Hailing from Marietta, Georgia, welcome to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Wesley Slimp. The 22-year-old will be piloting the #62 Toyota for Halmar Friesen Racing in what will be the first time the team has fielded a second entry since 2023, when Jessica Friesen attempted to make the Bristol Dirt race for the trucks. Slimp will drive for the team in the three road courses this year in the truck series, starting this weekend at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, then he will return for the events at Watkins Glen International in August and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in October. He will have HNTB serving as a primary sponsor for Lime Rock, which has served as a sponsor of his in past racing events, and veteran crew chief and team owner Bruce Cook serving as his crew chief for all three races.

Slimp has been competing in Sportscars and endurance racing for multiple years now. He has made starts in series such as the American Endurance Racing series, where he competed for Kingpin Racing at Mid-Ohio in 2019 and at Road Atlanta in 2020. He also has competed in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and in Trans-Am as part of the XGT class, where he finished third in the class in his only start to date at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2023. He has also previously competed full-time in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series, where he has scored three wins in competition, and the Mustang Challenge Series. He and fellow driver Tyler Hoffman would finish third in the 2023 standings for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series. In 2025, he has been competing full-time in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series, where he currently sits 24th in points and has a best finish of 15th overall in six races so far.

While Slimp has not competed at Lime Rock, he does have eight recorded starts at Watkins Glen International, which should give him a boost going into that race in August. Slimp was also diagnosed with mitochondrial disease at a young age, but his symptoms have declined heavily as he’s aged, which has enabled him to compete more. Slimp has also made a big effort to address mitochondrial disease towards racing fans and competitors while also heavily supporting the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF,) which he has partnered with before and sporting their logo on occasion in the past.

Halmar Friesen Racing is also coming off of their first win in the truck series in over three years at Michigan earlier this month, with Stewart Friesen picking up the win and securing the team their fifth playoff appearance in the truck series and first since 2022. The momentum that the team has been building could easily give a boost towards both Friesen and Slimp in these three road course races that both will be competing in together. Halmar Friesen Racing also has strong results on road courses to back up their momentum, with multiple top ten finishes since their first road race in 2018. Their best finish on road courses in the truck series is fourth, with Stewart Friesen finishing in that position at Mid-Ohio in both 2022 and 2023. Friesen also came very close to winning at Circuit of the Americas in 2022, where he was battling for the lead with two laps to go before contact with Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch unfortunately dropped him down to ninth. Slimp also joins multiple drivers who are making their truck series debut this weekend, including Thomas Annunziata, Jordan Taylor, and William Lambros. 35 trucks are entered for the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn,. which means nobody will go home. The LiUNA! 150 will be 100 laps and will air on the main FOX channel at 1 PM ET/12 PM CT.