives, 17 top 10s and led 843 laps on the season, all of which were series-leading statistics. Additionally, Queen logged an average starting position of 3.2 and a 4.8 average finish, both of which were the best among competitors with 10 or more starts.
The 2024 CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour champion owns seven victories and 25 top 10s in 36 series starts.
The Chesapeake, Va., native clinched three-consecutive Langley (Va.) Speedway track championships between 2020-2022, while tallying three victories in the Hampton Heat 200 (2020, 2023-24).
The 27-year-old has made 10 appearances at Martinsville in the Valley Star Credit Union 300, a race widely considered to be the biggest in Late Model Stock Car racing. He made the feature event eight times, tallying three top-10 results and a venue-best seventh-place finish in 2013.
Queen has collected crowns in some of the biggest races for the short track division including the South Carolina 400 at Florence (S.C.) Motor Speedway (2022), the Window World 125 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the Battle of the Stars at New River All-American Speedway (2023) and the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park (2023).
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Queen will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-062 Friday. The truck has collected eight top fives in 24 appearances, including a chassis-best runner-up finish in its last start at Indianapolis Raceway Park with Corey Day at the controls.

Brenden Queen Quote
What are you looking forward to most in the opportunity to race a truck at Martinsville?
“I’m super excited to work with someone like Brian Pattie (crew chief) this weekend. I’ve ran a bunch of Late Model Stock races there, but the grandfather clock (trophy) has eluded me. I feel like this may be one of my best shots to get one. I can’t thank everyone at Spire Motorsports enough for all their hard work, and Gainbridge for the opportunity.”
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 has called five CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Martinsville, claiming a runner-up finish in 2023 with Kyle Busch at the controls.
The 50-year-old has called 29 NASCAR Cup Series events at Martinsville Speedway, collecting five top fives and 10 top 10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish with Clint Bowyer in 2013.
Last week at Talladega Superspeedway, the No. 7 team and driver JJ Yeley spent a majority of the day in the top five alongside their Spire Motorsports teammates, but was shuffled through the pack during a late-race restart and ultimately credited with a 13th-place result.
Through 23 races, the No. 7 crew has tallied two wins, eight top fives and 11 top 10s.
In May, the team and driver Carson Hocevar claimed victory in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway. Hocevar led 75 of the event’s 134 laps and survived last-lap contact en route to his fifth victory in the series and first aboard a Spire Motorsports- prepared Chevy Silverado.
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’s 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 handle the driving chores for Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
Caruth secured his second CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoff berth by claiming victory at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in May, and advanced to the Round of 8 for the second-consecutive season. Entering the third and final race in the Round of 8, the 23-year-old sits second on the playoff grid, holding a 14-point advantage over the Championship 4 cutline.
Last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, Caruth earned his second-career stage win, nabbing a total of 18 stage points on the day, the most among all drivers and four more than the closest playoff driver. Despite losing the draft early in the Final Stage, he recovered to score a ninth-place finish.
In the opening race of the Round of 8 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, the No. 71 team racked up 12 stage points and capitalized during a late-race restart to collect a fourth-place finish. They exited the event one-point above the cutline.
The 2024 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Most Popular Driver owns four series starts at Martinsville Speedway, earning a venue-best seventh-place finish last April.
In the division’s last visit to Martinsville in March, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University graduate qualified 10th, led 17 laps, converted 37 quality passes (the fourth-most in the field) and was one of three drivers to spend at least 190 of the 200 laps within the top 15. His eighth-place result marked his second top 10 of the season.
The 23-year-old owns a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville, both of which resulted in 12th-place efforts with Alpha Prime Racing. The finishes mark a career-high in the series for the driver.
Through 23 races, the Washington, D.C., native has registered one win, four top fives and 12 top 10s. He has led 199 laps, nearly quadrupling his 57 career laps led entering the 2025 season.
In the No. 71 team’s first playoff appearance in 2024, Caruth and Co. advanced to the Round of 8, but mechanical issues stalled their Championship 4 hopes in the season’s penultimate event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
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.
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The blue and white HendrickCars.com colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-070. In 22 starts, the truck visited Victory Lane three times with Chandler Smith (Phoenix, Nov. 2021; Las Vegas, March 2022; Richmond, Aug. 2022), paced the field for 335 circuits and recorded a 9.1 average finish. Most recently, Caruth drove the chassis to a 10th-place finish at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
Given the tight points battle as the Championship 4 approaches, how do you treat Friday’s race like any other weekend and stay focused on the goal?
“Similar to Talladega, we have to treat it like a normal race. Obviously, the stakes are higher, but you can’t psych yourself out of it. I think my mindset in the Round of 8 has been good to keep it calm and focus on the big picture. Anything can happen and take you out of the game. If you can keep yourself in it and not self-sabotage your day, you will have the opportunity to capitalize on other’s misfortunes and gain points wherever you can find them. We are in a good spot, and I know there are six other drivers that would love to be in the position we are right now. Those 14 points can vanish quickly, so we have to be ready to go off the truck to preserve that point cushion.”

What would it mean to win at Martinsville and bring home a grandfather clock?
“Winning at Martinsville would be a magnificent and monumental win in my career for so many reasons. For starters, to punch a ticket to Phoenix with an exclamation point would help carry momentum into next week. Getting in on points is nothing to scoff at, but if you are able to capitalize and ride the wave of momentum on the short week with the long travel day, it could mean a lot heading into the finale. But, you can’t create any enemies to achieve that. We saw that last year with the No. 19, and it can negatively affect you when you are racing for the championship and you have a lot more to lose than they do. That win would mean so much and would be such a big deal.”
Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion

Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has called 13 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Martinsville Speedway, collecting two wins, seven top fives and nine top 10s.
The Boylston, Mass., native led Zane Smith to victory in November 2021, which propelled the No. 21 GMS Racing team to the Championship 4 after entering the event in a must-win situation. Smith led 65 laps and reclaimed the lead coming to the white flag as competitors made contact behind.
After jump-starting Spire Motorsports’ CRAFTSMAN Truck Series program alongside industry veteran Mike Greci in 2022, Manion led the team to its first victory at Martinsville in 2022, in what marked the organization’s second start in the series. After swapping the lead with Chandler Smith, William Byron pulled away to lead a race-high 94 laps and claim the program’s first victory.
The 53-year-old stood atop the box for 21 NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway where he called four top-10 finishes.
“Bono” 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 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.

Corey LaJoie – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Corey LaJoie will drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in the Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
Last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, LaJoie piloted his No. 77 Gainbridge Chevy to an eighth-place finish in the Love’s RV Stop 225. After battling inside the top five for much of the afternoon, LaJoie lined up on the front row for NASCAR Overtime when his drafting line broke apart before ultimately finishing eighth.
The 34-year-old’s lone short-track start of the 2025 season came at Richmond Raceway where he drove his Chad Walter-prepared No. 77 Chevy from a 26th-place starting position to a fifth-place finish in the eero 250.
LaJoie has earned his stripes in the Commonwealth of Virginia, collecting the checkered flag and a grandfather clock trophy in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competition at Martinsville Speedway in October 2022.
The father of three also picked up victories at Langley Speedway (Hampton, Va.) in 2012 in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East competition and South Boston Speedway during the 2006 Aaron’s Pro Challenge Series.
The former Spire Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series driver has made 14 appearances in the premier series at Martinsville. His best outing came in back-to-back appearances (2019, 2020), recording an 18th-place finish.
The Concord, N.C., native was the championship runner-up in the 14-race ARCA Menards Series East schedule in 2012. He recorded five wins, 10 top fives and led 385 laps, falling just 14 points short of the driver’s championship title.
Garner Trucking is a family-owned and operated business started in 1960 by Vernon E. Garner and Regina R. Garner, headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. Daughter Sherri Garner Brumbaugh currently owns and operates the business. Garner is a 100 percent woman-owned business. Since 2017, Garner Trucking has been named a Best Fleet to Drive For from trucking companies in North America. In 2022, Garner was named the Best Fleet to Drive For – Overall Small Carrier. The company’s dedication to its drivers earned it a spot in the Best Fleets to Drive For Hall of Fame in 2023. Continuing its legacy of excellence, Garner won the inaugural Best Fleets to Drive for Hall of Fame Stratosphere Award in 2024—and claimed the title again in 2025. Garner is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2025.
LaJoie will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-058 Friday afternoon. The truck has made 29 starts, reaching Victory Lane four times with Kyle Busch (Charlotte, May 2019) and John Hunter Nemechek (Las Vegas, Feb. 2021; Richmond, April 2021; Charlotte, May 2021) in the cockpit.

Corey LaJoie Quote
What are your thoughts heading into Martinsville?
“I think it’s going to be a really good race overall. The weather looks great, so the track should lay some rubber down, and you’ll see a mix of guys rolling the curb or diamonding the corner to find grip. Martinsville is always about rhythm and patience. Cool to have Sherri and the whole Garner family riding along with us this weekend.”

Spire Motorsports PR