After completing a single-season stint for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing last year, Colby Howard will have a new organization to call home for the entire 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
Howard will move to CR7 Motorsports for the upcoming season, where he’ll replace Blaine Perkins as the full-time driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro, beginning with the season-opener at Daytona.
In November, Howard revealed to TobyChristie.com that he and McAnally-Hilgemann Racing had amicably parted ways at season’s end, but maintained that he would continue competing full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2023.
Interestingly enough, the brand-new season marks a reunion for Howard and CR7 Motorsports, who contested three NASCAR Truck Series events together in 2021, with a pair of top-15 finishes at Darlington and Bristol.
Howard would then move on to McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for his first full-season effort in NASCAR’s top-three series, where he recorded three top-10 results, including a career-best eighth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Simpsonville, South Carolina-native also contested a two-season stint with JD Motorsports – 2020 and 2021 – in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he scored 11 top-20 results in 43 starts.
CR7 Motorsports’ newfound partnership with Colby Howard for the upcoming season provides the family-operated team an opportunity to rebound, after failing to score a single top-10 finish for the first time since the team’s inaugural season (2018).
The organization, well-known for fielding the No. 9 Grant County Mulch entry in the NASCAR Truck Series, has scored three top-five and eight top-10 finishes in its 70-race stint in the series, primarily with team owner Codie Rohrbaugh.