FANTASY NASCAR Racin

AL NIECE - -
was born in 1945 in LaPorte, Indiana. In 1966, Niece graduated high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1967, Niece enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving for two years. During those two years, Niece deployed to Vietnam with the 3rd Marine Division, Lima Co. 3rd Marine Regiment. During his time in the Marine Corps, Niece earned the rank of Sergeant. In 1978, Niece opened Niece Equipment in a two-office suite in a business park in Austin, Texas. In 1985, the company expanded to include a water truck manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1988, Niece Equipment expanded its manufacturing capabilities again, to include fuel and lube trucks at its Austin, Texas location. In 2012, Niece Equipment purchased Klein Manufacturing in Fort Scott, Kansas. This expansion allowed Niece Equipment to produce specialized water equipment, fuel and lube trucks, along with custom-fabricated machinery for the quarry and mining industries. Niece Equipment is comprised of three companies: Niece Equipment, Niemco and Niece Products of Kansas. Today, Niece Equipment has two manufacturing plants, one in Buda, Texas and another in Fort Scott, Kansas, with approximately 120

approximately 120 employees. This another new team to NASCAR. Owned by Al Niece; they fielded their first entry in 2016 with Casey Smith at the wheel at Texas. He started 29th; ran a clean race and finished 22nd when the checkered waved. 2017 saw TJ Bell run 15 of the 24 races they competed in. Bell posted a best finish of 14th on three occasions. Austin Wayne self came on board in 2018 to drive the #22 truck full time; and Justin Fontaine was also hired to drive the #45 full time as the team expanded to a two truck operation. A third truck was raced on occasion. Fontaine would get the organizations first top ten when he finished tenth in the season opening Daytona race. Niece also fielded a car for one race in the Xfinity series in 2018. It was driven by Victor Gonzalez Jr at Watkins Glen when he started 29th and finished 31st. As of the end of 2019 it is the only Xfinity start Niece Motorsports has had. 2019 kicked off with Chastain

scheduled to race full time in the Xfinity Series and race for that Championship. He was to split time driving the #45 with Fontaine driving for Niece. Chastain raced every race in all three NASCAR series for almost the entire season. Plans changed and he raced the #45 full time for Niece; and after nine races in the Truck series Chastain decided he would change from racing for the Xfinity Championship to working with Niece to try and win the Truck series Championship. All the races he had ran up until that point did not count toward championship points; thus when he made the change he had zero truck series points; even though every race he had finished inside the

top ten. Therefore he had to win a race and make it into the top twenty in points before the cut to the Chase. Things looked great as he went out and won the first race in pursuit of the Truck Championship; only to see that come crashing down when his truck failed post race inspection at Iowa. He went right back out the following week at Gateway and won again. This time the win stood. This was Niece Motorsports first NASCAR win. Chastain added two more wins before the season ended and made the Chase easily. Chastain had ten top five and 19 top ten finishes in 23 starts. He marched through each round of the Chase and was poised to have a shot to win the 2019 Championship when they went to Miami. Austin hill had the best truck by far that night but he eligible to win the Championship. Matt Crafton finished second and won the Championship while

Chastain finished the race fourth and finished second in the Chase. The #44 truck saw a variety of drivers in 2019. Timothy Peters drove three times and finished in the top ten twice. Jeb Burton drove twice and finished in the top ten on both occasions. Bailey Curry also drove twice and posted the organizations other top ten finish. In just two full time season, Niece Motorsports has won three times; had ten Top 5 and 27 Top 10 finishes. After a successful 2019 season which saw Ross Chastain win three races; 2020 seemed to be a let down for Al Niece and Niece Motorsports. He had no less that 16 different drivers wheel his five race trucks. Ty Majeski drove the most races with

15 times at the keyboard. He posted three Top 10's. Next was Natalie Decker who drove 13 races and she posted one Top 5. But that one Top 5 made history as Decker would be the best finishing female driver in Truck series history. Ross Chastain and Ryan Truex was behind the wheel nine races each, with Chastain getting a second at Pocono and his only Top5. Truex's best run was 12th. Trevor Bayne returned to NASCAR Racing after almost a two year lay off and ran eight races. He posted a season best second place at Talladega and two other races in the top eleven. He finished fifth in the Bristol race but his truck was disqualified post race. Kaz Grala was the only other driver to post as finish as good as tenth. Niece would field three trucks in 2021. Carson Hocevar was the only one to run all 22 races. He would have three finishes in the Top

five, with a second coming at Charlotte. He also had eight Top 10’s. He made the Chase and just missed the run for the Championship when he was eliminated the race before. He has been named to race full time again in the #42 Al Niece is still trying to become a force in the Truck Series. To date Ross Chastain is the only driver that has won for him. But, Carson Hocevar was on the brink of capturing a couple wins this season. Niece had three full time drivers in 2022 as Hocevar, Dean Thompson and Lawless Allen all competed. He also had a truck that saw a

series of drivers race it. Hocevar did the best by far, He had seven top five finishes; and finished second at Bristol, and then again the following week at Darlington. At Bristol he led 55 laps and looked to have the truck to beat. He held off a determined Ben Rhodes the last part of the race; but with four laps to go Rhodes caught Hocevar and moved him out of the way to get the lead. Carson ran well at Charlotte leading 57 laps; but got involved in a dust up late in the race that relegated him to 16th. He again had a good race at Gateway right outside St Louis, the following week. On the final restart he was on the front row looking for the win. He got spun as they entered turn one, and

was t-boned in the drivers door by another truck. He ended up 24th; and with a broken leg. But Hocevar didn't let that stop him. The next race was at the road course of Sonoma; a place where you certainly need both legs because of all the shifting. He managed to put together a good run and won the pole. Hocevar started the race, but Daniel Suarez took over the controls at the first yellow and finished sixth. Carson is a good dirt racer; and started second the next race at Knoxville. He jumped to the lead and led the first 65 laps. But; at that point his motor expired and another great shot to win was gone. He had two third place finishes at Nashville and Mid-Ohio and

added a second at Kansas. But he was eliminated after the first round of the play-offs. Neither Lawless Alan nor Dean Thompson would manage to get a top ten finish on the season. Alan's best finish came at CPTA when he finished 11th. Most of his finishes came in the low 20's positions. Thompsons best finish came at Las Vegas when he finished 11th. Like Alan; most of Thompson's finishes came in the low to mid 20's. That is not to say that Niece's drivers went winless in 2022. His fourth truck that saw various driver in it had Ross Chastain run five races. He won at Charlotte and added a fourth place at Sonoma. Kris Wright drove the truck the most, making 17 starts. His best finish was 15th at COTA. For 2023, Niece scaled back to running

just two trucks full time. As expected Hocevar was back, and had a great season. They went to Phoenix with a shot at winning the championship. His season saw him get his first win at Texas, and a couple months later picked up a win at Nashville. He won at Richmond; and got his fourth win at Homestead just before the Championship race at Phoenix. That race was a battle between he and Corey Heim. With about 30 laps to go Heim grabbed the lead, and as they entered turn one, Hocevar dove low onto the apron to attempt a pass. He truck got loose, he slid up the

track and run into Heim. Both spun. It ruined both drivers shot to win the title. Just before the race ended, Heim had a shot to give Hocevar a ‘pay-back’ and wrecked him with two laps to go. Hocevar made several starts in the Cup series when Noah Gragson was suspended, and opened enough eyes that Spire Motorsports hired him to drive one of their cars in the Cup series in 2024. Lawless Alan drove the other full time truck and made 21 starts. His best finish came at Talladega where he finished tenth. As in 2022. Niece had a third truck that was split between several drivers. Ross Chastain made seven starts and finished fifth twice. Bayley Currey made eleven starts; having an impressive run at Daytona finishing fourth. In his starts he had three top five and four top ten runs. Currey will return in 2024, as will Lawless Alan. Matt Mills has been tabbed to wheel a third truck