Gray Gaulding

Gray Gaulding arrived faster than almost anyone: the Colonial Heights, Virginia native made his Cup Series debut in 2016 as an 18-year-old, part of a wave of teenagers pushed early into NASCAR's deep end. Across 158 national-series starts, he has competed in Cup, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and the Craftsman Truck Series, with 58 of those starts coming at the sport's highest level. His signature results came in the draft. Gaulding finished second in the second-tier series at Talladega in 2019, then matched it with another runner-up at Daytona in 2020, twice coming within a car length of a breakthrough win. Both of his career top fives came at those giants, and his nine top-10s lean heavily on superspeedway racecraft, the discipline where fearlessness and timing can outrun a budget. The win has not come yet, but Gaulding's career remains one of genuine near-misses at the sport's most unforgiving tracks, and nobody who watched those Talladega and Daytona finishes doubts the nerve.

Written by Richard R. Glover, NASCAR Reference