No. 44 Polkadot Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Conor Daly | Crew Chief: Cody Efaw
– Daly Returns: NTT INDYCAR SERIES veteran, Conor Daly returns to NASCAR this weekend to make his second start of the season behind the wheel of Niece Motorsports’ No. 44 Chevrolet. Daly’s first Truck Series start this year came at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where he finished 29th due to a flat tire. He’s made a total of four NCTS starts, finishing as high as 18th twice (Las Vegas, 2020 & Mid-Ohio, 2023)
– Daly’s Kansas Stats: Conor Daly will make his first start in any series at Kansas Speedway in Friday’s Kubota Tractor 200.
– Efaw’s Kansas Stats: Cody Efaw has served as crew chief for four Truck Series races at Kansas Speedway since 2017. In 2018, while working with Austin Wayne Self, Efaw earned his best Kansas finish with a 13th-place run.
– On the Truck: Daly’s No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Polkadot. Polkadot is a digital platform designed to build a more inclusive and transparent internet, where power and decision-making are in the hands of its users. Polkadot utilizes a public governance platform to empower its community of 1.3 million members to directly control all steps of the decision-making process, even when it comes to the largest global marketing initiatives.
– INDYCAR Season Recap: Daly made a total of seven starts in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this season while driving for three different race teams. He posted three top-10 finishes, including a pair of 10th-place results in the Indianapolis 500 and the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway. In the first race of the series’ double-header in Milwaukee, Daly secured a spot on the podium with a miraculous third-place run. The race marked his second-career podium and first on an oval.
– Quoting Daly: [92.9 WVJS Interview] Interviewer: I believe when you look at the schedule and you think ‘what is the definition of a NASCAR track?’, you can’t get any better than Kansas Speedway’s wide sweeping corners and high-speed racetrack. I think you’re going to be in for a treat behind the wheel.
“I really hope so. I even enjoyed it when IndyCar raced at Kansas back in the day. I still wish IndyCar raced at Kansas. It’s a great track, I know Niece [Motorsports] has had success there in the past as well, and I’m very excited. I love learning new tracks, especially ovals, because I enjoy oval racing so much. I can’t be anything other than excited on what we’re going to do. You know, there’s not a lot of practice which is a bit of a shame as always, but we’re just going to have to go for it.”
– Quoting Efaw: What is a realistic goal for Conor to shoot for in his first start at Kansas?
“Honestly, I don’t want to put too much pressure on him this weekend. He’s ran a couple of races at Las Vegas for us in the past, so I think that experience should help bring him up-to-speed on this track with them both being a mile-and-a-half. I was impressed to see the speed he had at Indy earlier when he ran the Xfinity car, so I think he’ll be able to adapt quick which will help him both here and at Homestead in a few weeks.”
No. 45 AutoVentive / Precision Vehicle Logistics Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Kaden Honeycutt | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
– Honeycutt’s Kansas Stats: Kaden Honeycutt has made three starts at Kansas Speedway since 2022. Honeycutt put a strong run together in the spring, where he clawed his way up from a 23rd-place qualifying run up to the top-five. His No. 45 Chevrolet crossed the line in fourth back in April and he earned his best-career finish in the process.
– Gould’s Kansas Stats: Phil Gould has called 10 Truck Series races at Kansas Speedway since joining Niece Motorsports in 2019. In his first NCTS start at the track, he guided Ross Chastain to the team’s first victory. Gould has produced three top-fives in the trucks including Honeycutt’s fourth-place result in the spring, along with five total top-10s. He’s also called six Xfinity Series races here that garnered three top-10 finishes showing a personal best of seventh with Ryan Reed in 2018.
– On the Truck: Honeycutt’s No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from AutoVentive and Precision Vehicle Logistics. This is the second race of the season that the two companies have sponsored Honeycutt’s truck.
– Honoring a Cancer Hero: Through a partnership with The NASCAR Foundation & MTJ Foundation, Kaden Honeycutt will have a special passenger riding along his No. 45 this week. Thelma Dixon, a cancer victim who sadly lost her battle with breast cancer, was nominated by a family member, Kevin Huneycutt. Huneycutt (no relation) is an avid Kaden Honeycutt fan who believes he is a rising NASCAR star. Kevin and his family will join Niece Motorsports as honorary crew members for Friday night’s race.
– Recapping Bristol: Kaden Honeycutt and the No. 45 team fought adversity throughout the day at Bristol. The team suffered a broken track bar mount in practice which forced them to start in the tail. In stage one, Honeycutt advanced through the field to lead the way for the team in 17th, but a costly speeding penalty dropped him to the tail once more in stage two. He recovered nicely, and was running right outside the top-15 when another competitor blew a tire and made heavy contact with his truck. Unfortunately, the No. 45 was done for the night and relegated to a 35th-place finish.
– Owner Points Outlook: With Honeycutt’s disappointing end to the Bristol truck race, the No. 45 team was relegated to 10th in the Owner Playoff standings. Entering Kansas, a cutoff race in the Round of 10, the team finds themselves 20 points below the provisional eighth position. They are in search of another solid outing like the spring to keep their championship hopes alive.
– Quoting Honeycutt: Since you had that great run in the spring, does that give you the confidence you need to advance?
“Definitely Kansas is one of our strong suits here at Niece Motorsports. I feel like we had a really good run here in the spring, and over time we’ve been working hard at a lot of things that we’ll take to Kansas which are new and hopefully improved. I’ll do a better job of aero racing this time; I was inexperienced at that the first time and had a hard time learning how to pass other guys. Now, going back there, I know how to race more efficient and make those passes quicker. Hopefully we can take home a win and rack up the momentum to keep us hungry if we advance into the Round of 8.”
– Quoting Gould: Are you bringing a similar setup to the spring in hopes of another good showing this week?
“Yeah, we have the same truck that we raced here in the spring and the same setup that we’ll unload with. That race was another one that we had a great run going. We were running second when we had a slow pit stop take us out of contention and dropped us to fourth. We ran well with this truck at Charlotte and Nashville also, and so I think we have a good baseline to start off with and make some slight tweaks.”
No. 41 Masked Owl Technologies Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Bayley Currey | Crew Chief: Wally Rogers
– Currey’s Kansas Stats: Bayley Currey has started six NCTS races in his career at Kansas Speedway. In April, Currey drove his No. 41 Chevy to his personal-best finish at the track with an eleventh-place result. He’s made five Xfinity Series starts with two top-20 finishes, including a best of 16th in 2021. Currey made one Cup Series start at the track in 2019.
– Niece Motorsports Kansas Stats: Niece Motorsports drivers have made 36 total starts at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. Back in 2019, Ross Chastain delivered the team its first Truck Series victory at the track. In total, the organization has captured five top-fives and seven top-10 finishes here, making Kansas statistically one of the team’s best tracks.
– Rogers’ Kansas Stats: In 10 Truck Series starts atop the pit box at Kansas, Wally Rogers has called three top-15 finishes. Rogers’ best NCTS result at this track came in 2004 when Matt Crafton finished fifth. Through six NXS starts, Rogers’ best run was delivered in 2003 when Greg Biffle posted a third-place finish. Elliott Sadler was the driver that gave Rogers his best Cup Series result in 2009, when he finished 20th.
– On the Truck: Currey’s No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Masked Owl Technologies and DQS Solutions & Staffing. Masked Owl will debut a new paint scheme on Friday night for their first race as a primary partner.
– Honoring a Cancer Hero: Currey will have a special passenger riding on his No. 41 Chevrolet in Friday’s race thanks to his involvement with The NASCAR Foundation & MTJ Foundation. Patrick Anderson, who is fighting a brain tumor, won the bid to replace the driver’s side name with St. Jude, specifically the KC Metro, Kansas & Nebraska hospital. Anderson is a devoted fan of Bayley’s and will be undergoing brain surgery next week.
– Recapping Bristol: Bayley Currey and the No. 44 team put together a decent night in Bristol and came away as the top-finishing Niece Motorsports truck. Currey started 26th, dropped a spot in stage one, but gained some spots to finish 19th in stage two. Playing it smart, the crew made sound adjustments to his truck and he came away with a top-15 finish.
– Points Rundown: Following his 15th-place finish in Bristol, Currey remains 19th in the NCTS driver’s points standings. Currey is 17 points behind Ty Dillon in 18th-place and has an eight-point gap to Bret Holmes in 20th.
– Quoting Currey: You were close to getting a top-10 here in the spring, so do you think your crew has figured out what changes you need on the mile-and-a-half tracks to get there this time?
“I think so, we’ve been trending in the right direction lately. Our results might not show it, but we’ve had fast trucks on the mile-and-a-halves. Just had things go wrong. I think we can make those small adjustments and head back there this week and finish better. Niece Motorsports has historically run well here, so there’s no reason that we shouldn’t have a good run.”
– Quoting Rogers: Do you think the team has made some good advancement on the aero department since the last intermediate race?
“Yeah, absolutely, I think we’ve made some pretty big gains since the last one we raced at. We’ve worked hard at that over the last few months. I think the last true mile-and-a-half we raced at was Charlotte, but a little bit of those efforts showed at Nashville and even more showed at Pocono, so Kansas will be a big test to see what we’ve been working towards for next year.”
No. 42 J.F. Electric / Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Matt Mills | Crew Chief: Jon Leonard
– Mills’ Kansas Stats: Matt Mills has made three previous NCTS starts at Kansas Speedway. Mills finished 23rd in the spring race after qualifying 15th. The Ohio native started five Xfinity Series races on the mile-and-a-half and posted a personal-best result of 19th last year. In 2021, Mills made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at this track – his only series start to-date.
– Leonard’s Kansas Stats: Jon Leonard has called four NCTS races at Kansas, and he finished 10th in the fall race last year while working with Jake Drew. Leonard made his debut as a Cup Series crew chief here in 2017 and went on to make a total of two starts with a best result of 18th in the same race.
– Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Yesterday, Niece Motorsports announced a one-year contract extension for Mills to remain the driver of the No. 42 Silverado RST in 2025. J.F. Electric and Utilitra will be featured as Mills’ primary sponsors for all 25 races next year as a continuation of their strong partnership.
– On the Truck: Mills’ No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from longtime partners J.F. Electric and Utilitra.
– Honoring a Cancer Hero: Matt Mills will have a special passenger riding along his No. 42 Silverado RST as part of an annual tradition with The NASCAR Foundation & MTJ Foundation. Charles Ripple III, a cancer survivor, chose to bid on Mills’ truck because he lives near his hometown in Dover, Ohio.
– Recapping Bristol: Matt Mills and the No. 42 team battled handling issues throughout the day in Bristol. Mills started the day off in 30th and finished the first stage in the same position. He gained a handful of spots to finish 27th in stage two, and climbed to 25th at the checkered flag.
– Points Rundown: After leaving Bristol with a 25th-place finish, Mills continues to be scored 22nd in the driver’s points standings. Timmy Hill, currently shown in 21st, has a 15-point advantage heading into Kansas, and Mills has a 31-point gap to Kaden Honeycutt in 23rd.
– Quoting Mills: You finished in the top-five at the last mile-and-a-half race in Charlotte, so do you feel like you can expect that to translate to Kansas?
“Yeah, for sure. Now that we are starting to go back to some of these tracks for a second time this year, especially since it’s just my first full-time year in the trucks, I think we are starting to hit on some stuff. At Charlotte towards the end of the race, I found some ways to find more speed out of our truck, so I’ve been really looking forward to getting back to Kansas. Knowing what I know now and where our stuff is at on these types of tracks, I feel confident for Friday.”
– Quoting Leonard:How much better has Matt been at ‘aero racing’ this season?
“I think he’s been great and has learned a ton. Having TJ (Majors) spotting for him has been a huge help and I think through the year he’s developed and gotten the hang of where to put himself on track and how to run these aero races. We’ve been running good on the intermediates and are bringing a similar setup to what we had in the spring, so it should be a good weekend for us.”
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