By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver and owner, Jordan Anderson will make his 100th start in the series when the green flag drops on Friday evening in the Lucas Oil 150 from ISM Raceway in Phoenix.
After making multiple starts in the series for other teams through out the 2014 and 2017 seasons, Anderson decided in 2018 he would venture out on his own with Jordan Anderson Racing.
It wasn’t easy and Anderson wasn’t your typical owner; he didn’t fly to the race track. Prior to acquiring the trailer seen below that he’s used all season thus far, Anderson would pull his NASCAR Truck and equipment by a dually back and forth across the country to be able to race.
(Photo by: Jordan Anderson)
2018 started out on a high note for Jordan Anderson Racing as Anderson captured his first career top-10 in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
We got our first top 10!!! At Daytona of all places!
Absolutely blessed to have so many incredible people in my life. Thank you all for helping to make this a reality. pic.twitter.com/h7Uv4nehEj
— Jordan Anderson (@j66anderson) February 17, 2018
Overall, Anderson’s first season as an owner and driver was successful, Anderson ran every event except Eldora when he had Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman behind the wheel of the No. 3.
Anderson finished out the 2018 season with two top-tens, three top-15s and 13 top-20 finishes.
Fast forward to this point in his 2019 campaign and Anderson has once again run every event except Eldora this past summer.
This season Anderson had 16-year old Carson Hocevar behind the wheel of the No. 3. Hocevar went on to finish the event in the 25th position in his first career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series start.
Anderson is still searching for his first finish inside the top-10 this season in Truck Series competition. However, his resume does have seven top-15s, and 12 top-20 finishes heading into tonight’s Lucas Oil 150 at ISM Raceway.
Here it is!!
Welcome @GoettlAir to the team for this Friday nights race at @ISMRaceway in the @Lucas_Oil 150! 🏁
As they celebrate their 80th year keeping the southwest cool, it’ll be a special night for me as well making my 100th @NASCAR_Trucks series start. pic.twitter.com/kAJKsdsw5k
— Jordan Anderson (@j66anderson) November 7, 2019
The little team that could has made incredible strides in almost two years’ time and with Anderson hitting his 100th career start in the series it’s quite the milestone.
With that said though, when Kickin’ The Tires spoke to Anderson in May, he made it known they’re still the team team even with the acquiring the trailer and improving upon their equipment.
“We’re really the same team we were last year with as far as our budget goes. We’re still very small in comparison to these bigger teams. Just because we have the hauler now, we’ve still got to race accordingly and be smart with our resources”, said Anderson.
“We’re still playing that game, trying to make the most of what we’ve got, we’ve just got to be smart and hopefully with being smart we can build this year, next year and for many years to come.”
In five previous starts at ISM Raceway, Anderson has a career best finish of 13th in 2017.
Anderson’s Fueled by Fans program will continue this weekend and through the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week. If you’d like to get your name on Anderson’s No. 3 for either race or both, all you have to do is head on over to sponsorjordan.com to find out more information.
Partners have built a solid relationship with Anderson and his team and continue to return, including as previously mentioned his Fueled by Fans program.
“We’ve been very, very blessed. We’ve got a lot of awesome people that keep this thing going and believe in what we’re doing and want to help us out. That’s really the thing that’s been keeping us going, all our amazing partners, the Fueled by Fans. So many things that help us get to the racetrack each and every week”, said Anderson.