It was a dream come true for Sam Hunt to see his NASCAR Xfinity Series team score another top-five finish at Richmond Raceway this spring given his Virginia roots.
Hunt grew up racing at Virginia short tracks before graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University (in Richmond, Va.), focusing on business and finance. He then formed a team, Sam Hunt Racing, in 2018 to contend in the ARCA Menards Series East. The following year, Colin Garrett qualified 15th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the team’s first Xfinity race, finishing 21st, and SHR has expanded each year since. The team has four top 10s to its name in Xfinity, three of them courtesy of John Hunter Nemechek.
The Toyota-backed team embarked on its first full-time effort in 2023 with Kaz Grala at the wheel. SHR had also previously fielded a second car, the No. 24, on one occasion each in 2021 and 2022, but that entry filled out to full time in 2023. Connor Mosack is the primary pilot for the car, driving in 21 of the 33 events.
Frontstretch’s Adam Cheek caught up with Hunt and Mosack amid a rainy morning at Richmond Raceway on April 1, hours before Grala tied the team’s second-best result to date with a fourth-place finish in the ToyotaCare 250. This is an abridged version of the conversation; you can watch the full interview at the bottom of the page.
Adam Cheek, Frontstretch: What’s it like going after a championship for the first time as a team?
Sam Hunt: It’s been different, for sure. It’s the first time we’ve had a full-time driver in one of our cars. It’s definitely nice to have some repetition with the same guy in the seat.
I think the the cards haven’t fallen the way we’ve needed them to fall so far this year with a lot of bad luck and some accidents outside of our control, but it’s a good next step for our program, and Kaz has worked for an opportunity like he’s got now for a long time. So it’s cool to be able to do it with him, and I’ve got no doubts [that] he’ll just get stronger throughout the year.
Cheek: What was that journey like into becoming an owner? What clicked for you that made you choose that career path?
Hunt: I just think I didn’t have enough success as a driver to do it. I think we had to scratch and claw for the sponsors we had when I was driving, and I just felt like I needed to do something else with my career. I wanted to stay in motorsports…
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