Jennifer Jo Cobb

This driver and her self-owned team have managed to run most of the schedule for the last seven seasons in the Camping World Truck Series. Cobb made 21 of the 23 events last year and struggled to be relevant at times. The seven DNF's she registered put the truck in the garage too early and led to the inflated 30.2 average finish. The 47-year-old driver will look to hit the reset button in 2021. Cobb's 2018 and 2019 campaigns led to 20th- and 21st-place finishes in the driver standings respectively, so she's raced much better than last season. It could be that Cobb's advancing age and small race team are beginning to shrink in impact in this constantly tilting younger division of NASCAR.

The 46-year-old Kansas native's plans have not been announced for 2020, but it's believed she'll saddle up for another campaign in the truck series. Cobb now has 12 seasons of experience racing in this division of NASCAR and nearly 200 starts to her credit. It's an amazing accomplishment for a driver of small race teams. Cobb earned just four Top-20 finishes last season vs. four DNQ's during the year. However, when she raced she finished most events, with just two DNF's. The 22.9 average finish Cobb compiled was actually a career-best mark. Cobb's limitations are mainly this small race team's limited resources and shoestring budget.

Cobb's plans have not been announced as of this writing, however, she usually takes on the full truck series schedule when sponsorship permits. The 45-year-old veteran made 21 of the 23 events last season, and posted her typical numbers. Cobb accounted for two Top-15 and 12 Top-25 finishes, collecting six DNF's along the way. By Homestead, that placed Cobb 20th in the truck series driver standings, which was her best mark in the last three seasons. It also placed her with a 24.3 average finish. Cobb should be back in 2019 with crew chief Tim Silva, and a small race team with a tight budget.

Cobb's plans for 2018 have not been announced, but it is expected that she'll race at least a partial schedule in the Camping World Truck Series.

The last seven seasons have been a labor of love for Cobb. She’s spent much of those years racing in the truck series. Although lack of funding, lack of sponsors and second-tier equipment have limited her growth. MAKE Motorsports merged with JJCR in 2016, so plans for this season aren’t completely clear. However, we expect her to attempt a near-full schedule as she has in the recent past. Last year’s tally was 16 starts, 4 DNQ’s and 4 DNF’s. That led a lofty 25.9 average finish. Certainly Cobb is capable of posting better numbers than this, but that will depend on the team’s situation as we start the season, how much sponsorship she has, and how this merger with MAKE sorts out. Those are a lot of variables that will dictate Cobb’s potential this season.

Cobb hasn’t announced her plans for the upcoming season as of late January, but it’s assumed she’ll return for the full campaign once again. That’s been the pattern the last several seasons. She raced in all 23 events last year and claimed seven Top-20 finishes vs. just two DNF’s. While that’s some improvement over past seasons, it was the weeks she spent closer to the rear of the field than the front that dragged her average finish down to just 23.4. It would be expected that Steve Kuykendall would return as crew chief for this team and that he and Cobb would continue to improve the performance. The bottom line is that this cash-strapped team faces an uphill battle in a division of NASCAR that only continues to get younger and more talented each season.

Cobb made an attempt to run the full Camping World Truck Series schedule last year, but came up short on a handful of attempts and only ended up racing 15 of the 22 races. Hopefully, the funding situation and equipment will improve in 2013. The team makes the jump from Dodge to Ford and maybe that change of scenery will help matters. Cobb will once again be paired with crew chief Steve Kuykendall and look to claim that second career Top 10 in this racing series. She’s fast-approaching the 60-start mark in the truck series, and the results need to follow.