Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

After winning the ARCA Series championship back in 2009, Justin Lofton made the next step up to being a successful stock car driver. Lofton moved up to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2010 on a full-time basis and has raced in that series since then. Now, Lofton will barely be in NASCAR this year as he moves on to a rather different type of racing.

Former NASCAR driver, Robby Gordon, has started his own racing series after his own NASCAR team failed over the course of a few seasons. Gordon’s series is titled the SPEED Energy Stadium Super Truck Series which is going to be running until November, but will have some off weeks. The series has three classes and Lofton has chosen to run in the main class with Gordon as well as PJ Jones and Arie Luyendyk Jr.

After two races, Lofton has decided to run the full schedule even though he originally was going to run just part of the season. He already has a win in the series and is currently third in points. The move is odd considering Lofton was finally able to find success in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last season with Eddie Sharp Racing, earning his first career NASCAR victory at Charlotte last May.

Lofton’s NASCAR career was finally starting to take off. He was contending for a championship for the majority of the season until his sponsor, Collegecomplete.com, decided they didn’t want to continue to sponsor Lofton. After that, his luck seemed to go in the opposite direction and he finished eighth in points.

He’s known for running off-road trucks in the past so it’s no surprise that he made this decision. In the end, it can even make him a better driver if and when he returns to NASCAR.

Now Lofton will be running in another series. This leaves Eddie Sharp’s team searching for funded drivers, which is very difficult. Since Lofton finished in the top-five at Daytona in February, Devin Jones, Tyler Young and Danny Efland have piloted his truck. Each of these drivers has struggled during this young season and could be a cause for concern for Sharp. It’s unknown when Lofton will return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but the No. 6 truck will continue to be at the track for the entire season.

Joseph Wolkin can be followed on Twitter at @JosephNASCAR.