In this week's Overdrive Radio, part 2 of our series honoring our Trucker of the Year, John Penn, for the big win for 2025. Part 1, ICYMI: https://overdriveonline.com/15815690 In this edition, Penn details his approach to maintenance with an experiment he's conducted to extend oil drain intervals beyond the manufacturer-recommended 75,000 miles for his 2019 Freightliner Cascadia.

Also: You'll hear about Penn's close attention to customer opportunity, and keys to prevention when it comes to the maintenance issues with emissions system in the Cascadia -- no "deleted" emissions here. He’s running with all the sensors and the diesel particular filter, the diesel exhaust fluid dosing, and the rest, and hitting big fuel-efficiency numbers we detailed in the last episode featuring him.

Above 10 mpg for a lifetime average is certainly nothing to sniff at, but has he been plagued with sensor failures and other problems common to emissions-equipped diesels? The answer is not really, though he’s had some minor issues for certain.

Part of his success on that front starts with his approach to the used market for such trucks to begin with -- with a keen eye not just on a prospective purchase's miles for previous-life wear and tear, but engine hours, too. The lower the hours, the less the unit’s prior owner likely idled the rig -- one of the big killers of emissions equipment in modern trucks in his view.

Penn, despite his late-model equipment, might well qualify among the oldest of the old-school in that regard. As he put it about his own idling practice:

"This piece of machinery is feeding us and keeping a roof over our head," Penn noted, "so I want to treat it the best I can. I will not idle, ever. I don't care how hot it is."

That's right, even in Texas in mid-summer, where he finds himself often enough at the end of one or another of his LTL furniture runs. "I don't have an APU or anything," he added, but he does utilize a fan and his truck's window screens.

He’s comfortable with the tradeoff.

"I'd rather put my truck's health in front of my comfort," he said, laughing.

He does run with a fuel-fired heater for those dangrously cold temps, but it’s safe to say Trucker of the Year John Penn is one tough customer when it comes to downtime OTR.

In the podcast, dive into new opportunities he’s set himself up for with diligent, always-on customer service and networking. "You never know when an opportunity is going to pop up," he said, about potential new direct freight opportunites he details here.

And he's made great strides, too, paying his growing experience forward to peers. There's good possibility of a bit of expansion for his one-truck JP Transport business as soon as this quarter, with addition of a leased owner he's really bonded with as a back-and-forth sounding board for trucking information, knowledge, advice. The like-minded pair may soon make for a great two-truck hauling team in JP Transport.

Enter the 2026 Trucker of the Year competition: https://overdriveonline.com/toptrucker