Niece Motorsports development driver Matthew Gould is set to take a major step forward in his career at one of the United States’ most historic tracks.
When the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs begin at the Milwaukee Mile next Sunday for the LiUNA! 175, Niece will field a fourth No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado for Gould, who seeks to gain vital experience in his series debut.
Gould has spent the past several weeks gathering advice from his father Phil Gould, who is the crew chief on Niece’s No. 45. The environment within Niece’s shop has Matthew Gould in a comfortable state of mind ahead of an eventful weekend.
“It means everything,” Gould said. “I’m only 18 years old, but I feel like I’ve worked my whole life to get here. It’s really cool to do this with my family at Niece Motorsports, and it’s been cool to work on the truck with my dad. It’s going to be weird racing against him, but I’m really excited for a new opportunity.”
The path for Gould to reach this point in his career began at age 4, when he started racing go-karts on a makeshift track in Clint Bowyer’s backyard; Phil Gould at the time worked for Bowyer.
Matthew has many fond memories of his time racing on Bowyer’s track and how that fostered his love for motorsports. He even competed against Phil on several occasions, one of which ended with Matthew wrecking his dad.
As he got older, Matthew Gould began refining his dirt-racing skills at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway before eventually moving up to Late Model Stocks. He’s accumulated laps in a Late Model Stock at several different tracks in the southeast, earning wins at Orange County Speedway, Florence Motor Speedway and Hickory Motor Speedway.
There are plenty of fundamentals about car control Gould has taken from racing Late Model Stocks, but he said the abrasive surfaces of short tracks in the southeast instill other essential qualities like tire management and patience.
“You just learn discipline,” Gould said. “Hickory is very rough and worn out, so you have to take what the car gives you. The Late Models around here have a lot of horsepower and don’t really weigh much, so they dance around the race track. You’re really driving a street car that’s set up for racing.”
Gould hopes the experience obtained at Hickory and other short tracks pays dividends at the Milwaukee Mile, where he previously raced in the ARCA Menards Series in 2022. Despite finishing a lap down to winner Sammy Smith, Matthew managed to bring home a top-10 finish that day in a Niece car.
Driving an ARCA car at the Milwaukee Mile taught Gould many lessons about aerodynamics and the importance of clean air, along with primarily using the bottom line for passing. He expects all those same factors to be prevalent throughout the Truck Series race next Sunday.
Despite this, Gould anticipates a different environment compared to his ARCA start, especially since 10 of his competitors are in a separate battle for the Truck Series championship. He also wants to be courteous around his dad’s team, which is going for the owner’s title.
Gould’s preparation for the Milwaukee Mile has involved spending plenty of time in the simulator alongside teammate Kaden Honeycutt and Truck Series veteran Grant Enfinger. Their insights have been invaluable to Gould, but his primary goals are to earn respect amongst the other drivers and keep his No. 44 truck in one piece.
“I want to run all the laps and finish,” he said. “If I hold myself to an expectation, nine times out of 10 I won’t meet it. That’s because I hold myself to too high an expectation, so I want to keep it clean. The way the Truck Series goes, if you do that, you’ll at least finish in the top 20.”
There are no current plans in place for Gould to make another Truck Series start this year, but a strong performance at the Milwaukee Mile could be a crucial first step toward his reaching more career milestones in NASCAR.