Gray Gaulding has only run the full NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule once in his career: 2019 for SS-Green Light Racing. On Wednesday, he revealed he has rejoined the team and will make another effort at the entire slate.
Gaulding tweeted, “I’m back!!! Sponsor announcements coming soon!”, with a hashtag proclaiming #FullSeason. SSGLR responded with a “Welcome home!!”
In his lone full season with SSGLR, he finished thirteenth in points with four top tens and nearly won at Talladega where he placed second. Despite the strong year, which was statistically the best ever for an SSGLR driver by a wide margin as the only one to place in the top twenty, he was replaced by Joe Graf Jr. for 2020. Nevertheless, he returned for five races during which he scored another second-place finish at Daytona and eighth at Talladega.
He was supposed to run full-time for Jimmy Means Racing in 2021, but scaled back as the team struggled with performance and making races. Gaulding signed with Mike Harmon Racing later in the year and for three starts in 2022 but only finished once: a twenty-first at Talladega. 2022 also saw him swap rides with JD Motorsports’ Ryan Vargas at Portland, and Vargas has since joined MHR—now known as CHK Racing—as their lead driver.
SSGLR also signed Blaine Perkins for the entire 2023 calendar, hoping to provide stability after fielding a carousel of drivers the previous year. Graf departed the team at the end of 2022.
While SSGLR notched their maiden win at Fontana last February with Cole Custer driving a Ford, they will begin switching back to Chevrolet in 2023 while also fielding Ford at times.
