TRUCKS: 17-Year-Old Racer Forms Own NASCAR Truck Series Team

Brent Crews, a 17-year-old development driver in the Toyota farm system, has formed his own NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, Brent Crews Motorsports. According to a press release, the team will make its debut in the August 8 event at Watkins Glen International.

Crews will serve as the primary driver for the team, which will field the No. 70 Toyota Tundra at Watkins Glen with primary sponsorship from Pristine Auction. The young racer from Davidson, NC, says that hearing stories from Nick Tucker of Nitro Motorsports and Brian Keselowski about fielding their own race teams is what helped push him into NASCAR National Series team ownership.

“I grew up going to dinner on race weekends with guys like Nick Tucker and Brian Keselowski listening to stories about building race cars and engines out of spare parts and barely getting to the track,” said Crews. “Even though everyone would tell them they were crazy, it always sounded like so much fun to me. When we started talking about me buying a truck to run Watkins Glen, no one was willing to tell me it was a bad idea and it just kind of snowballed from there. I sold all my micro sprints to raise some of the money and here we are.”

In an interesting wrinkle to the announcement, Brent Crews Motorsports says fellow up-and-coming racers Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch, and Jack Baldwin will serve as part of the executive leadership group of the organization.

The team, which will operate out of the Nitro Motorsports Trans-Am shop in Mooresville, NC, will announce additional partners and personnel in the near future.

While it wasn't uncommon back in the 1990s for racers to field their own cars while pursuing their dreams of racing in the NASCAR National Series ranks, its become a much less common affair in modern NASCAR.

“My stepdad Matt and I have always done things outside the box,” Crews added. “We went National Midget racing when I was 12 and became the youngest Midget winner in history with Pristine Auction on the side of the car, so I’m super pumped to have them back on board. I don’t really know where this is going to go, but with all the buzz around road course guys right now, it didn’t seem right to miss Watkins Glen. I love the track. I have a win there. I don’t know what to expect from our team, but I will give it everything I’ve got. Watching on TV was NOT an option.”

Crews, who is slated for nine NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts with TRICON Garage this season, has competed in three events with the No. 1 team. Crews collected a career-best eighth-place finish in his second-career start, which came at Lime Rock Park in June.

The young racer, and now team owner worked his way to NASCAR by battling on dirt tracks. However, since moving to full-bodied stock cars, Crews has experienced success in the ARCA Menards Series divisions.

Crews has a total of seven wins between the ARCA Menards Series National, East, and West divisions.