Chase Purdy‘s sophomore year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be in a Toyota. On Tuesday, Hattori Racing Enterprises announced Purdy as the driver of the #61 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
“I couldn’t be more excited to join the HRE team,” Purdy stated. “They have consistently won races and been a weekly contender for the last several years. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to race with this group in 2022.”
After a part-time schedule in 2020, Purdy competed for Rookie of the Year honours in the #23 of GMS Racing. Despite a rough regular season as he failed to finish higher than fifteenth and missed the final race due to a positive COVID-19 test, he notched two top tens in the playoffs at Gateway (sixth) and Talladega (ninth). He finished nineteenth in points.
At season’s end, Grant Enfinger was announced as the 2022 driver of the #23. Instead of moving to one of the team’s other three trucks that has not been filled (#2, #21, #26), Purdy joins HRE, a team that has seen much success in recent years. HRE’s #16 was piloted by Austin Hill for the last three seasons, during which he won eight races, before he moved up to the Xfinity Series.
It was not immediately revealed if Purdy’s #61 is a renumbered #16 or a second truck that HRE will field. At the moment, Purdy is the only driver contracted to HRE.
“Chase has shown a lot of potential and we’re happy to have him join HRE,” commented HRE owner Shigeaki Hattori. He is the first Japanese team owner to win a championship in a NASCAR national series after Brett Moffitt claimed the 2018 Truck title. “He has won some big races in his career and has the ability to be successful with our team. We’re looking forward to putting the right people around him and have Chase up front on a weekly basis.”