Gray Gaulding

Gray Gaulding (born February 10, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing.

Racing career
Gaulding began racing motorbikes at age 4, and raced cars five years later. When he was 10, Gaulding received two Bandolero cars, and won in his first Bandolero race. At age 12, Gaulding was the youngest driver in a NASCAR Legends Division, and won a Legends car national championship, gaining sponsorship from firearm distributor GunBroker.com. Also at age 12, Gaulding defeated NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick at Harvick's karting track, which prompted Harvick to sign Gaulding to Kevin Harvick Incorporated's driver development program. At 13, Gaulding became the youngest Super late model race winner, and was also the youngest driver to win the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Rookie of the Year Award. After KHI shut down in 2011, he was released from the team's driver development program. When he was 14, Gaulding was volunteering at the Victory Junction Gang Camp when he agreed to five one-year contracts with Krispy Kreme as a sponsor.

K&N Pro Series East
In 2013, Gaulding ran the No. 20 Krispy Kreme Toyota in both the K&N Pro Series East and West. He won the pole position at Richmond International Raceway at 15 years, 2 months, 15 days, becoming the youngest pole-sitter in NASCAR history, more than four months younger than Cole Custer, the previous record holder. In the season-ending Pro Series West race at Phoenix International Raceway, Gaulding spun out Custer on the final lap to win, becoming the youngest race winner in K&N series history at 15 years, 8 months and 30 days. During the year, Gaulding was named to the NASCAR Next program, which highlights NASCAR's future stars. In 2014, Gaulding was hired by NTS Motorsports to run full-time in the K&N East series.

Camping World Truck Series
Gaulding joined NTS Motorsports in the No. 20, and ran eight races in the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season; he made his Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway. On lap 243, Gaulding was running three-wide, and was turned around. Gaulding finished 19th. Gaulding recorded his best finish of the year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, finishing 4th in the Chevrolet Silverado 250.

On March 23, 2015, Gaulding was released by NTS Motorsports, and joined Red Horse Racing, making his debut for the team at Martinsville where he finished 17th. He later joined Kyle Busch Motorsports, driving the No. 54 Toyota Tundra in three races at Mosport, New Hampshire and Martinsville.

Xfinity Series
In 2016, Gaulding joined Roush Fenway Racing's driver development program and made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the No. 60 at Bristol Motor Speedway, while also running another round at Richmond.

For the 2019 season, Gaulding drove No. 08 Chevy for SS-Green Light Racing full-time. In April's MoneyLion 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, Gaulding finished a career-best second behind Tyler Reddick.

On January 16, 2020, It was announced that Joe Graf Jr. will be taking over the 08 car for the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season leaving Gaulding without a ride.

Cup Series
Later in the season, he attempted to make his Sprint Cup Series debut at Martinsville, driving the No. 30 car for The Motorsports Group. Gaulding joined BK Racing's No. 23 car for the 2017 season, driving in 33 races. Gaulding was not approved to run the Daytona 500 due to lack of experience on larger tracks (1.5 miles or greater). On June 13, 2017, Gaulding was replaced by Ryan Sieg at Michigan. Later in the month, Gaulding announced he had joined Premium Motorsports' No. 55 Camry for the Cup races at Kentucky and Loudon. On June 5, 2017, BK Racing released Gaulding because of financial issues; however, he would later return to the team at Darlington. At Talladega, Gaulding survived a crash-filled race to post his career-best finish of ninth. Gaulding would return to BK Racing in 2018. He has run every race contested so far, with a best finish of 20th, achieved at both Daytona and Texas. However, after missing a few races, Gaulding will run the 99 for StarCom Racing at Michigan, presumably ending his relationship with BK Racing.

Personal life
Gray is the son of Dwayne and Kristin (Martek) Gaulding. A native of Colonial Heights, Virginia, Gaulding's father, Dwayne, was the vice president of operations at NTS Motorsports.

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

Cup Series
$$ Season still in progress $1$ Ineligible for series points

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