Nick Leitz Joins TRICON Garage For Truck Series Race at Daytona

Nick Leitz during driver introductions for the 2025 Bet Rivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Declan Wayman)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. - In what will be Nick Leitz's biggest opportunity in his young NASCAR career, the 29-year-old Virginia native will join the flagship Toyota NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, TRICON Garage, to kick off the 2026 campaign in the No. 5 SEM Toyota Tundra TRD Pro at Daytona International Speedway. After competing the last four years in underfunded equipment in both the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and Truck Series, Leitz will be able to showcase his talents for one of the best Truck Series squadrons on the grid around the high banks of the iconic 2.5-mile Daytona oval. Throughout the 2025 campaign, Leitz took part in 13 O'Reilly Series events, in which 12 came behind the wheel of the No. 07 Chevrolet for SS-Green Light Racing, scoring a career-best finish of 11th in the fall Talladega Superspeedway race this past October. Leitz additionally made one Truck Series start at Richmond Raceway, coming home with a 27th-place effort in a Young's Motorsports-prepared Chevrolet Silverado RST. Leitz has a career-best 19th-place finish, in which he scored twice at Nashville Superspeedway and Phoenix Raceway from his seven other prior starts in the series. The No. 5 entry will be joined by four other TRICON Garage entries for Daytona, as Leitz will team up with their three full-time drivers in Kaden Honeycutt (No. 11), Tanner Gray (No. 15), and Giovanni Ruggiero (No. 17), with the return of their rotational "All Star Truck" No. 1 entry to kick off the 2026 campaign. The No. 5 Toyota entry, which was previously driven full-time by Toni Breidinger in her rookie campaign in 2025. It currently ranks 28th in Owner Points, which suggests that Leitz will be able to qualify on speed for the 36-truck field. The Fresh From Florida 250 from Daytona International Speedway will kick off lon Friday, February 13, at 7:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. Radio coverage of the event can be found on the NASCAR Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.