Every driver dreams of making it to and succeeding at the pinnacles of motorsports, and everyone has a unique path in rising through the ranks. But few drivers can say that they’ve had a path as adventurous as Tanner Gray.
Now in his third full-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season for David Gilliland Racing, Gray originally made his name known through his success in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
During his foray in drag racing, Gray competed exclusively in Pro Stock cars. He made history by becoming the youngest driver to win a national NHRA event on April 2, 2017, 13 days before his 18th birthday. He then followed it up with eight wins and a Pro Stock championship in 2018, which also made him the youngest driver to win an NHRA title.
However, despite his early success on the dragstrip, Gray had always set his sights on competing in stock cars.
“I get that question [about the switch] a lot, obviously, but I just always enjoyed circle track racing,” Gray told Frontstretch. “In drag racing, the only thing I ever drag raced was the Pro Stock car, aside from the junior dragster when I was young. But besides that, I was in a 600-cc micro sprint, go-karts and everything else.
“So I had done a lot of circle track racing, mainly on dirt. But I just really enjoyed this form of racing more than I did the drag racing. So when I had the opportunity to come back over this way, that’s kind of what I wanted to do. I knew that if I wanted to make a career out of driving, this was probably the direction I needed to go.
“I enjoy all [forms of racing]. I still dirt race as much as I can, and I really love that. And then obviously getting to road course race just in the Truck Series. I enjoy it. I’m not that good at it, but I enjoy it. So, this is something I’ve been working on getting better at.”
Gray made the switch to stock cars in 2019, competing full time in the then-K&N Pro Series East, which has since been reorganized into the ARCA Menards Series East. In his inaugural season, he won a race at South Boston Speedway and finished third in points. He also made three Truck Series starts in 2019 before moving to the series full time in 2020.
Since joining the Truck Series, Gray has scored seven top-five finishes and 15 top 10s in 65 career starts, with a best finish of third on four different occasions. His best points finish was 14th in his 2020 rookie season, although he also sits 14th in points with six races remaining in…
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