A native of Dawsonville, Georgia, is making a surprise return to the Craftsman Truck Series as part of a tripleheader weekend.
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Chase Elliott will join Spire Motorsports on Saturday, July 18, at North Wilkesboro Speedway. He will control the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado during the Faith Fest 250 Truck Series race (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1).
This will mark Elliott's first Truck Series start since the 2023 season when he competed in the February race at Daytona International Speedway. He finished 10th in that race while driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
Dawsonville, we've got some more racing for your TVs.@chaseelliott will drive the No. 7 @HendrickCars Chevrolet next week at North Wilkesboro. pic.twitter.com/4nTUcGU8Og
— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) July 8, 2026
The 2020 Cup Series champion only has 18 starts in the Truck Series, but he has three trips to victory lane. He has never run a full season in the series.
His most expansive Truck Series schedule came in 2013 as he made nine starts for Hendrick Motorsports. He posted five top-five finishes while scoring his first career win at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Elliott scored his second Truck Series win in 2017 while making two starts. He captured the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway after starting from the pole and leading 92 laps.
His third, and most recent, Truck Series win came under unique circumstances. Kevin Harvick put up a "bounty" during the 2020 season. He said he would pay $50,000 to any full-time Cup Series driver who could enter a Truck Series race and defeat Kyle Busch. Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis then offered to match the money with $50,000 of his own.
This bounty comment surfaced in February 2020 after Busch won a Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson retweeted the celebration video with a cherry emoji, which many took as Larson implying that Busch cherry-picked his events.
Harvick got in on the conversation and indicated that Larson should build some trucks to compete with Busch. He then offered the bounty.
Elliott ultimately took part in a May 26, 2020, Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He led 47 of the 134 laps and beat Busch by 0.627 seconds. The bounty then became a donation to a COVID-19 relief fund.
RACE WINNER: @chaseelliott holds off @KyleBusch for the final 20 laps to win at @CLTMotorSpdwy! pic.twitter.com/i5Y4g89y47
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 27, 2020
Fast-forward to 2026 and the Georgia native will now pull triple duty during the North Wilkesboro Speedway weekend.
He will kick off the weekend by competing in the CARS Tour race on Friday, July 17. He will drive the No. 8 LMSC entry for JR Motorsports. NAPA Auto Parts will serve as his primary sponsor for the CARS Tour race.
Elliott will then compete in the Truck Series race on Saturday afternoon as he pursues another win in the third-tier series. He will close out the weekend on Sunday night with the first Cup Series points-paying race at North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1996.
