Wendell Chavous
Chavous at Pocono Raceway in 2018
BornWendell Phillip Chavous Jr.[1]
(1985-02-28) February 28, 1985 (age 38)
Hephzibah, Georgia
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
50 races run over 4 years
2018 position17th
Best finish16th (2017)
First race2014 Kroger 200 (Martinsville)
Last race2018 Fr8Auctions 250 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of November 16, 2018.

Wendell Phillip Chavous Jr. (born February 28, 1985) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current entrepreneur. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving both the Nos. 15 and 49 Chevrolet Silverados for Premium Motorsports. He has also driven for MAKE Motorsports and Mike Harmon Racing in the NCWTS.[2]

Chavous is also the owner of Steel Barn Truss, a manufacturing business that makes barn trusses.

Racing career

Early years

Chavous made a name racing late models on dirt tracks, including appearances at the Fastrak Grand Nationals.[3]

Camping World Truck Series

Driving for Mike Harmon, Chavous made his first Truck start in the 2014 Kroger 200, starting last in the 36-truck field but making his way up to 27th. Two weeks later at Phoenix International Raceway, Chavous finished in the same spot in Harmon's No. 74, albeit more than 30 laps down. Switching to MAKE Motorsports for the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200 a week later, Chavous fell out with electrical problems and finished 31st.[4] After running sporadically in Premium Motorsports' No. 94 for the beginning part of 2015, the team and Chavous announced at Eldora Speedway that he would pilot the truck for the rest of the season.[5] However, the deal fell through, with Chavous running only the next three races. His best finish was a sixteenth before the announcement at Kansas Speedway.[6] He ran seven races on the season.[7]

On February 13, 2017, Premium Motorsports announced that Chavous would compete for 2017 Truck Series Rookie of the Year driving the team's No. 49 entry.[8] Chavous ran the full schedule, except Mosport and Phoenix where he was replaced by Gary Klutt, and Robby Lyons, respectively.[9] He scored a career-best finish of 14th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fall.[10]

On January 29, 2018, it was announced that Chavous would return to Premium's No. 49 entry for another full-time effort in 2018.[11] Brian Keselowski returned as crew chief.[12] As part of the announcement, addiction help nonprofit Sobriety Nation signed on as sponsor for the entire season.[13] The pairing yielded four top-fifteen efforts, up from one the previous year, although Keselowski departed the team in late spring. On October 8, 2018, Chavous announced his departure from Premium and NASCAR, effective following the October 14 race at Talladega Superspeedway, citing the need for more family time and business ventures as the reasons to step away.[14] He ended his career with a fifth-place outing in the race.[15]

Personal life

Chavous is married and has a son, who races go-karts. He owns the business Steel Barn Truss, a barn truss manufacturing company.[14]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 NCWTC Pts Ref
2014 Mike Harmon Racing 74 Chevy DAY MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW KEN IOW ELD POC MCH BRI MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR
27 		TEX PHO
27 		53rd 47 [16]
MAKE Motorsports 50 Chevy HOM
31
2015 Premium Motorsports 94 Chevy DAY ATL
24 		MAR
DNQ 		KAN
16 		CLT
25 		DOV TEX GTW IOW KEN ELD
26 		POC
25 		MCH
23 		BRI
26 		MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 31st 143 [17]
2017 Premium Motorsports 49 Chevy DAY
19 		ATL
20 		MAR
23 		KAN
31 		CLT
28 		DOV
19 		TEX
20 		GTW
18 		IOW
17 		KEN
19 		ELD
16 		POC
20 		MCH
17 		BRI
23 		MSP CHI
18 		NHA
18 		LVS
14 		TAL
24 		MAR
21 		TEX
21 		PHO 16th 348 [18]
15 HOM
23
2018 49 DAY
12 		ATL
23 		LVS
14 		MAR
18 		DOV
17 		KAN
27 		CLT
22 		TEX
12 		IOW
21 		GTW
15 		CHI
22 		KEN
24 		ELD
23 		POC
21 		MCH
16 		BRI
23 		LVS
28 		TAL
5 		MAR TEX PHO HOM 17th 336 [19]
15 MSP
24

K&N Pro Series West

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 NKNPSWC Pts Ref
2014 Mike Holleran 38 Chevy PHO IRW S99 IOW KCR SON SLS CNS IOW EVG KCR MMP AAS PHO
21 		78th 23 [20]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series driver points

References

  1. ^ "Chavous & Lariscey Wedding Announcement". Legacy.com. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  2. ^ "Driver Wendell Chavous Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  3. ^ Dirtondirt.com. "Dirt on Dirt :: All Late Models. All the Time. -". www.dirtondirt.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  4. ^ "Driver Wendell Chavous 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  5. ^ "Wendell Chavous To Run Eldora, Remainder of 2015 Season". frontstretch.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  6. ^ "Driver Wendell Chavous 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  7. ^ Sports, Fox. "Wendell Chavous - NASCAR Driver". www.foxsports.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  8. ^ "Jayski's Camping World Truck Series Silly Season Site". www.jayski.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  9. ^ "Driver Wendell Chavous 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  10. ^ "Wendell Chavous Acquires Full-Time Sponsorship". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  11. ^ "Sobriety Nation to serve as primary for Chavous". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  12. ^ "Wendell Chavous Returns to Truck Series Full-Time – POPULAR SPEED". www.popularspeed.com. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  13. ^ "Sobriety Nation to Sponsor Premium Motorsports' Wendell Chavous for 2018 Nascar Camping World Truck Season". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  14. ^ a b "Chavous to step away from racing after Talladega". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  15. ^ Knight, Chris. "Wendell Chavous finishes fifth in final NASCAR Truck Series race with Premium Motorsports". Catchfence. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  16. ^ "Wendell Chavous – 2014 Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  17. ^ "Wendell Chavous – 2015 Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  18. ^ "Wendell Chavous – 2017 Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  19. ^ "Wendell Chavous – 2018 Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  20. ^ "Wendell Chavous – 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 11, 2023.

External links

Premium Motorsports
Beaver Motorsports
Mike Harmon Racing
Categories