Race Notes<\/p>\n
Saturday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.) NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race marks the third race in Ram’s 2026 return to NASCAR after a 13-year absence.
\nIt is the first time the truck series has ever competed on a street course in its over 30-year history. The race is part of a weekend schedule that includes the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
\nThe 2026 season is Ram’s first season with Kaulig Racing, which is fielding trucks for Daniel Dye (No. 10), Brenden “Butterbean” Queen (No. 12), “Mini” Tyrrell (No. 14), Justin Haley (No. 16), and a “Free Agent Driver” (No. 25) in each NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race.
\nA different driver each week will pilot the No. 25 as part of Ram’s “Free Agent Driver” program. NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and Ty Dillon have raced in the first two races, and road racing ace Colin Braun will drive the No. 25 on Saturday in St. Petersburg.
\nRam has placed a truck in the top-10 at the first two races in 2026. Queen finished seventh at Daytona International Speedway, and Haley finished 10th at EchoPark Speedway.
\nKaulig Racing, while new to the truck series, owns two NASCAR Cup Series wins and 27 wins in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in its history.
\nFS1 will broadcast the race live at Noon on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Colin Braun Notes:<\/p>\n
Colin Braun will drive the No. 25 Ram 1500 in Saturday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race for crew chief Alex Yontz.
\nThe 37-year-old native of Ovalo, Texas, began his professional career with early sports car success, including a class podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2006 at age 17. He switched to stock cars in 2007 under a development deal with Roush Fenway Racing, earning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year, multiple poles and his only series victory at Michigan International Speedway in 2009. He also competed in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly NASCAR Nationwide Series) from 2007-2010, securing poles and a top-five finish in limited starts before refocusing on endurance racing.
\nBraun has since established himself as one of IMSA\u2019s most accomplished drivers, claiming three WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titles (2014, 2015, 2022), more than two dozen wins and four Rolex 24 at Daytona victories, including an overall GTP class win in 2023. He has also earned Asian Le Mans Series championship honors and class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Spa.
\n\ufeffHe is the third competitor in Ram\u2019s groundbreaking Free Agent program within the Truck Series. Tony Stewart and Ty Dillon drove at Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedway respectively. Ram will announce the driver for the March 20 Darlington Raceway NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race before Saturday’s race.
\nThe Free Agent program is designed to bring legendary drivers and rising stars into the spotlight, giving fans a unique mix of experience and fresh talent behind the wheel of Ram trucks. <\/p>\n
Colin Braun:<\/p>\n
On His Return to the Truck Series: \u201cI\u2019m excited to get back behind the wheel of a NASCAR truck, especially on such a cool weekend when they debut at St. Pete. Ram\u2019s program offers a fantastic opportunity to mix my endurance background with oval and street course racing. I\u2019m thrilled Ram is giving me this chance. I have seen how much work the Kaulig Racing crew is putting into getting this program started up, and giving them a great result would repay them for the hard work!\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Dye Notes:<\/p>\n
Daniel Dye drives the No. 10 Mopar Ram 1500 in the 2026 season for crew chief Dan Stillman. He finished 17th at Daytona International Speedway and 13th at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.
\nThe 22-year-old Daytona Beach, Fla. native began his professional stock car career with multiple ARCA Menards Series starts in 2021 and 2022, securing a victory at Berlin Raceway in 2021 while finishing runner-up in the ARCA East standings.
\nDye competed full-time in the Truck Series with teams including McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and, now, Kaulig Racing, earning a playoff berth in 2024 and recording multiple top-10 finishes. He also races part-time in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
\nDye was named the 2025 Comcast Community Champion of the Year, honoring his commitment to using his NASCAR platform to create meaningful change through his nonprofit, Race to Stop Suicide. The organization focuses on breaking the stigma around mental health and delivering hope, awareness, and resources to individuals, families, and communities across the country.
\nMopar is the global name for Stellantis genuine parts and authentic accessories. A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar offers exceptional service, parts and customer care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved over more than 88 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide. Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Mopar expanded to include technical service and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide. Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com and the Mopar blog at blog.mopar.com. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com<\/p>\n
Daniel Dye:<\/p>\n
Learning a New Track in Real Time: \u201cGoing to a new track is a challenge. I plan on talking to Colin [Braun] as much as I can, and watching as much in-car footage as I can find. I spoke to Max Papis at Daytona, and he has won there before. I plan on picking his brain as well to try and get as much information as I can, so the learning curve can be shorter than it normally would be without doing the usual prep work we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenden \u201cButterbean\u201d Queen Notes:<\/p>\n
Rookie of the Year candidate Brenden “Butterbean” Queen drives the No. 12 Cummins Ram 1500 for crew chief Eddie Pardue.
\nThe Chesapeake, Virginia, native scored a seventh-place finish in Daytona, leading the five-truck Kaulig\/Ram contingent. He finished 16th at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.
\nQueen, the 2025 ARCA Menards Series champion, won eight races during his rookie season in the series, including victories at Daytona International Speedway and two at Kansas Speedway.
\nThe 28-year-old driver, known for his mullet and energetic victory celebrations, began racing at age 6 in karts at Langley Speedway and progressed through local Late Model Stock divisions\u2014winning track championships at Langley in 2020, 2021, and 2022, plus the 2024 CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour title
\nCummins Inc., a global power leader, is committed to powering a more prosperous world. Since 1919, we have delivered innovative solutions that move people, goods and economies forward. Our five business segments\u2014Engine, Components, Distribution, Power Systems and Accelera\u2122 by Cummins\u2014offer a broad portfolio, including advanced diesel, alternative fuel, electric and hybrid powertrains; integrated power generation systems; critical components such as aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, controls, transmissions, axles and brakes; and zero-emissions technologies like battery and electric powertrain systems and electrolyzers. With a global footprint, deep technical expertise and an extensive service network, we deliver dependable, cutting-edge solutions tailored to our customers\u2019 needs, supporting them through the energy transition with our Destination Zero strategy. We create value for customers, investors and employees and strengthen communities through our corporate responsibility global priorities: education, equity and environment. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins employs approximately 70,000 people worldwide and earned $3.9 billion on $34.1 billion in sales in 2024.<\/p>\n
Brenden \u201cButterbean\u201d Queen:<\/p>\n
Taking on the Streets of St. Pete: \u201cI\u2019m excited to head somewhere new for NASCAR and be part of one of the first street races for the Truck Series in a long time. That\u2019s pretty special. I\u2019m not necessarily known as a road racer, but I\u2019ve never backed down from a challenge. A road course is really the one style of track I haven\u2019t won on yet, so I\u2019d love to change that. Our goal is to put the Cummins Ram 1500 up front, keep learning every lap, and continue building momentum. Atlanta didn\u2019t go the way we wanted, but if we complete all the laps and put ourselves in position at the end, that\u2019s key \u2014 street races are all about survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMini\u201d Tyrrell Notes:<\/p>\n
Timothy “Mini” Tyrrell drives the No. 14 Ram 1500 for crew chief Bruce Cook.
\nTyrrell was selected in a FOX television reality competition series called “Race for the Seat,” where 15 aspiring drivers battled for a coveted spot on the Kaulig Racing team, driving a Ram 1500 in the 2026 truck series. The eight-episode series, produced by Dana White and hosted by “Landman” actor Jacob Lofland, featured judges Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice and Ty Norris of Kaulig Racing, and tapped into the dream of becoming a race car driver and Ram\u2019s re-entry into NASCAR.
\nEarning the nickname “Mini” early on, Tyrrell began racing full-size Late Model Stock Cars at an incredibly young age. At just 10 years old, he became the youngest driver ever to win a Late Model Stock Car race in America (at Shenandoah Speedway). He also won two Late Model championships and was the youngest winner in both youth and pro divisions of Arena Racing (indoor half-scale stock cars).
\nOff the racetrack, Tyrrell runs “Mini\u2019s Mission”, a non-profit organization that raises awareness and donations for those impacted by childhood cancer. The organization sponsored the CARS Tour race at Dominion Raceway, which Tyrrell won. He’s raised more than $650,000 for childhood cancer research and related causes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMini\u201d Tyrrell:<\/p>\n
Life After \u2018Race for the Seat\u2019 and First Two Races: \u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a huge step in my career. Friday morning in Atlanta, walking into the garage, people wanted me to sign something. That was so awesome. I\u2019ve grew up a race fan, and racing has always been so special to me. I\u2019ve been in the shoes of people who love the drivers. It was definitely unexpected. I am a local guy who ran in the CARS Tour, was successful in late models, and had a bunch of fans who love the short-track scene. With \u2018Race for the Seat,\u2019 I had the opportunity to get my name out there and add so many new fans. It\u2019s been such a pleasure meeting everybody and taking photos. I love every minute when those people come up to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s made my dreams a reality, which is really special. I want to be a fan favorite. I want to be a guy everybody\u2019s cheering for, and just try to be as thankful and grateful as I can. And I understand how big a world this is and how big of an opportunity this is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaning on Teammates at St. Pete: \u201cSt. Pete is going to be a complete unknown for me. It will involve a lot of learning in real time. I\u2019ll definitely be leaning on my teammates quite a bit \u2013 I\u2019m looking forward to learning from Colin [Braun] and all of his experience. Street courses don\u2019t leave much room for mistakes, so the focus will be adapting quickly and keeping our No. 14 Ram 1500 clean.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaulig Racing PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Race Notes Saturday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.) NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race marks the third race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[80359,16089,13333,2365,12785,16092,8204,80360,405,79373,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-168855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-camping-world-truck-series","9":"tag-craftsman-truck-series","10":"tag-daytona","11":"tag-international","12":"tag-motor","13":"tag-nascar","14":"tag-nationwide","15":"tag-rookie-of-the-year","16":"tag-series","17":"tag-speedway","18":"tag-st-pete","19":"tag-st-pete-headlines","20":"tag-st-pete-news","21":"tag-st-petersburg","22":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","23":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}