Clayton Green, a former ARCA Menards Series East driver, will attempt to make his first career NASCAR National series start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in a couple of weeks. The 26-year-old Texas native will pilot the No. 04 Chevrolet Silverado for the Roper Racing Team in the event, the 10th race of the 2024 Truck Series season.
Green, a veteran of the Modifieds of Mayhem Tour as well as other forms of modified racing, has limited experience with stock cars. Green ran three ARCA Menards Series West events in 2015 and three ARCA East races in 2016, finishing a best of seventh at Meridian Speedway in 2015.
Green will become the third driver to get behind the wheel of the No. 04 truck this season, joining team owner Cory Roper and NTT IndyCar Series veteran Marco Andretti. Andretti, who is running his first full season of stock cars between the Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series, has six remaining races scheduled in the No. 04, with the next one being Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on July 19.
In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in January, it was revealed that Roper had been searching for other drivers to fill the seat of his truck besides himself and Andretti. “We’ve got a couple [of drivers] on the radar that we’re talking to. The sad thing about this business like everybody knows that is listening is that it all comes down to funds,” Roper stated. “But yeah we have a couple of new drivers that I would love to see get the opportunity.”
It appears that Green was potentially one of the drivers that Roper had referenced in that interview.
If Green and fellow North Wilkesboro debutant Brenden Queen successfully qualify into the race, they will become the sixth and seventh drivers to make their Truck Series debut on the season, joining Jack Hawksworth, Connor Zilisch, Vicente Salas, Carter Fartuch, and Cam Waters.