National Truck Driving Championships
Podcast
With a tradition and history that is now approaching nearly 90 years, the National Truck Driving and National Step Van Driving Championships features a collection of the best and most accomplished professional drivers in the country from nine different classifications. To qualify to be a part of the championship, each of the competitors had to win their respective state championship within one of those categories. Plus, they had to also stay accident-free for the past 12 months.
Hosted by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the organization’s Safety Management Council, the home for NTDC 2026 will be in Pittsburgh. In addition to the competition, the NTDC always features great personal and inspirational stories. PodWheels is proud to share those stories throughout the year – from the State Truck Driving Championships to the Nationals and long after the NTDC has concluded. PodWheels covers it all. PodWheels is honored that our Road To Pittsburgh Series has been selected by ATA to serve as the Official Podcast of NTDC 2026.
Latest Episodes
Picture Perfect: Darius Uible Of UPS Breaks Through To NTDC With First State Title
Over the last few years, Darius Uible of UPS has become a familiar presence at the National Truck Driving and National Step Van Driving Championships. As the man behind the camera with the UPS Media Team at NTDC, Darius has gained a unique perspective and position of...
Goal Achieved: J.B. Quarles Step Van Title Makes Him A State Champion In All Nine Divisions
At this year’s South Carolina State TDC, veteran Walmart driver J.B. Quarles cemented his place as a true legend within the NTDC Community. By winning the state title in the Step Van Division, J.B. completed his quest to win South Carolina State Championships in all...
David Comings Talks To Roland About The Road Back To Nationals
In one of the five best episodes within the catalog of nearly 250 shows that we have presented in the past three years of this series, 2025 NTDC Grand Champion David Comings took some time in mid-March to have an extended conversation with Roland Bolduc, a two-time...
XPO’s Robert Dean On His Soaring Return To NTDC With State Flatbed Title
This edition of the podcast takes a flight out to the state of Washington to visit with XPO veteran driver Robert Dean. After earning the State Grand Champion’s crown in 2023, Robert brought home two second-place finishes in the vehicle division competition in both...
Middleton and Guzman: Definitions of TDC Spirit and Dedication To Safety
Over the past 17 years, Ramon Guzman of FedEx Freight and Mike Middleton of Old Dominion Freight Lines have become the very definition of why the National Truck Driving and National Step Van Driving Championships stand as the longest running safety program in the...
Just Peachy: Frito Lay’s Tony Johnson Wins 1st State Grand Champion Title
When veteran Frito Lay driver Tony Johnson heard his name announced as the Grand Champion at the Georgia State TDC Banquet on April 24th, he admittedly did a double take. Tony was still basking in the glow of winning back-to-back state titles in 5-Axle. He knew that...
Spotlighting Arizona State Grand Champion Nate Voss and Team UPS
Veteran UPS driver Nate Voss carried a sense of purpose and determination into the Arizona TDC in Tempe on March 28th. Having qualified for the Nationals as a State Champion in 2024 and then finishing second in the Arizona TDC in 2025, Nate knew what it was like to be...
Celebrating Chris Poynor’s Repeat As State Grand Champ
With our first State Grand Champion interview of 2026, the podcast heads west to the Evergreen State to talk with XPO’s Chris Poynor, who won the top title in the Washington Trucking Associations’ TDC. Chris has now gone back-to-back in earning the state’s Grand...
Going ‘Behind The Cones’ At Washington’s State TDC
For the past five years, Abigail Potter has overseen the planning and onsite event coordination for the Washington State Truck Driving Championships. As the Director of Safety and Compliance for the Washington Trucking Associations, Abigail views the Evergreen State’s...
Some Championship Perspectives With TDC Season Preparing To Ramp Up
As we prepare to enter the heart of State TDC Season, our podcast takes some time to go inside our interview vault to highlight 12 of the conversations that NTDC Historian Eugene Mulero had with drivers who made it to the championship runoffs at NTDC 2025. With...
Ready For Your TDC? Positive Mindset Remains A Key For Trucking’s Captain Kirk
How do you earn a State TDC Championship in multiple vehicle classes and qualify for the Nationals over seven straight NTDCs dating back to 2017? For Old Dominion Freight Line’s Glen “Captain” Kirk, the first step toward winning consecutive state championships and...
Jason Damron Embraces Opportunities To Learn and Serve With NTDC
In this episode, we get to spend some time with Jason Damron, who finished second in 5-Axle at the 2025 Kansas State TDC after qualifying for the 2024's Nationals in Indianapolis. As you’ll hear, Jason was just two points away from Eric Moss’ total earned as the...
How Do Event Organizers Prepare For A State TDC?
One of the more frequent requests from our listeners in the past few weeks has centered around taking you behind the scenes of the State TDCs. As part of honoring our listener feedback, we caught up with Emily Crane, the Vice President of Safety and Engagement for the...
Roland Rolls Back The Clock To Spotlight NTDC Award Winner Jim Wilcox
Our podcast series opens up our vault to share a previously unreleased Rollin’ With Roland interview that two-time NTDC Grand Champion Roland Bolduc did in 2025 with Jim Wilcox. A regular as a competitor at NTDC with multiple State Championships to his credit, Jim...
Maine’s David Crocker Hits The Note On and Off The Driving Course
David Crocker, the 2025 Tanker Champ from the state of Maine, already knew the importance of striving for excellence even before he began his professional driving career or first attempted to compete at a State TDC. Prior to entering the trucking industry, David had...
NTDC Legend Rick Cates Announces Retirement Plans Following NTDC 2026
With 55 years of contributions and dedication to NTDC, Rick Cates has become a fountain of knowledge, a go-to person and a true institution with the National Truck Driving and National Step Van Driving Championships. Rick is so well respected within the NTDC Community...
Reed and Comings: An Appreciation for Winning It All And Starting The Climb Again
With the State TDC Season officially underway, our podcast wanted to share a recent conversation we had with the previous NTDC Grand Champions from the past two years. PodWheels Executive Producer Greg Thompson had the unique opportunity to visit in person with 2024...
ATA Image Trailer and Road Team Captains Perfect Fit At Safety Drive
As we continue to share our collection of interviews from Safety Drive For A Cure, we wanted to highlight one noticeable arrival that was new to Safety Drive this year. That was none other than the red, white and blue covering the ATA’s Image Trailer, complete with...
UPS Building Team Spirit With Strong Safety Drive Results
How did UPS send 40 State Champions to Minneapolis to compete at NTDC 2025? One of the building blocks in last year’s run can be traced back to the annual Safety Drive For A Cure charity event. And while the 2026 State TDC season is just beginning, Team UPS capped off...
Mark McLean and Tim Blair Give Back While Sharpening Skills At Safety Drive
Seeing both Tim Blair from Tennessee and Mark McLean from New York at Safety Drive 2026 is perfect confirmation that TDC Champions and National Title holders make the trip to Atlanta from near and far to sharpen their competitive driving skills at Safety Drive. In...
Trucking’s Caring Heart On Full Display At Safety Drive 2026
While Safety Drive 2026 featured a collection of past National Champions, State TDC Champions and no less than four past NTDC Grand Champions testing their knowledge and skills, the competition that took place at the UPS Smart Hub in Atlanta was a distant second to...
Paul Barnes of UPS Earns Safety Drive’s Grand Champion Title
Safety Drive For A Cure 2026 became a memorable trip to Atlanta for Paul Barnes of UPS. The reigning Illinois State Sleeper Division Champion who finished sixth at NTDC 2025, Paul was part of a record field of over 250 professional drivers who helped Safety Drive...
Spotlighting NTDC Legend Ina Daly Ahead of Arizona’s TDC
In honor of International Women’s Day that was celebrated on March 8th, our podcast shines the spotlight on Ina Daly, the veteran XPO driver and the only woman to win a National Championship in the history of NTDC. With the Arizona State TDC just around the corner on...
Brent and Laura Darnell: Answering The Call and Winning By Serving Others
When the 15th edition of Safety Drive For A Cure opens its NTDC-style competition this Saturday, Brent and Laura Darnell will have already been onsite at the UPS Smart Hub in Atlanta before the sun rises. For Brent and Laura, along with a legion of volunteers led by...
Veteran Driver Tim Vogt Continues To Find Inspiration Through Annual Safety Drive Event
For Atlanta-based XPO veteran driver Tim Vogt, the 15th edition of the Safety Drive For A Cure Benefit scheduled to run this coming Saturday is one of the most important dates on the calendar. In addition to getting a highly competitive test of his TDC skills ahead of...
Inspired By 2025, New York’s Zack Bourque Looking To Take Next Big Step
How would you respond if you landed one point short of reaching the runoff in your vehicle division at Nationals? Zack Bourque, the two-time reigning Tanker State Champion from New York, was forced to look squarely into that very challenge the moment he got his...
NTDC Rewind: Celebrating Pennsylvania’s NTDC Legend Bob Dolan
With a record that was highlighted by five National Championships, one Grand Championship and the Professional Excellence Award during his NTDC days, Bob Dolan put together a hall-of-fame driving career and remains a legend in his home state of Pennsylvania. In this...
Spotlighting Darius Uible, Road Team Finalist and Man Behind The Camera For UPS
During this episode of the podcast, Darius Uible takes us behind the scenes with Team UPS. A finalist to serve as an America’s Road Team Captain for 2026-27 and a veteran driver for UPS, Darius has become a fixture at the NTDC in recent years with his video work....
NTDC 2026 Committee Chairman Heath Arnold Excited About Road To Pittsburgh
This episode of the series is highlighted by our feature interview with Heath Arnold, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for NTDC 2026. Heath joins the podcast about 26 minutes into the episode, providing us an update on the onsite visit that the NTDC Organizing...
Rewinding To 2010: Recalling Carl Krites’ NTDC Grand Champion Run
For this episode of the show, we open the vault once again to feature the interview that Eugene Mulero had with Carl Krites, the Grand Champion of NTDC 2010. Last year, as Eugene was developing the second edition of the From Roadeo To TDC history book with co-author...


































