Tanner Gray

Tanner Shane Gray (born April 15, 1999) is an American professional racing driver who has competed in drag racing and stock car racing. He races full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 15 Ford F-150 for David Gilliland Racing. Gray is the youngest professional driver to win a national event in NHRA history, and the youngest driver to win an NHRA season championship.[1]

Tanner Gray
Gray in 2017
Born	Tanner Shane Gray April 15, 1999 Artesia, New Mexico
Achievements	2018 NHRA Pro Stock champion
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
26 races run over 2 years
Truck no., team	No. 15 (DGR-Crosley)
2020 position	14th
Best finish	14th (2020)
First race	2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 (Martinsville)
Last race	2020 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 8 0
Statistics current as of November 6, 2020.

Racing career

Drag racing

Gray racing against his father Shane in the 2017 NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

2017 marked the first year for Gray racing in the Pro Stock class within the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series alongside his Father Shane Gray.

Gray made NHRA history 13 days before his 18th birthday at the 18th Annual Denso Spark Plug Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on April 2, 2017 by winning the final round against Bo Butner. He was 17 years, 11 months, and 18 days which was younger than 40 year record holder Jeb Allen, who was 18 years, 1 month, and 8 days.[1]

He won the 2017 Auto Club Road to the Future Award. The award is given to the top rookie from all of the sport’s pro categories, including Pro Stock Motorcycle, Top Fuel and Funny Car.[2]

In 2018, Gray won 8 times en route to the Pro Stock title, becoming the youngest ever NHRA season champion.[3]

NASCAR

Gray running the 2019 K&N Pro Series East race at Bristol Motor Speedway

On September 25, 2018, Gray announced he would race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for DGR-Crosley in 2019.[4] The move came after Gray had met team owner David Gilliland in summer 2018.[5] He picked up his first win at South Boston Speedway in early May.[6]

In October 2019, Gray made his NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series debut with DGR-Crosley at Martinsville Speedway in the No. 15 Toyota Tundra; running a three-race schedule, he also competed in the ISM Raceway and Homestead–Miami Speedway events in the No. 7.[7][8]

On December 16, 2019, DGR-Crosley announced Gray would run full-time and for rookie of the year in the Truck Series in 2020, driving the team's No. 15 truck,[9] now a Ford F-150 after the team switched from Toyota to Ford in the offseason. In addition, the team announced he would continue to drive in the East Series, now the ARCA Menards Series East, part-time, as well as part-time in the big 20-race ARCA Menards Series,[10] where he would share the full-time No. 17 car with his younger brother Taylor (who ran the Sioux Chief Showdown races) and Anthony Alfredo.

Other racing

Gray has raced in different types of cars, including Late models, modifieds, Midget cars, and stock cars. He has raced on oval dirt tracks in the area of Mooresville, including racing in the Mini Outlaw Karts category alongside Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu on Wednesday nights at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury.

Personal life

Gray was born April 15, 1999, to professional drag racer and national event champion Shane Gray and his wife Amber of Artesia, New Mexico. He is the grandson of funny car and pro stock champion Johnny Gray, making Tanner a third generation Gray to race in the NHRA. The Gray family moved from New Mexico to Mooresville, North Carolina in 2010 so that Shane Gray could pursue a career as a professional drag racer in the NHRA. Tanner's younger brother, Taylor Gray, is also a NASCAR and ARCA driver for DGR-Crosley and currently competes full-time for them in the ARCA Menards Series East as well as part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, both in the No. 17 car.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	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	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2019	DGR-Crosley	15	Toyota	DAY	ATL	LVS	MAR	TEX	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	IOW	GTW	CHI	KEN	POC	ELD	MCH	BRI	MSP	LVS	TAL	MAR 20			46th	59	[11]
		7																							PHO 17	HOM 16
2020		15	Ford	DAY 23	LVS 8	CLT 20	ATL 11	HOM 12	POC 12	KEN 9	TEX 36	KAN 18	KAN 4	MCH 3	DAY 15	DOV 17	GTW 10	DAR 29	RCH 16	BRI 3	LVS 3	TAL 29	KAN 36	TEX 10	MAR 31	PHO 15	14th	511	[12]
2021	David Gilliland Racing			DAY	DAY	LVS	ATL	BRI	RCH	KAN	DAR	COA	CLT	TEX	NSH	POC	KNX	GLN	GTW	MSP	BRI	LVS	TAL	MAR	PHO

K&N Pro Series West

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	NKNPSWC	Pts	Ref
2019	DGR-Crosley	15	Toyota	LVS	IRW 2	TUS 2	TUS 2	CNS	SON	DCS	IOW 6	EVG	GTW 15	MER	AAS	KCR	PHO	12th*	195*	[13]

ARCA Menards Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	AMSC	Pts	Ref
2019	DGR-Crosley	54	Toyota	DAY	FIF 12	SLM	TAL	NSH	TOL 8	CLT 6	POC	MCH 5	MAD	GTW 17	CHI 15	ELK	IOW	POC	ISF	DSF	SLM	IRP	KAN 6	19th	1440	[14]
2020		17	Ford	DAY 16	PHO 4	TAL 13	POC 15	IRP	KEN 9	IOW	KAN 5	TOL	TOL	MCH	DAY	GTW	I44	TOL	BRI	WIN	MEM	ISF	KAN	20th	203	[15]

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series East results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	AMSEC	Pts	Ref
2019	DGR-Crosley	15	Toyota	NSM 12	BRI 10	SBO 1*	SBO 4	MEM 3	NHA 5	IOW 6	GLN 11	BRI 6	GTW 15	NHA 2	DOV 2	3rd	458	[16]
2020		17	Ford	NSM 18	TOL	DOV	TOL	BRI	FIF							47th	26	[17]

^* Season still in progress

References

1. Benson, Candida (April 17, 2017). "Youngest Pro winners". NHRA. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
2. "Gray earns 2017 Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award". November 13, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
3. "Tanner Gray,19, wins Pro Stock title to become youngest NHRA season champion". USA Today. November 10, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
4. "Tanner Gray to transition to NASCAR K&N East Series". Retrieved 2018-09-26.
5. Crandall, Kelly (January 23, 2020). "NASCAR podcast: Tanner Gray". RACER. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
6. Segal, Davey. "NHRA champion Tanner Gray earns maiden NASCAR K&N East victory at South Boston". Autoweek. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
7. "Tanner Gray to make Truck Series debut in Martinsville". DGR-Crosley. October 16, 2019.
8. Boarman, John (November 4, 2019). "Tanner Gray driving fifth DGR truck to finish season". Tireball.
9. Bonkowski, Jerry (December 16, 2019). "Tanner Gray to race Truck full-time in 2020 for DGR-Crosley". NBC Sports.
10. "Gray set to run full Truck series schedule in 2020". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. December 16, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
11. "Tanner Gray – 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
12. "Tanner Gray – 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
13. "Tanner Gray – 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
14. "Tanner Gray – 2019 ARCA Menards Series results". Racing Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
15. "Tanner Gray – 2020 ARCA Menards Series results". Racing Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
16. "Tanner Gray – 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
17. "Tanner Gray – 2020 ARCA Menards Series East results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 22, 2020.

External links

• Tanner Gray driver statistics at Racing-Reference