Taking a look at 2026 and new faces on the landscape, it’s time to shift gears to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. While the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series featured a relatively large group of newcomers coming from different disciplines (including the trucks), the Craftsman Truck Series features two relatively new faces…but could be a very close battle for top honors that is worth keeping an eye on.
Brenden “Butterbean” Queen
#12 Cummins RAM
One of the top prospects to emerge as a future star from the CARS Late Model and various other events is Brenden Queen. The late model standout has signed with Kaulig Racing and the RAM brand as Dodge eventually looks to re-enter the sport. Queen gained tremendous experience in 2025, winning the ARCA Menards Series championship in dominant fashion. Moving to ARCA in 2025 with the dominant Pinnacle Racing Group, Queen drove their #28 Chevrolet to 8 wins and 17 top-five finishes in 20 events.
Queen also made a handful of national series starts in 2025, running seven events between the Xfinity and Truck Series. Driving a two race schedule for Spire Motorsports in trucks, Queen wheeled their Chevrolets to finishes of 16th (IRP), and 10th (Gateway). Queen also ran five Xfinity races with (ironically) Kaulig Racing, making starts in their #11 Chevrolet late in the season. These included a 9th place finish in Kansas after staring 4th.
Photo Credit: Circle B Diecast and Lionel
2026 Potential: Queen has risen through the ranks quickly as a dominant young driver in both CARS Tour and ARCA competition, showing he has the capability and skill to compete. Queen has shown in a handful of starts he can hang with the top drivers in both of NASCAR’s feeder series, a full-time truck effort is an entirely new experience for the 2025 ARCA Champion. ARCA in particular, is a case of “haves” versus “have nots”, where the better funded teams easily outrun the rest of the field weekly.
Queen’s new venture into a full-time truck schedule for 2026 could come with some growing pains. Considered a top team in Xfinity and strong contender in Cup, the Kaulig team has never fielded a truck, but seems to be putting a together a strong, factory-backed team, while ushering in RAM’s return. Queen will also have veteran driver Justin Haley and other teammates to lean on throughout the 2026 campaign.
A short-track ace at heart, Queen’s best bet to show his potential will come at places North Wilkesboro and Martinsville, but a series win may be at least a season away still. While the performance of the new RAM trucks is also a wildcard in 2026, Queen could potentially surprise some weeks as he learns and adapts…but its important to not set expectations exceptionally high. Success will come with time in a much more competitive Truck Series garage.
Cole Butcher
#13 ThorSport Racing Ford
Joining Queen in pursuit of rookie honors in 2026, is Canadian Cole Butcher. Butcher will take over the duties of driving ThorSport Racing’s #13 Ford for Jake Garcia (Garcia has moved to ThorSport’s #98 Ford). While sponsorship has not yet been announced, the NASCAR Canada and late model standout will look to make an impression with a top-tier team in ThorSport Racing. Making his series debut in 2025, Butcher ran two events in a second, part-time #62 Toyota for HALMAR-Friesen Racing, finishing 23rd in his debut at Bristol.
Butcher (62) races ThorSport’s Matt Crafton (88) in Phoenix. Photo Credit: Jayski and James Gilbert/Getty Images
2026 Potential: While Butcher is a relatively new name to Truck Series competition, the Canadian driver has experienced success in NASCAR Canada, CARS Tour, ASA, and NASCAR Weekly Series competition. ThorSport’s #13 team is the team’s second-longest running team in truck competition, and narrowly missed a Round of 4 birth in 2025 with Jake Garcia. Taking advantage of the Matt Crafton retirement/team realignment for 2026, Butcher will look to do the 13 team proud.
Will he be the one to continue breaking the curse of the 13 team? (the “13” ThorSport team has a dramatic and somewhat rocky history pre-2025).
For Butcher, this will be his first attempt at a national series schedule in NASCAR, but he will have a veteran team around him that should ease that transition. Sporting a short track background, Butcher may face a steeper learning curve then Queen, but his ability to race clean will work to his advantage. While a top ten points finish may be a reach for 2026, a solid top-15 points finish is attainable. Look for some good late season runs at places like Bristol and Martinsville, along with a few surprises along the way.