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Sam Hunt Racing

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Sam Hunt Racing
Owner(s)Sam Hunt
Principal(s)Allen Hart (Technical dir.)
BaseMooresville, North Carolina
SeriesNASCAR Xfinity Series
Race driversXfinity Series:
24. Ed Jones (part–time)
26. Sage Karam, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek, Dean Thompson, Ed Jones, Tyler Reddick, Conor Daly, Ryan Truex Bubba Pollard
SponsorsXfinity Series:
24. CRC Industries, Synergy Modular
26. CRC Industries, ForeverLawn, GearWrench, Toyota, Synergy Modular, MCM Transportation, Yahoo!, Colture Sports,[1] Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Polkadot, Endava, Thompson Pipe Group, Sany
ManufacturerToyota
Opened2013
Career
DebutNASCAR Xfinity Series:
2019 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead-Miami)
K&N Pro Series East:
2013 DRIVE4COPD 150 (Bristol)
Latest raceNASCAR Xfinity Series:
2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (Phoenix)
K&N Pro Series East:
2019 General Tire 125 (Dover)
Races competed199
Drivers' Championships0
Race victories0
Pole positions0

Sam Hunt Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 26 Toyota Supra full-time for multiple drivers, and the No. 24 Toyota Supra part–time.

The team is currently based in Mooresville, North Carolina, although they have Virginia roots and their original shop was located in Chester, Virginia.[2]

History

[edit]

The team, first known as DRIVE Technology, was founded in 2013 by Sam Hunt and Virginian Shayne Lockhart, a former NASCAR driver-turned crew chief. In 2013 they acquired assets from Joe Gibbs Racing's ARCA Menards Series East No. 18 team, which was closing down after the 2012 season. They kept using the No. 18. The team picked up sponsorship from the Denny Hamlin Foundation for most of the races.[2]

At the end of 2019 Hunt announced the team would move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with their driver Colin Garrett in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Joe Gibbs Engines under the hood.

Xfinity Series

[edit]

They started fielding the No. 26 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2019 in the season finale at Homestead–Miami Speedway for Colin Garrett, he started 15th and would end up finishing 21st.

For the 2020 season, SHR formed a partnership with Toyota Racing Development in continuation with their partnership on engines with Joe Gibbs Engines.[3]

In 2022, SHR began operating out of The Motorsports Group's former shop just up the road from the shop they had rented from Rette Jones Racing from 2020-2021 as well as forming a larger partnership with TRD on the technical side.

Car No. 24 history

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Part-time (2021–2022)

[edit]
Will Rodgers at the Indy Road Course in 2021.

Starting at the Indy RC, SHR started fielding a 2nd entry in the No. 24 for Will Rodgers with continued Partnership from GoodRx where he finished 28th after starting in 9th.

Jeffrey Earnhardt would drive the No. 24 at Daytona and would finish 15th. Joe Nemechek would attempt to race against his son John Hunter Nemechek however, due to qualifying being cancelled due to rain, the elder Nemechek did not qualify. He was originally entered for the Talladega race, but his entry was withdrawn because of the high chance of qualifying being rained out.

Connor Mosack and others (2023)

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Tyler Reddick at Auto Club in 2023.

Connor Mosack would anchor the No. 24 for the 2023 season by driving in 22 races. Cup series driver Tyler Reddick and Truck Series driver Corey Heim, among others, would also drive in the car for the team.

Part-time (2024-)

[edit]

The first race in 2024 that Sam Hunt Racing entered the No. 24 into was the race at COTA, with Ed Jones serving as driver.[4]

Car No. 24 results

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Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts
2021 Will Rodgers 24 Toyota DAY DAY HOM LVS PHO ATL MAR TAL DAR DOV COA CLT MOH TEX NSH POC ROA ATL NHA GLN IND
28 		MCH DAY DAR RCH BRI LVS TAL CLT TEX KAN MAR PHO 47th 9
2022 Jeffrey Earnhardt DAY
15 		CAL LVS PHO ATL COA RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR TEX CLT PIR NSH ROA ATL NHA POC IND MCH GLN 47th 22
Joe Nemechek DAY
DNQ 		DAR KAN BRI TEX TAL CLT LVS HOM MAR PHO
2023 Parker Chase DAY
16 		TAL
38 		ATL
27 		TEX
16 		25th 447
Tyler Reddick CAL
36 		LVS
13
Connor Mosack PHO
24 		ATL
30 		COA
19 		RCH
28 		MAR
33 		CLT
23 		PIR
8 		SON
32 		NSH
35 		CSC
35 		NHA
26 		MCH
36 		IRC
26 		GLN
5 		DAY
37 		KAN
14 		BRI
14 		ROV
24 		LVS
19 		HOM
31 		MAR
31 		PHO
34
Corey Heim DOV
35 		DAR
10 		POC
37 		DAR
15
Sage Karam ROA
4
2024 Ed Jones DAY ATL LVS PHO COA
35 		RCH MAR TEX TAL DOV DAR CLT PIR
5 		SON IOW NHA NSH CSC POC IND MCH DAY DAR ATL GLN BRI KAN TAL ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO

Car No. 26 history

[edit]

Part-time (2019–2020)

[edit]

On October 28, 2019, the team announced that they would field an Xfinity team for the first time in 2020, the No. 26 Toyota, with Garrett driving. Brian Keselowski became the team's crew chief, moving over from the Brandonbilt Motorsports No. 68 car.[5] They later attempted the season finale at Homestead in 2019, where they qualified 15th and finished 20th in preparation for their 2020 schedule of races.

In 2020 Colin Garrett ran select races for the team with a best finish of 14th at Homestead-Miami in June of that year.

Brandon Gdovic would join the team for 2 races at the Indianapolis Road Course and Daytona Road Course finishing 12th and 28th respectively.

On October 26, 2020, it was announced that TD2 driver Mason Diaz would drive the No. 26 Toyota for the final two races of the 2020 season at Martinsville and Phoenix.[6]

Multiple drivers (2021–2022)

[edit]
Santino Ferrucci in 2021.

In 2021 the team ran the full schedule with a huge rotation of drivers Brandon Gdovic, Kris Wright, Santino Ferrucci, Colin Garrett, John Hunter Nemechek. Grant Enfinger, Will Rodgers, and Dylan Lupton splitting the seat.

The team recorded their first ever top 10 with Brandon Gdovic at the season opener at Daytona.

In September at Richmond the team scored their first ever top 5 with John Hunter Nemechek battling for the win in the closing laps with Justin Haley and eventual race winner Noah Gragson going on to score a 3rd-place finish.

On January 13, 2022 Ryan Truex was announced to drive the No. 26 at Daytona as well as several other races throughout the season and the next day Jeffrey Earnhardt was announced to compete in at least 7 races bringing sponsorship from ForeverLawn.

Ferrucci in 2022.

On January 25, 2022, it was announced John Hunter Nemechek would drive the car at both races at Las Vegas in the season with sponsorship from Berry's Bullets. Other drivers such as Parker Chase, Derek Griffith, and Chandler Smith would also drive the No. 26.

On October 27, 2022, it was announced that Kaz Grala would drive the car in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway[7] on November 5, 2022, marking Grala's Toyota Racing debut.[8] On December 8, the team announced that Grala would drive the No. 26 full-time for the 2023 season.

Kaz Grala (2023)

[edit]
Grala at Sonoma in 2023.

Kaz Grala drove the No. 26 to two top-5 finishes at Richmond and the Charlotte Roval, as well as nine top-10 finishes during the season. Grala finished the season seventeenth in points. In late November, SHR announced that Grala wouldn't be returning to the No. 26 Supra in 2024. No replacement driver(s) were announced at that point.[9]

Multiple drivers (2024)

[edit]
Corey Heim at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024.

In January 2024, the team announced Corey Heim, Jeffrey Earnhardt, and Sage Karam, would be driving the No. 26 in multiple races throughout the season.[10][11][12]

In May 2024, it was announced that Truck Series regular, Dean Thompson, would make his debut in the Xfinity Series at Charlotte's spring race.[13]

Car No. 26 results

[edit]
Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts
2019 Colin Garrett 26 Toyota DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR IND LVS RCH CLT DOV KAN TEX PHO HOM
21 		47th 16
2020 DAY
DNQ 		LVS CAL PHO DAR
37 		CLT BRI ATL HOM
21 		HOM
14 		TAL
35 		POC KAN
16 		ROA 38th 127
Brandon Gdovic IND
12 		KEN KEN TEX DAY
28 		DOV DOV DAY DAR RCH RCH BRI LVS TAL CLT KAN TEX
Mason Diaz MAR
20 		PHO
24
2021 Brandon Gdovic DAY
8 		MAR
17 		DAR
36 		TEX
23 		NHA
16 		BRI
21 		23rd 485
Kris Wright DAY
18 		COA
32 		MOH
32 		ROA
25 		GLN
17 		IND
30
Santino Ferrucci HOM
30 		LVS
13 		PHO
15 		ATL
15 		POC
14 		ATL
33 		TAL
17
Colin Garrett TAL
15 		MCH
20 		DAY
37 		DAR
17 		MAR
14
John Hunter Nemechek DOV
32 		RCH
3
Grant Enfinger CLT
36
Will Rodgers NSH
14 		CLT
29
Dylan Lupton LVS
35 		TEX
38 		KAN
27 		PHO
15
2022 Ryan Truex DAY
12 		18th 624
Jeffrey Earnhardt CAL
29 		ATL
13 		TEX
19 		CLT
37 		NSH
7 		ATL
19 		BRI
12 		TEX
38
John Hunter Nemechek LVS
12 		PHO
5 		DAR
4 		ROA
18 		MCH
19 		DAY
35 		DAR
9 		LVS
16
Parker Chase COA
19 		PIR
27
Derek Griffith RCH
26 		MAR
21 		NHA
18 		KAN
27 		TAL
23 		MAR
15
Chandler Smith TAL
38 		DOV
21 		HOM
7
Santino Ferrucci POC
35 		IND
17
Connor Mosack GLN
15
Daniil Kvyat CLT
15
Kaz Grala PHO
23
2023 DAY
32 		CAL
13 		LVS
23 		PHO
34 		ATL
35 		COA
18 		RCH
4 		MAR
23 		TAL
24 		DOV
12 		DAR
9 		CLT
16 		PIR
26 		SON
20 		NSH
16 		CSC
10 		ATL
14 		NHA
13 		POC
25 		ROA
7 		MCH
21 		IRC
9 		GLN
28 		DAY
20 		DAR
28 		KAN
10 		BRI
10 		TEX
29 		ROV
5 		LVS
35 		HOM
30 		MAR
28 		PHO
10 		19th 617
2024 Sage Karam DAY
28 		COA
17 		PIR
34 		CSC
33
Jeffrey Earnhardt ATL
8 		TAL
37 		MCH
21 		DAY
28 		BRI
35
Corey Heim LVS
13 		PHO
22 		RCH
4 		MAR
35 		TEX
17 		DOV
35 		IOW
3 		NHA
10 		POC
16 		DAR
25 		ATL
5 		KAN
31 		LVS
11 		PHO
John Hunter Nemechek DAR
23
Dean Thompson CLT
34 		TAL
20
Ed Jones SON
15 		GLN
24 		ROV
37
Tyler Reddick NSH
14
Conor Daly IND
14
Ryan Truex HOM
21
Bubba Pollard MAR
31

K&N Pro Series

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Car No. 18 history

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2013

[edit]

In 2013 Sam Hunt along with former-driver turned crew chief Shayne Lockhart formed DRIVE Technology after they had acquired assets from Joe Gibbs Racing's NASCAR K&N Pro Series East No. 18 team, which was closing down after the 2012 season. Sam Hunt, ran the full season, moving over from Precision Performance Motorsports. They kept using the No. 18. The team picked up sponsorship from the Denny Hamlin Foundation for most of the races.[2] The team later ended up running only part-time, skipping the races at Five Flags, Winston-Salem, both Iowa races, and New Hampshire. Also, Sergio Peña drove the car at the season-finale at Road Atlanta instead of Hunt.

2014

[edit]

In 2014, Hunt ran another part-time schedule. One of his races was set to be Daytona, but after full-time driver Brandon Jones failed to qualify in his own No. 33 car for Turner Scott Motorsports, he replaced Hunt in the No. 18. Other drivers for the team that year were Mason Massey in two races at the Langley and Columbus Speedways. Venezuelan female driver Milka Duno drove the No. 18 at the season-finale, now at Dover as a result of Road Atlanta being taken off the schedule.

2015

[edit]

The team attempted fewer races in 2015. Peyton Sellers drove two races at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and at Dover. Full-time ARCA Series driver Sarah Cornett-Ching drove the car at Bristol in a partnership between DRIVE Technology and her ARCA team, RACE 101.[14][15] Justin LaDuke made his only start of the year and to-date of his career at Winston-Salem. Hunt returned for two races at tracks in his home state of Virginia: Langley and Richmond.

2016

[edit]

The team continued to scale back in 2016, with Peña returning to the team for the first time in three years after he was released from Rev Racing. He ran the road course race at Virginia International Raceway, and it is his last NASCAR start to date. The team withdrew with Hunt at the next race at Dominion Raceway, another track in Virginia. Lockhart left the team in the end of the 2015 and Peyton Sellers become the new co-owner, the new team name became Hunt-Sellers Racing.

2017

[edit]

Sam Hunt and Peyton Sellers ran two races apiece that year.

2018

[edit]

HSR ran nearly the full season in 2018, with yet another driver from Virginia, rookie Colin Garrett, running all but the first two races of the season. Garrett originally signed on for four races but extended it to the remainder of the schedule after strong initial runs.[16] He finished tenth in points. His best finish was a third at the first of the doubleheader races at South Boston, his only top-5 of the year. Garrett did score four top-10's as well. Clinton Cram served as crew chief in 2018.[16]

2019

[edit]

The team announced on January 17, 2019, that Garrett would return to the team, (now renamed as Sam Hunt Racing after Sellers departure) to run the full season with them in 2019. In addition, the team switched from Toyota to Chevrolet that year.[17]

References

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  1. ^ Christie, Toby (July 1, 2024). "Entry List: 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series The Loop 110 at Chicago". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c McConnell, Jim (May 8, 2013). "James River grad at home with Drive Technology". Chesterfield Observer. Observer Inc. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  3. ^ "Sam Hunt Racing announces partnership with TRD". Jayski's Silly Season Site. February 4, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  4. ^ "Ed Jones joins Sam Hunt Racing for multiple races in 2024". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. March 6, 2024. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  5. ^ Kristl, Mark (October 28, 2019). "Sam Hunt Racing, Colin Garrett Attempting Move To Xfinity Series". Frontstretch. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  6. ^ "Mason Diaz Joining Sam Hunt Racing for Final 2 Races of Season". Frontstretch. October 26, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  7. ^ Sam Hunt Racing [@Team_SHR26] (October 27, 2022). "One last surprise to end the season 🥳 @KazGrala will pilot our No. 26 Toyota GR Supra in the @NASCAR_Xfinity season finale at @phoenixraceway next weekend! #TeamToyota | #NXS | #LetsGoPlaces https://t.co/6cEUdbuPCk" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Grala, Kaz [@KazGrala] (November 1, 2022). "Last race of the season, and first race with @Team_SHR26! This will be my @ToyotaRacing debut, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what our Ruedebusch Toyota GR Supra can do on Saturday! 💪🏻 https://t.co/h882OK9Q7m" (Tweet). Retrieved December 4, 2022 – via Twitter.
  9. ^ Srigley, Joseph (November 27, 2023). "Kaz Grala Not Returning to Sam Hunt Racing in 2024". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "Corey Heim Set to Run Partial Schedule with Sam Hunt Racing in 2024 | Sam Hunt Racing". samhuntracing.com. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  11. ^ SHR Staff (January 16, 2024). "Jeffrey Earnhardt Returns to Sam Hunt Racing for Multi-Race Deal in 2024". Sam Hunt Racing. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  12. ^ Srigley, Joseph (January 23, 2024). "Sage Karam, CRC Industries Join Sam Hunt Racing for Daytona". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  13. ^ Srigley, Joseph (May 20, 2024). "Dean Thompson to Make Xfinity Debut for Sam Hunt Racing at Charlotte". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  14. ^ "KNPSE: Sarah Cornett-Ching Set to Make Her K&N Pro Series Debut at Bristol This Weekend". Race Chaser Online. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  15. ^ Donnelly, Doug (April 17, 2015). "On off ARCA weekend, Cornett-Ching, others take talents to Bristol". ARCARacing.com. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  16. ^ a b Segal, Davey (September 6, 2019). "Behind Sam Hunt's resilient NASCAR journey to stay on track". Autoweek. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  17. ^ "Speed51.com". January 17, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
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