Spencer Gallagher

Retired from full-time racing at the end of 2018, but has signed on to make two starts in JR Motorsports' No. 8 Chevy this season. The two events are the Daytona and Talladega races, so it looks like Gallagher will only be superspeedway racing in 2019.

This race team had looked at the possibility of moving up to the Cup Series this season, but decided against it. Instead, they'll enter Gallagher into the full Xfinity Series slate once more. Given the results of last year, that was probably a good decision. Gallagher labored to just one Top-10 and six Top-15 finishes. That was good on that front, but his eight DNF's were very costly and impacted the team's consistency and position in the final standings. Gallagher would end the year 19th in the final point standings. GMS Racing has the people and equipment to do better than this. The young driver will look to new crew chief Chad Norris in the upcoming season to improve performance and finish more races.

GMS Racing will make the move from the truck series to the Xfinity Series in 2017, and they will bring with them Gallagher for this new race team. He's spent the last four seasons sharpening his racing skills in the Camping World Truck Series. Now he'll race for Rookie of the Year in this division of NASCAR. The team put Gallagher in an Xfinity car for six starts last year. The 27-year-old was able to grab one Top-10 (Daytona) and two Top-20 finishes in those efforts. It was a good introduction to this racing series for Gallagher in preparation for a full-time effort. He'll face some stiff competition for the ROTY, but will likely post 5-to-7 Top 10's and represent himself well in this first full season.

The first full season of racing in the truck series presented some highs and lows for Gallagher. He claimed six Top-10 finishes, but also posted five finishes outside the Top 20 with two DNF’s. It all added up to a 14.6 average finish and 10th-place in the driver standings after Homestead. Gone is crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz, and in is new crew chief, Jeff Hensley. He comes over from ThorSport Racing and brings 12 years of experience as a crew chief in this division of NASCAR. Hensley has guided legends like Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday Jr. to victories and multitudes of Top-10 finishes, so he should help Gallagher right away. The No. 23 GMS Racing team and Gallagher present as much upside of any driver and team in the middle tier of this racing series.