Gray Gaulding

This team's plans are not known at the time of this writing, but it is believed they'll return full-time in 2021 with a driver rotation similar to what was employed last season. Ray Black Jr., Garrett Smithley and a handful of other driver's piloted this team's Chevrolet in 2020. The conglomerate collected five Top 10's and eight Top 15's along the way. It was a pretty competitive team operation and results for the continuous driver shuffle employed behind the wheel. It's this resilience that we're optimistic about heading into the unknowns of 2021. It seems that whomever SS Green Light Racing employs to drive, they'll get the results.

Gaulding revived his "stalled" NASCAR career with a really sound season in 2019. It was his first full season effort in the Xfinity Series, and he did it with SS Green Light Racing. The 21-year-old prospect earned four Top-10 and 17 Top-15 finishes last year in the No. 08 Chevrolet Camaro. The consistency and competitiveness were very impressive. Gaulding finished every race in the 33-event schedule and did not register a single DNF. That consistency, and running at the end of races led to many Top-15 efforts. It's believed that this team will return intact for 2020, and with Patrick Donahue still calling the shots from the pit box. There's definite room to grow for this driver and race team.

After spending much of the last two seasons racing at the Cup level, Gaulding will step into a full-time Xfinity Series ride in 2019. He will take over the seat of the No. 08 Chevy of SS Green Light Racing. Owner, Bobby Dotter, didn't run two teams in 2018, but it appears he has plans to do just that in the upcoming season with Gaulding the pilot of the No. 08 Chevrolet. Crew chief and sponsorship are not clear at the time of this writing, but it is clear the team is gearing up for a full season run. Gaulding's past success has come at the much lower levels of stock car racing, and he has just eight-career starts of Xfinity Series experience. This driver and team should make for an interesting combination.

Gaulding raced most of the season and made 27 starts last season. He split the time between Premium Motorsports and BK Racing. In those efforts Gaulding nabbed one Top-10 and four Top-25 finishes. At the time of this writing Gaulding hasn’t been named to any of the available rides, but he should land one of the open seats. We wouldn’t rule out the possibility of him splitting time between rides once again in 2018. At just 20-years-old the young driver still has a lot to learn and room to grow. However, Gaulding’s 29 starts of experience at NASCAR’s top level makes him a valuable commodity to any team in search of a driver.

At this point the 18-year-old Virginian is not officially racing in NASCAR's top division, but he has been rumored to be in the No. 30 of The Motorsports Group for 2017. Gaulding made just two starts for this team last season and he failed to finish both races with DNF's. He also attempted to qualify the car for the season finale at Homestead, but failed to make the starting field. Gaulding has had some limited success over the last four seasons of racing in NASCAR's lower divisions, so the talent is there. However, it has a long way to go to develop. Assuming Gaulding is racing for Rookie of the Year in 2017 with the No. 30 Chevrolet, there will be some bumps and growing pains along the way. This team didn't exactly end the 2016 season in good fashion, so there are some internal struggles there.

The young phenom from Virginia is a product of the K&N Pros Series East. Gaulding won two poles and claimed 17 Top 10’s racing full-time in that series the last two seasons. He earned Top-10 standings finishes in both those campaigns. Gaulding moved to the trucks part-time in 2014, making just nine starts due to his 16-year-old age. However, his results were impressive none-the-less. He collected one Top-5 and seven Top-20 finishes in that limited schedule. Gaulding is expected to return in a part-time capacity this season, with other drivers filling out the schedule. Austin Dillon did some part-time duty in this team to good effect (four Top 10’s) so the No. 20 truck is a good ride with capable drivers.