Ryan Truex Has a Ride for Daytona 500 With Tommy Baldwin Racing

By Toby Christie     

Since being ousted from the No. 11 Leaf Filter Racing team, there has been very little in the form of news for Ryan Truex. Wednesday, Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that they have signed the 26-year-old driver to drive their No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500.

“I am very thankful to TBR and Tommy Baldwin for this opportunity and can’t wait to get to Daytona and back in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car,” commented Ryan Truex. “The pressure is on to make it into the race, but Tommy is a true racer, and I know he will put everything into the car to give us a great shot.”

Truex is a two time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion (2009 and 2010) and he has logged 142 NASCAR National Series starts.

Baldwin is excited to be working with Truex again, as the two have partnered in the NXS in the past. Baldwin also left open the possibility of more starts for Truex in the No. 71 throughout the year.

“I’m excited to have Ryan back in a Tommy Baldwin Racing car,” team owner Tommy Baldwin said. “We had success at Daytona in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, in the past. I’ve known the Truex family a very long time, and it’s special that we’ll be able to compete in The DAYTONA 500 together, and hopefully more races as the year goes on. We are still in search of a primary sponsor that we’re hoping to put together in time to give TBR a great run this year.”

The New Jersey product has just one-career Cup Series start at Daytona (in 2014) which resulted in a 32nd-place finish after a crash.

Truex will look to better his career-best Cup Series finish of 20th, which came at Pocono Raceway in August of 2014.