It’s approaching the first anniversary of the announcement of Jesse Iwuji Motorsports — a team owned by NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Jesse Iwuji and NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, among others.
Iwuji himself was set to be the driver for the 2022 season, and to start things off, he qualified his car 30th in a field of 47 cars going for 38 spots at Daytona International Speedway. Not a horrible start, as half the battle is just making the race. Just ask Jordan Anderson what not being able to qualify did to his team’s 2021 season efforts.
The team struggled in the first six races of the season. Not super surprising. A team can rarely enter a top-level racing series, let alone NASCAR, and succeed in their first season. The best, most recent example of that success in the Xfinity Series would be Kaulig Racing, who, in their debut season in 2016 with Blake Koch, reached the Xfinity Series playoffs and the Round of 8.
But not every new team can be Kaulig.
In the first six races of 2022, the team failed to qualify twice — once with Jesse Little at Phoenix Raceway and then with Iwuji at Circuit of the Americas. Iwuji was behind the wheel in the team’s four starts and failed to crack into the top 25 in all four races. He had pair of 27th-place finishes at Daytona and Atlanta Motor Speedway, accompanied by 36th at Auto Club Speedway and 34th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Iwuji struggled, and his racing experience’s shortcomings undoubtedly helped influence the decision to bring Kyle Weatherman in to drive the No. 34 Chevrolet at Richmond Raceway in the spring. The decision was announced the Thursday before Richmond, late in the evening. That decision to bring Weatherman to Jesse Iwuji Motorsports, however it came about or what factors contributed to it, has turned out to be an excellent decision for the team.
I’m not here to shine additional lights on the debate if Iwuji should be approved to race or not, because while that is a conversation worth having, it’s not the entire crux of this week’s column. Let’s compare performances.
The No. 34 Jesse Iwuji Motorsports Chevrolet has attempted all 21 races of the season to this point. Iwuji and Weatherman have each attempted 10 races, while Little failed to qualify at Phoenix. Iwuji has also failed to qualify twice, while Weatherman has started all 10 of his races.
The average start for the car is 26.67 in the 18 instances it made the race. Iwuji’s average starting position is 30.75, with…
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