When you look at G2G Racing, you can’t help but think of the old adage: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Because, essentially, that’s what team owner Tim Viens is doing, as he has decided to build his own NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team from the ground up.
The 45-year old entrepreneur and part-time racer had attempted to go big-time NASCAR National Series racing over the last few years, but the other team owners that he’s had dealings with, never realized his vision of a quality race team.
In an exclusive interview with TobyChristie.com, Viens explained the idea to start his own race team, turned into reality after a conversation with his cousin Bill Shea led to the formation of G2G Racing.
“I just said, ‘If we’re going to do it, I want to do it correctly,'” Viens recalled. “I don’t want to cut corners.”
It was that conversation that led Shea becoming Viens’ financial partner in the formation of G2G Racing.
Several months later, G2G Racing is set to make an impactful announcement, on Thursday, that the team will run two full-time trucks during the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.
The team will enlist Matt Jaskol, who will bring sponsorship in the form of his longtime partner LiftKits4Less / AutoParts4Less, to run the No. 46 Toyota Tundra full-time.
The partnership between Jaskol, AutoParts4Less, and G2G Racing, allows the newly-established organization to bring 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion, Johnny Sauter, into the team’s stable for the upcoming season, which Viens says could work out to be as many as 13 races in the second entry, No. 47.
“[Jaskol’s] partner is LiftKits4Less and also their new brand is AutoParts4Less. They’re getting ready to go on the NASDAQ in the next month or so,” Viens said. “They’re primary sponsor for Jaskol for all 23 races and they’re Sauter’s primary sponsor as well. It’s a great partnership.”
Sauter, barring any unforeseen circumstances, will likely be locked into the show in the season-opening race regardless of how he qualifies due to being a recent past champion. However, this isn’t a complete safety net for G2G, as Sauter is only eligible to use the PCP once every five race attempts and can only use the PCP four times over the course of a season.
Jaskol, meanwhile, will need to make the field on speed, as G2G Racing will not have 2021 owner points to fall back on.
“I looked at the owner points situation and there really wasn’t anything high enough available that I was able to go after,” Viens elucidated. “I had thought about getting the 49 points, but just based on them being so far down, it just didn’t make any sense to pay to do all of that.”
Sauter running 13 races in the No. 47 truck leaves 10 races to be filled in this season. Viens says he and Roger Reuse will drive the balance of the schedule.
“We have Roger Reuse, who drove for CMI last year, the road course specialist,” Viens said. “He’s doing the three road course races in the second truck and then he is also looking to do Talladega and Martinsville.
“So, we have Roger filling in for five, which leaves five open. So, I’ll probably fill in for those five to fill in that gap.”
According to Viens, G2G Racing currently has five full-time employees to go along with eight trucks in their arsenal. Some of their trucks are former Chevy and Ford trucks that have been converted into Toyotas, while he also has some newer trucks that he’s purchased from Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Viens also revealed to TobyChristie.com that the team has two more KBM trucks on order, which will give them a total of 10 trucks in their fleet heading into the meat and potatoes of the season.
While G2G Racing is receiving support from TRD, they do not have an alliance formed with any other teams at the moment. Instead, Viens is focusing on building his team with the most potent equipment he can snatch up.
“No, we haven’t formed any alliance or anything like that [with Kyle Busch Motorsports],” Viens explained. “TRD has been giving us some support. But we’re doing our own thing. My objective is to just try to get the best equipment I can and come at this thing correctly and be competitive. I believe with the two drivers we have, when we go to Vegas with two KBM intermediate trucks, I think we’ll be very competitive.”
The secret sauce that will be key to how G2G does on track in 2022, will be Tim Silva. Silva, in addition to serving as Jaskol’s crew chief on the No. 46 team, is also the team’s General Manager. Silva is the guy, when it comes to what is going on in the race shop for G2G Racing.
“[Silva is] my guy in North Carolina. He’s been in the sport for a really long time. He knows everybody. Along with being a crew chief this year, he’s really my General Manager in the shop as well. He’s been an integral part of the equation for sure,” Viens praised. “When Ray Ciccarelli decided to go back dirt racing and leave the truck series, it opened the door for us to get that race shop and get Tim on board.”
At the end of the day, Viens is hitting the ground running with G2G Racing. However, unlike his past ventures, he has kept a low profile while building this new race team. This time around, the native of Vermont prefers to let his team speak for themselves through their performance on the race track.
“We’re going to prove ourselves on the track,” Viens stated emphatically. “I’ve got a three-time Daytona winner in the 47 truck, and he’s going to go out and try to get a fourth victory at Daytona. Then I’ve got Jaskol in there. We have sponsorship. We have all the resources that we need. We aren’t going to the track with a dually, we’re going with a 53-foot hauler. We’re coming correct.”
