Wendell Chavous

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]

Wendell Chavous
Chavous at Pocono Raceway in 2018
Born	Wendell Phillip Chavous Jr.[1] (1985-02-28) February 28, 1985 (age 39) Hephzibah, Georgia
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
50 races run over 4 years
2018 position	17th
Best finish	16th (2017)
First race	2014 Kroger 200 (Martinsville)
Last race	2018 Fr8Auctions 250 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of November 16, 2018.

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. "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

• Wendell Chavous driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Steel Barn Truss website