With a week left until the official start of the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, a new team is set to attempt its series debut at Daytona International Speedway. Floridian Motorsports, a team owned by Scott Osteen, will field the No. 21 Toyota Tundra with 19-year-old Mason Maggio behind the wheel.
East Coast Lumber & Supply, Ace Hardware Crossroads, Ace Hardware Rock Hill, Ace Hardware Hob Sound, and Ace Hardware Apalachee will serve as sponsorship partners for the effort.
The No. 21 Floridian Motorsports Toyota Tundra
The addition of the No. 21 Floridian Motorsports team brings the total confirmed entries for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season-opener to 37 trucks.
According to Osteen, starting a race team wasn’t a seat-of-the-pants decision as he’s planned on being involved in the ownership group of a NASCAR team for nearly a decade.
“It’s been about seven years in the making from when I fell in love with wanting to pursue it,” Osteen told TobyChristie.com. “I just love the people and the sport. The action, the sights and the sounds, all of it.”
Floridian Motorsports has acquired a former Kyle Busch Motorsports superspeedway chassis from On Point Motorsports for Daytona, and two engines. As of now, Daytona is the only solidified attempt for the team, but Osteen will assess his next steps after Daytona.
“I had talked with a couple of other owners about being a financial backer, but there wasn’t a lot of interest from guys to do that, as they felt they would be giving up something that they created. I have an opportunity to do this. I only have the one speedway truck so it’s like a baby-step way of getting into it. Seeing how it works, and learning from a slow curve instead of dumping millions of dollars into it, not knowing how it will turn out,” Osteen explained.
Osteen and Maggio detailed that if all goes well in Daytona, the team could make a start or two at intermediate tracks as the season rolls along.
Maggio is proud to have been hand-picked by Osteen to be the driver to get the ball rolling for the Floridian Motorsports team.
“I know this is a dream that Scott has had for a long time. He’s been a great partner of mine over the last two years as a sponsor. For him to have faith in me, and choosing me to be the driver to attempt to make our debut is super special,” Maggio said. “Regardless of how the weekend goes, I’m excited, I’m optimistic, and I just want to make the most of it.
“That track holds a lot of meaning for me, personally. Just to even have a chance to qualify for Daytona is a dream come true.”
Maggio says while Osteen has dreamt of being a team owner for years, the plan to run Daytona has come together rather quickly, but that the process has been fun to be a part of.
“We’ve come a long way from this being an idea at the beginning of January, six weeks ago, roughly, we bought a truck and we were starting to piece everything together between the business side, the organization side, and just building the truck itself and trying to get it ready for Daytona, and putting sponsorships and partnerships together,” Maggio explained. “It’s been fast-paced, no doubt, but it’s been something that has been cool to be a part of.”
While Maggio is set to slide behind the wheel for the new Floridian Motorsports team at Daytona, the driver says that he does have additional plans in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series that are coming into place, and he should have something ready to announce on that front soon. Maggio also didn’t rule out select NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in 2024.
