Gray Gaulding's NASCAR career took an unexpected turn in April 2024, when he was arrested for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. That arrest resulted in an indefinite suspension from NASCAR, at which point he wasn't actively competing in any of the three national series, but the misdemeanor ended up being dismissed that July.
Still, the native of Colonial Heights, Virginia was unable to make a return to the sport later that year, or even at all in 2025, casting doubt on his future.
But after getting back into the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series for the first time since 2023 with Mike Harmon Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway in April, now Gaulding is set to make his long-awaited Cup return this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
Gray Gaulding back in NASCAR Cup Series after more than three years
Gaulding competed in the Cup Series off and on from 2016 to 2020, including stretches of 13 races in a row for BK Racing in 2017 and 17 in a row for the same team in 2018. He secured a career-high finish of ninth at Talladega Superspeedway for the team in 2017.
But since October 2020, his only start in the series had come in June 2023 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, a race he finished in 29th for Rick Ware Racing. He had competed for Rick Ware's team in all 11 of his starts from September 2018 to October 2020.
This weekend, Gaulding has joined forces with Garage 66, the team formerly known as MBM Motorsports, to run the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. He will, however, have to qualify first, since there are 41 cars on the entry list, meaning that the No. 66 Ford is one of five non-chartered (open) cars going for four spots in the 40-car field.
Gaulding has made 60 career Cup Series starts, but this is set to be his first time competing for the Carl Long-owned team. Three of his four career top 20 finishes have come on superspeedways, including his 20th place finish in the 2018 Daytona 500, so his return coming in a drafting race should give him his best chance of success.
In 80 career O'Reilly Series starts, his best finishes are a pair of runner-up finishes, one at Daytona and another at Talladega, and four of his other five top eight finishes came at those two tracks.
Notably, if the qualifying metric ends up setting the starting lineup, which it would if qualifying is rained out on Friday, Gaulding would be locked into the race since the No. 66 team ranks second in the owner standings among the five open teams on the entry list.
NBC's live coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 28. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from Daytona International Speedway!
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