ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The cloak of uncertainty that hangs on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first street-circuit race just got a bit heavier — and wetter — to wear.
A challenging track, a festival atmosphere and precious little on-track time greeted the Truck Series in Friday’s prelude to Saturday’s OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 (noon ET, FOX, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, FOX One) on the streets of St. Petersburg. Rain dampened the 1.8-mile temporary road course barely 10 minutes into what was scheduled to be a 50-minute practice session with a qualifying chaser. Every driver in the field got on track, but none turned more than eight laps.
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It’s another question mark for what’s in store for Saturday’s 80-lap, 144-mile matinee, the third race of the early Truck Series campaign.
“Honestly, I think that it’s probably the most fun I’ve had on a road course ever,” said Tricon Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt as he made the soggy walk from pit road to the Truck Series garage. He’ll start 19th Saturday. “I loved it. I don’t know, honestly there’s so many variables, especially now that we’re not gonna qualify, so many good guys will be in the back, some struggling guys are gonna start out front. So it’s just the way it works.”
Overcast skies Friday replaced the sun-splashed clear blue from Thursday’s load-in and orientation day, when IndyCar team personnel shared the circuit with the Truck Series’ early arrivals for a preliminary track walk. The tight nature of certain locations on the temporary course came into first view, as well as the realization that the well-worn barriers that form the lap layout already have plenty of character.
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Three on-track incidents marked IndyCar’s opening practice, and a full 36-truck field may add more character marks in Saturday’s show, especially if the potential for lingering rain in the forecast prompts the installation of wet-weather Goodyear tires.
“I mean, we’ve just got to work through it,” said Daniel Hemric, who starts 34th for McAnally Hilgemann Racing. “Obviously, with the little bit of experience I got with Chicago in particular, the rain racing is different than rain racing in other places, just because the oils in the streets from regular cars. So it just adds another element. But yeah, it’s not completely out of the ordinary for what we’ve done in the past. We’ll just all adapt to it.”
Tricon Garage crew members cover the No. 5 Toyota of Adam Andretti on pit road at St. Petersburg
The race weekend is the first of two consecutive meets where NASCAR will share the stage with IndyCar, which opens its 2026 season on the streets of St. Pete. Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series will be the main event at Phoenix Raceway, where IndyCar will join the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for a Saturday doubleheader.
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The blend here has so far been a popular one, with a robust Friday turnout along the downtown waterfront circuit, where fans spilled out onto the grounds with drinks and food-truck fare in hand. IndyCar and Trucks make for a curious mix of motorsports cultures, and the Mazda MX-5 Cup and USF2000 series have added more variety for good measure.
“It’s very different from the NASCAR scene, and it’s cool that you get to have the fans kind of walk around here in the garage area,” says Front Row Motorsports driver Layne Riggs. “Had a lot of people say this is their first time seeing NASCAR in person, and that’s really cool for us to get some new eyes on our series. I think that we’re the gritty American series, we’re gonna put on some gritty American racing, and hopefully we put on a good show and we can come back in future years.”
Said Hemric: “I honestly didn’t grow up watching any IndyCar stuff, but over the last probably seven or eight years, became buddies with a couple of them over there. Scott McLaughlin, in particular, was somebody I actually called this week, like, ‘hey, all right, give me the scoop. Like, what’s the little nuances here and there?’ So yeah, it’s been fun to kind of be integrated with them, part of … I’d call it a doubleheader weekend, but there’s other series here as well, which is really cool to see fans from all over and they’re enjoying it. I’ve been to three different restaurants since I’ve been to town, and you walk in and people around you are talking about racing. It’s really, really cool to see. So it’s cool to be welcomed and hopefully put the show on that they deserve.”
