Dylan Lupton to compete in Xfinity and Trucks this season

Lupton, 27, will compete for Kyle Busch Motorports in the Sept. 5 Camping World Trucks race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway driving the No. 51 Toyota.

Lupton most recently ran three Truck races in the 2020 season for David Gilliland Racing with a best finish of eighth at Texas Motor Speedway. His career-best fifth-place finish in Trucks came at Kentucky in 2019.

“The opportunity to drive the top-notch equipment that Kyle Busch Motorsports prepares is a dream come true,” said Lupton, an alumnus of the NASCAR Next program, which identified up-and-coming NASCAR talent. “The No. 51 team always prepares fast Tundras and I’m extremely excited to get to Darlington and be able to showcase my talent.”

Lupton will be the eighth different driver to make a start for the No. 51 team in 2021.

Also, on Thursday Sam Hunt Racing announced Lupton will drive its No. 26 Toyota in two races in the Xfinity Series this season. Lupton will compete at races later this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.

“It’s been several years since I’ve competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but Sam is making my return seamless,” Lupton said.

“Andrew (Abbott, crew chief) and the entire Sam Hunt Racing team have done a great job building the program this season and I feel like with a little luck we can go out and not only be competitive in our races together, but hopefully contend for top-10 finishes too.”

Team owner Sam Hunt said of Lupton: “He’s a great guy and fits the personality of our race team well. He brings a positive and mature attitude toward our shop, has realistic yet challenging goals, and seems like a true team player.

“I think we will have a lot of fun working together and know he will give us his all.”

Lupton has run partial schedules in Cup, Xfinity, Trucks and ARCA Menards series since 2015 with a total of 50 starts in NASCAR’s three national series.