by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Trey Hutchens picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Saturday and Sunday’s Wright Brand 250 at the North Wilkesboro Speedway when his #14 Quality Roof Seamers Chevrolet fell out with transmission issues after he completed 128 of 250 laps.

The finish occurred in Hutchens’ 13th series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 11th for the #14, the 42nd from transmission issues, and the 445th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 61st for the #14, the 178th from the transmission, and the 1,340th for Chevrolet.

The Hutchens family is no stranger to NASCAR, having been involved in racing for four generations across six decades. Bobby Hutchens, Jr., Hutchens’ father, has served as the competition director for Richard Childress Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and JTG-Daugherty racing. He now serves as his 26-year-old son’s crew chief. The younger Hutchens has competed in late models since 2013, then climbed the ladder into NASCAR Modifieds and the ARCA Menards Series East.

On June 23, 2017, Hutchens made his Truck Series debut at Iowa and finished an impressive 16th for Bolen Motorsports. Other than a one-off for NEMCO Motorsports at the same Iowa track in 2019, he’s since driven for his family’s team, campaigning the #14 Chevrolet. Trey Hutchens Racing made its debut at Texas in 2019, where a crash left him 24th. He then matched his career-best 16th at Michigan later that year. He’s made the occasional few starts in every season since, and has endured despite a number of DNQs and some savage accidents. At Charlotte on May 28, 2021, NASCAR failed to throw the caution for his slowing truck as it entered the quad-oval, leading to Johnny Sauter colliding with him at full speed. Just last year at Texas, his truck was again wiped out in a pileup triggered by Dean Thompson and Matt Mills, again on the frontstretch.

North Wilkesboro marked just the second start of the year for Hutchens and his first since Bristol, where suspension issues stopped him halfway through the event. He was originally one of 38 drivers entered to attempt the 36-truck field for the first race on the newly-repaved North Wilkesboro track, but that list shrank by one following the withdrawal of Justin S. Carroll’s #90 Carroll’s Automotive / Duratain Toyota, the last-place finisher at Bristol. Hutchens ran 51 laps in practice, but was slowest overall, 1.28 seconds off the pole but just 0.186 behind the next-slowest entry of Clayton Green in Roper Racing’s #04 CarQuest Chevrolet. Rain cancelled qualifying, leaving Hutchens 35th on the grid for Saturday. The lone team sent home was Hattori Racing Enterprises, which made their first attempt of 2024 with Aric Almirola in the #16 Toyota Tsusho Toyota. This would have been Almirola’s first Truck start since November 2, 2012 at Texas.

Securing the 36th and final starting spot was late model upstart Dawson Sutton, whose series debut brought Rackley-W.A.R.’s second entry back to the Truck Series circuit since July 23, 2022 at Pocono. With no teams sent to the back for pre-race penalties, Hutchens started to Sutton’s inside in the final row. And as they crossed the stripe, Sutton inched ahead, 3.866 seconds back of the leader to Hutchens’ 4.122. Seconds later, 31st-place starter Sammy Smith in the #7 Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet was penalized by NASCAR for pulling out of line early. “You’re kidding me,” said his spotter as Hutchens remained last, 5.634 behind the leader to start Lap 2. Smith didn’t immediately serve the penalty, keeping Hutchens last through Lap 6, when he was 10.547 behind the lead and 0.145 behind 35th-place Thad Moffitt in the #46 Window World Chevrolet. That time by, NASCAR was about to stop scoring Smith when he finally served his pass-through, dropping him to last place, one lap down, on Lap 7.

The early caution Smith needed to get his lap back didn’t come, and by Lap 15 the leaders had lapped the now 35th-place Hutchens, followed soon after by Spencer Boyd in the #76 Latitude Aero Chevrolet and Thad Moffitt’s #46. By Lap 21, NASCAR was watching for rain as dark clouds continued to move over the track, but the spotters continued to report the track was clear. On Lap 35, Smith finally climbed to 35th past the lapped Hutchens and began his march through the field. During this run, Hutchens’ crew encouraged him to drive deeper into the corners, but the driver said the truck had an issue with the right-front shock that kept it from turning. This was relayed on Lap 59, when rain started to fall. By then, the #14 was shown three laps down. “I just don’t have the pull that anybody else has,” said Hutchens.

The race restarted on Lap 68, followed soon by the next yellow on Lap 71 to end Stage 1. In that pace of time, Sammy Smith managed to grab the Lucky Dog, putting him back on the lead lap. “Is there anything I can do for you?” the crew asked Hutchens. “I don't think you're gonna fix it here,” the driver answered. “All right, now remember what we talked about - just keep learning, bring it home clean.” Hutchens also reported his water temperature had climbed from 230 degrees to 235, so the team planned to take tape off the nose on their next stop. On Lap 77, after that stop was completed, the team asked him about a noise the transmission was making. The driver replied that it felt like it was slipping a little. Moments later, NASCAR reported lightning in the area, which was then followed by five inches of rain in 90 minutes. A blocked drain in Turn 1 caused flooding on half the track, forcing a postponement to the following morning.

Sunday morning began with the drain cleared, the water drained, and partly cloudy skies. Hutchens, whose truck had been parked in the stall directly in front of Ty Majeski’s #98 Road Ranger Ford, resumed his race three laps down in last place. The restart came on Lap 87, followed soon by Rajah Caruth spinning his #71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet during a battle for the lead. Under this caution, Hutchens’ crew talked about the shocks as Hutchens still felt an issue in the right-front. The crew continued to express concerns over the transmission, not wanting to damage it or the truck. He made another stop on Lap 120, under the following caution for Lawless Alan spinning his #33 AUTOChargIt Ford. Clayton Green had an extended stop soon after, dropping him five laps down in the #04 CarQuest Chevrolet and briefly placing him last on Lap 125. He quickly dropped Hutchens back to last the next time by. Not long after, around Lap 134, Hutchens pulled behind the wall. By Lap 142, the #14 crew was packing up, remarking that the truck rolled better as the driver picked up a few tenths from Saturday. NASCAR declared Hutchens out on Lap 207, citing the transmission issue the team mentioned, though the shock problem was also a likely cause.

Declared out on the same lap as Hutchens was Conner Jones, who battled in the Top Five on Saturday, but on Sunday spun and stalled his #66 Farm Paint Ford. On Lap 181, as Jones made it to pit road, NASCAR officials told the driver to report to the NASCAR hauler after the race. Four laps later on Lap 185, the #66 was declared out under the “Damaged Vehicle Policy” (DVP), though the garage official reported him out with steering issues on Lap 207, and the final results indicated it was a “crash.” Clayton Green’s lapped #04 remained in the 34th spot with Spencer Boyd’s #76 in 32nd, both on the same lap as 33rd-place Josh Reaume in the #22 Matrix CAD Design Ford.

Sammy Smith, who took last place on Lap 7 and didn’t rejoin the lead lap until the end of Stage 1, staged an impressive comeback to finish 5th, one spot behind an equally impressive Brenden “Butterbean” Queen of the CARS Late Model Tour. One year after his late model win at the North Wilkesboro track, Queen finished 4th in the #1 Best Repair Company Toyota. Both were locked in the same battle with 3rd-place finishing Layne Riggs, who finally earned his first top-five finish of the season in Front Row Motorsports’ #38 Infinity Communications Group Ford.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #14 in a Truck Series race since July 14, 2012, when Brennan Newberry’s #14 NTS Motorsports Chevrolet crashed after 5 laps of the American Ethanol 200 at Iowa.

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #14 in a Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro.

*Hutchens is the first Truck Series driver to finish last due to transmission issues since July 8, 2023, when Colby Howard’s #9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet fell out after 21 laps around Mid-Ohio.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #14-Trey Hutchens / 128 laps / transmission

35) #66-Conner Jones / 179 laps / crash

34) #04-Clayton Green / 245 laps / running

33) #22-Josh Reaume / 245 laps / running

32) #76-Spencer Boyd / 245 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Young’s Motorsports (2)

2nd) Faction 46, Front Row Motorsports, Hill Motorsports, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Spire Motorsports, Terry Carroll Motorsports, ThorSport Racing, Trey Hutchens Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (6)

2nd) Ford, Toyota (2)

2024 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP