"Kind of killed two birds with one stone": Spire co-owner explains parting with Andrés Pérez while addressing Truck Series future

NASCAR: Truck Series - Fresh From Florida 250 - Source: Imagn
Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson sheds light on teams' recent Truck Series scale back. Source: Imagn

Co-owner Jeff Dickerson believes that Spire Motorsports took care of two tasks with its latest decision to scale back its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program.

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Earlier this week, Spire announced that it has parted ways with rookie driver Andrés Pérez, who drove the No. 77 truck. The team also ceased operations of the No. 07 truck and will now run only three full-time entries for the rest of the season.

During a recent appearance on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Dickerson explained the decision came after Pérez began exploring other career opportunities. He also noted that the results did not meet expectations on the truck side and they wanted to see if focusing on three entries could improve performance.

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"The Truck Series is hard and running four teams is hard. I don't think that we've reached our potential on the Truck side either this year. And I don't know if that's because we had four teams or not, but all those things were kind of percolating at the same time," Jeff Dickerson said (00:17 onwards).
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"So it kind of killed two birds with one stone, if you will, right? Let Andreas pursue opportunities for the future and let us kind of just kind of tidy it up a little bit around the shop and just focus on three and see if that helps," he added.
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Pérez, the 20-year-old Mexico City native who joined Spire's Truck Series lineup earlier this year, has joined Niece Motorsports in the No. 44 truck. Corey LaJoie will now run Spire's No. 77 Chevrolet Truck full-time for the remaining eight Truck races this season.


"Really rewarding" - Spire Motorsports co-owner on team's Truck Series program

When asked if Spire Motorsports would consider pulling out of the Truck Series in the future, Jeff Dickerson dismissed the idea during the SiriusXM episode. He pointed to the team's roots in driver development and the satisfaction that comes from helping racers advance.

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"There is something really rewarding about taking these guys and putting them in a position to move them up. I don’t necessarily want to lose that part. I would feel like we have grown up too much if we do that," Dickerson said. [1:03 onwards]

Spire Motorsports' No. 7 Truck scored two wins so far this season. Kyle Busch took the win in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta and Carson Hocevar at Kansas Speedway. Meanwhile, Rajah Caruth, who drives the No. 71 Truck full-time, won at Nashville in May after two top-5 finishes earlier. Kyle Larson also won the fourth race of the season at Homestead–Miami Speedway in Spire's No. 07 Truck.

The No. 7 entry ranked fifth in the team's owner standings with 564 points, while the No. 71 sat in 15th place after last weekend’s race at Watkins Glen. Points of the now inactive No. 07 truck will move to the No. 77, which ranked 22nd in owner points.

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Edited by Luke Koshi
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