No. 41 AutoVentive / Precision Vehicle Logistics Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Bayley Currey | Crew Chief: Wally Rogers
– Currey’s Milwaukee Stats: Bayley Currey has made one prior start at the Milwaukee Mile. Last year, he earned his fourth top-10 of the season when he finished a solid 10th place in the 175-lap race.
– Rogers’ Milwaukee Stats: Wally Rogers has made three NCTS starts as a crew chief at Milwaukee. In two of the three starts, his drivers finished in the top-10, including a personal best of fourth place with Ron Hornaday in 2005. In six Xfinity Series starts at the Mile, Rogers’ best result was 10th (delivered by Randy LaJoie in 2002).
– Niece Motorsports Milwaukee Stats: Niece drivers have made up for three combined starts at Milwaukee, all of which came in last year’s running of the event. Two of the three drivers, Carson Hocevar and Bayley Currey, secured top-10 finishes (second and 10th, respectively). Hocevar led the field for 40 laps in last year’s race.
– On the Truck: Currey’s No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from AutoVentive and Precision Vehicle Logistics.
– Recapping Richmond: Bayley Currey’s promising run in Richmond was hindered by electrical issues. After starting 15th, the No. 41 team began to make ground in stage one. Currey would finish 17th in the stage, followed by a 19th-place run in stage two. When the issues were found, he was forced to wait two laps under caution as the crew rectified them. Currey settled for a 23rd-place result in the race.
– Points Rundown: Following Currey’s 23rd-place finish in Richmond, the driver from Driftwood, Texas dropped one spot in the points standings. Heading to Milwaukee, Currey is posted 19th, eight points behind Ty Dillon in 18th.
– Quoting Currey: Can you compare Milwaukee to any other tracks on the NCTS schedule or is it unique?
“It’s kind of similar to some of the tracks we’ve been racing. We’ve been on a short track stretch with IRP, Richmond, and Milwaukee, even leading into Bristol. I think the past two tracks we’ve ran at are similar. Neither of those tracks have a lot of banking, but Milwaukee is obviously the flattest. I think the way Milwaukee has aged has been interesting; you see a lot more multi-grooved racing there compared to back in the day, so I think that part is like IRP.”
– Quoting Rogers: Are you glad to see the Truck Series make a return to Milwaukee for another year?
“I really am happy to see us come back to Milwaukee. I like the older tracks – the ones that haven’t been on the circuit for a while that were taken off and brought back. I’ve had some success here over the years, and think some of the stuff we learned at IRP will really help us here, so I’m looking forward to it.”
No. 42 Utilitra / J.F. Electric Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Matt Mills | Crew Chief: Jon Leonard
– Mills’ Milwaukee Stats: Matt Mills has started one Truck Series race at Milwaukee which came in last year’s running of the event. While driving in his second race for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Mills lost a cylinder early that plagued his race finish. He finished 25th.
– Leonard’s Milwaukee Stats: Jon Leonard has one prior start at Milwauke from when he served as crew chief for Sean Hingorani with Hattori Racing Enterprises last year. Hingorani finished 23rd while working with Leonard in his series debut.
– On the Truck: Mills’ No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from longtime partners Utilitra and J.F. Electric. Utilitra will be represented as Mills’ primary sponsor for the first time this season.
– Recapping Richmond: A bead failure on the right front tire of the No. 42 J.F. Electric Chevrolet forced Matt Mills out of the race early in Richmond. After qualifying 18th, Mills put in work to climb into the top-15 shortly before the conclusion of stage one. On lap 57, the tire blew and Mills made hard contact with the wall in turn four. He was credited with a 35th-place finish.
– Points Rundown: Mills’ unfortunate finish in Richmond subsequently drops him one position in the points standings. Entering Milwaukee, the driver of the No. 42 is scored 22nd, 13 points behind Timmy Hill in 21st. Bret Holmes, who is currently in 20th place, has 24 points up on Mills.
– Quoting Mills: With this being a key market for Utilitra, do you feel any added pressure to have a good result?
“Yeah, on one hand, it’s very cool to be close to a big market for our partners, but on the other hand, I know I’ll have a lot more eyeballs on me. Fortunately, I’ve been able to block that part out once I get in the truck an focus on the task at hand, and I think Milwaukee was a really good track for me last year. I didn’t get to showcase the speed we had because of the mechanical failure, but Niece seemed to be really fast. So, building off that knowledge that I got last year combined with the speed we’ve been building into our trucks, I feel like we can have a good run for the Utilitra & J.F. Electric team.”
– Quoting Leonard: Can you take some of what you learned in Gateway and Richmond and apply it in Milwaukee?
“I think for all of our short tracks, you take development of those packages and adapt them to each track. The loads are different, the track is different, and the driving style is different, but you take what you’re good at and combine those philosophies into one. Milwaukee is pretty flat, and that track is just a huge corner; kind of similar to turn 1-2 in Phoenix. I think with where we’re at in the sim, and how the Niece trucks ran last year, we can improve on how we have been running on the short tracks.”
No. 44 Niece Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Matt Gould | Crew Chief: Tom Ackerman
– NASCAR Truck Series Debut: Announced last week, Matt Gould will attempt to make his NCTS debut with Niece Motorsports’ No. 44 team at the Milwaukee Mile. Gould primarily competes in Late Model Stock Cars at Hickory Motor Speedway and Caraway Speedway, and has made three ARCA Menards Series starts. He is the son of Phil Gould, who is the crew chief for the No. 45 team. This will be the first race of Gould’s career that him and his father will not directly be working together on the same vehicle.
– Gould’s Milwaukee Stats: Matt Gould made his ARCA Menards Series debut at the Milwaukee Mile back in 2022. Despite limited experience in a heavy stock car, Gould put together a respectable run, having qualified 12th and finished 10th in his debut race.
– Ackerman’s Milwaukee Stats: Tom Ackerman has made two starts as a crew chief in Milwaukee, first in 2006 with Ted Musgrave and second the following year with Dennis Setzer. Setzer delivered Ackerman his best finish at this track while atop the pit box with a 19th-place run in 2007. Last year, in the series’ return to the Mile, Ackerman won as the competition director for GMS Racing with Grant Enfinger.
– On the Truck: Gould’s No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Niece Equipment. Located in Buda, Texas, Niece Equipment specializes in building water and fuel/lube trucks for commercial use on construction projects.
– Off to College: At the start of the week, Gould began taking his first classes as a freshman in college. Gould is studying mechanical engineering at Mitchell Community College in Mooresville, NC, and will be learning in tandem with his full-time role as a mechanic.
– Quoting Gould: What do you remember about your ARCA start here that you can use in the truck this week?
“I mainly remember that you had to run above the sealer that’s on the bottom of the corners. It was important for us to keep all four tires above that strip and run a higher lane. But, to do that, you also had to have room to drive under guys to pass them. That was the biggest part, but I also learned what it was like to move around with dirty air. I’ve been talking with Grant Enfinger a bunch, and he’s been helpful for me to get prepared for how the truck drives.”
– Quoting Ackerman: What is your biggest piece of advice for Matt in his Truck Series debut?
“I’d say our biggest goal is to go out there and do everything right. It’s a big week for Matt, but I don’t want him to get too caught in the moment and put too much pressure on himself. We all feel pretty confident that he can go out there and get the job done, so there’s no reason to overcomplicate things. As long as he does his best and we execute all day long, it should be a good day for us.”
No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Kaden Honeycutt | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
– Honeycutt’s Milwaukee Stats: Kaden Honeycutt will make his first start at the Milwaukee Mile in Sunday’s LiUNA! 175.
– Gould’s Milwaukee Stats: Phil Gould has made two starts as a crew chief at the Milwaukee Mile – one in ARCA and one in the Truck Series. In 2022, while working with his son, Matt Gould, in his ARCA debut, Gould finished in 10th. Last year, while working with Carson Hocevar in the NCTS race, Gould’s team came home runner up.
– On the Truck: Honeycutt’s No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Venture Foods, a family-owned grocery store chain located in Oklahoma. 2024 marks the company’s 50th anniversary of the first store opening, and has been operated by the Moore family for three generations. Honeycutt will debut a new paint scheme which will give the truck a fresh look compared to last race.
– Recapping Richmond: Kaden Honeycutt secured the No. 45 team’s spot in the NCTS Owner’s Playoffs following the regular season finale at Richmond Raceway. Honeycutt qualified a strong eighth-place, and just missed out on stage points with an eleventh-place finish in stage one. He dropped to 22nd in stage two, and was eventually spun due to contact with another competitor, but rebounded for a top-15 finish in 14th.
– Owner Points Outlook: This week marks the opening round of the NCTS Playoffs, and after the points reset, the No. 45 team is seeded ninth overall. The next three races – Milwaukee, Bristol, and Kansas, will determine the teams who will move onto the Round of 8. Entering Milwaukee, Honeycutt and the No. 45 team are tied for the cutoff line with Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 team; 39 markers behind the leading No. 11 team from TRICON Garage.
– Quoting Honeycutt: You’ve never raced at Milwaukee before, so what has been the biggest help in preparing you for Sunday?
“Really, for me, it’s mainly about the sim time. We’re working on running the right lane in the corners to maximize our drive-off. It seemed like last year, Carson (Hocevar) struggled to have turn in the center to get drive off. So, that’s been our biggest focus in the sim the past couple of weeks. I’m pretty optimistic that we have that dialed in for this weekend.”
– Quoting Gould: Have you ever been in position to race ‘against’ your son, Matt before?
“Well, I guess if you consider racing go karts at Trackhouse Motorplex, that might be our only time competing against each other. That didn’t go well; I remember driving off into the carousel and someone hit me from behind at a high rate of speed, and I turned around and it was him. (Laughs) We’ve all seen the memes that say, ‘Show me a race car driver and I’ll show you a dad who believed in him first’, and I’m that dad. It’s going to be a super cool week for us.”
Niece Motorsports PR
