Young Lebanon racing phenom Dawson Sutton will run the full NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule next season, following the path of another Wilson County racer, the late Bobby Hamilton, who won the championship in 2004.
“It’s a phenomenal opportunity, beyond words,” Sutton said Thursday after the announcement was made in Las Vegas, where he will compete in a Super Late Model race on Friday.
Sutton, 18, will run this season’s final three truck races at Homestead-Miami, Martinsville and Phoenix, then begin preparations for the 2025 opener at Daytona on Feb. 14.
His goal is to eventually race in the premier NASCAR Cup Series where Hamilton, Darrell Waltrip and Sterling Marlin once represented Middle Tennessee in Victory Circle.
In addition to his NASCAR truck duties, Sutton will try to wrap up the track championship at Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway on Nov. 2, and run the next-day All-America 400.
“I’ve dreamed about this day,” said Sutton, who has run five truck races this season, with a best finish of 5th at Kansas. “Now I’ve got a big job to do.”
“When we started this three years ago, I told him he had three years to prove he could do it, and he did,” said Sutton’s father Curtis who fields his son’s Rackley W.A.R. Racing truck with co-owner Willie Allen. “I’m proud of him, as is his mother (Nancy).”
The team is headquartered in Centerville and sponsored by Sutton’s Rackley Roofing company.
