January 4, 2018 Charles Côté 0

Hattori Racing Enterprises Returning Without Ryan Truex

Hattori Racing Enterprises will return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this year without driver Ryan Truex. (NASCAR Photo)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Hattori Racing Enterprises has confirmed the will return to compete full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this year, but they’ll be doing it without Ryan Truex.

Truex drove full-time for the team last season, scoring two poles, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes aboard the No. 16 Toyota Tundra. The team will announce a driver and sponsor for the No. 16 entry at a later date.

“The biggest improvement for 2018 is the people,” team owner Shige Hattori said. “Unlike last season, (crew chief) Scott Zipadelli is already here and coming back along with our truck chief.

“We’ve invested in some new crew members at the shop and believe the changes will allow us to be more efficient and bring in new ideas to elevate this race team’s performance.”

Hattori Racing Enterprises has also added additional Toyota Tundra race trucks to their arsenal in advance of the new season.

“Our initial goal this year is to get to victory lane and win our first race,” Hattori said. “We want to make the playoff field and win a championship. We made good progress in the middle of last season by building a new truck, and we’re applying everything we learned to the new Tundras that we have added to our fleet.

“We’re going to be even better prepared in 2018 with a larger inventory of updated trucks and support from TRD to win races and compete for the championship.”

HRE Competition Director Mike Greci admitted it will be hard to move forward without Truex, a former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion, behind the wheel.

“It’s difficult to move on after the effort Ryan (Truex) put in and everything he did to grow our program to where it is now. I’ve worked with the Truex family for many years, but we had to make the best decision possible for everyone at HRE.

“We truly wish him nothing but success moving forward. We’re looking forward to getting our lineup announced and head to Daytona (Int’l Speedway) and win some races this season.”

Source :speedsport.com

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Charles Côté Motorsports are the ultimate connection between man and machine. My passion has become my job. As chief editor of RNW, I look forwards to sharing my love of racing with you.