Copen Locks up Fifth Straight Truck Championship

Brad Copen won the first race of the season with the newly rebranded Medina Upfit Great Lakes Truck Tour and he never looked back, winning four more times to bring his season total to five wins.

Copen’s championship story was written in wins and when the #1 wasn’t out front, Copen was lurking close behind. Wins at Lorain Raceway Park x2, Painesville Speedway x2 and Midvale Speedway propelled the #1 team to the top of the standings, a position Copen never relinquished during the season.

While Copen, who won the 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 championships under the CRS Super Truck sanction, was the class of the field, the gap to second closed quite a bit in 2025 with Bailey Delfosse closing in on Copen mid-season before Jesse Fischbach scored two victories (Sandusky in August and the season finale at Ona, WV in October). Fischbach wasn’t the only other driver to visit victory lane in the Great Lakes Truck Tour in 2025 as Jeff Fade, Jr. (Lake Erie) Kenny Sharp (Sandusky Hy-Miler), Brandon Huff (Jennerstown) and Jeff Myers, Jr. (Sandusky Cavalcade) all scored victories in the 11-race championship.

After a solid first season under the Great Lakes Truck Tour banner, the future of the tour will likely be built around traveling a bit more as two tracks that hosted a combined total of five races in 2025 have uncertain plans for 2026. Tracks like Flat Rock Speedway in Michigan, Shady Bowl Speedway in Degraff, OH and even Angola Motorsport Speedway in Indiana could be prime replacements. If the tour ventures to dirt, tracks like Ohio’s Wayne County Speedway and Fremont Speedway, along with Pennsylvania’s Michael’s Mercer Raceway would be suitable hosts for the trucks.