Jeremy Clements

Clements returns to his self-owned race team again in 2023. The veteran driver knocked out a strong campaign last season, capturing his second-career victory (Daytona), five Top-10 finishes and a respectable 12th-place points effort. Clements brings back the No. 51 Chevrolet and team for another go at making the Xfinity Series playoffs. Now 38 years-old and with over 400 starts of experience in this division of NASCAR, Clements is one of the more seasoned drivers in the series. Equipment held him back for a lot of years, but that's improved fairly dramatically in the last five or six seasons. While he's not expected to race among the elite in this division of NASCAR, Clements does race competitively and consistently as an outgunned single-car team.

The veteran driver just continues to incrementally improve each season, and Clements showed that ability again last year. The owner/driver piloted his team's Chevrolet to eight Top-10 finishes, which were a career-best mark. Clements also registered an impressive 12th-place finish in the final driver standings, which also tied a career-best. Everything returns intact for the No. 51 team in 2022, including ample sponsorship and crew chief, Mark Setzer. Clements is not a guy who's going to lead a lot of laps (just 5 last season in total) nor challenge for wins, but he's going to get into a groove and post multiple Top-10 and Top-15 finishes through a program built on consistency.

The 15-season veteran will return for more Xfinity Series action in the upcoming season. Clements has been slowly building his race team over the last few seasons and has reached a pretty competitive level for a single-car team. In 2020 Clements grabbed a career-best five Top-10 finishes and brought the team's Chevrolet home in 13th-place in the final series standings. His last two seasons of racing have really been the most competitive level of performance of his NASCAR career. Clements will look to hold onto these gains in 2021 and should do so as new sponsors are being drawn to the No. 51 team. With stable funding and a full returning team cast, Clements should have no trouble staying at a competitive level of racing.

The owner/driver of the No. 51 Chevrolet will return for another season of Xfinity Series action in the upcoming year. The 34-year-old from South Carolina posted career-best marks last season with his race team. Clements grabbed one Top-5 and four Top-10 finishes and registered a respectable 16.9 average finish across the season. At the conclusion of the 33-race schedule he found himself a respectable 14th overall in the championship driver standings. This is really has been the blue print for much of the last six seasons for this driver and team. They race competitively with limited resources and perform better than half the field each race weekend. Clements should be up for more of the same in 2020.

At the time of this writing it has not been announced that Clements and the No. 51 team are returning for the 2019 season, but it is very likely to happen and expected. This team has been together in some form or fashion since the 2011 season and should continue to go racing with steady sponsorship. Clements posted his usual two Top-10 and 11 Top-15 finishes in 2018 and that led to a career-best 18.9 average finish for the campaign. His 15th-place finish in the final driver standings is where he's been slotting most of the last eight seasons. The No. 51 team saw modest improvements in a lot of areas last season, and Clements will be challenged to push the bar higher in the upcoming season.

One of our favorite veteran drivers in the Xfinity Series had an exciting season in 2017. Clements took his small, single-car team to Road America last summer and upset the stars and better funded teams of this racing series to collect his first-career victory. Although weather played a part and the circumstances were a bit odd, it was a well-earned victory none-the-less. The Road America win was the crown jewel in what was a pretty good season of two Top 10's and four Top 15's. Like a lot of drivers deeper in the field, Clements and his team goes out each week and does impressive work against the big money teams of NASCAR. Clements should give us some more surprising highlights in 2018.

The 11-year veteran had one of his better campaigns in the Xfinity Series last season. Clements pulled his first-career Top 5 out of the hat with a strong performance at Talladega. He also claimed three Top-10 finishes over the season. Clements would wind up 15th overall in the driver points, which is about where he's slotted the last six years. This team and driver aren't world beaters, but they take the slow and steady approach to their racing. Clements will start every race, DNF in very few (maybe 3 or 4) and generally finish inside the Top 20 most weeks. He has deep fantasy league racing appeal and daily fantasy racing value due to his consistency and predictability.

The 10-season veteran should be back for another full slate in 2016. His family-owned No. 51 Chevrolet has been a steady performer over the last five seasons of full-time racing in this division of NASCAR. Over that span Clements has gradually improved his average starting position from 28.0 to 21.7 and his average finishing position from 23.6 to 19.8 last season (a career-best). While he only registered one Top-10 finish, he piled up the Top 20 performances. The driver of this small team posted 20 Top-20 finishes as opposed to only two DNF’s. The No. 51 team is running at the end of races and usually not far off the lead lap. That consistency should continue in the upcoming season, but they’ve likely hit the ceiling coming in at 14th in the driver standings last year.