Ray Black Jr.

Ray Black Jr.
Black at Richmond Raceway in 2019
BornRaymond Black Jr.
(1991-05-17) May 17, 1991 (age 33)
Montgomery, Alabama
NASCAR Cup Series career
4 races run over 2 years
2018 position55th
Best finish55th (2018)
First race2017 Tales of the Turtles 400 (Chicagoland)
Last race2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Daytona Beach)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
103 races run over 6 years
2020 position40th
Best finish16th (2019)
First race2015 O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge (Texas)
Last race2020 Toyota 200 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
31 races run over 3 years
2016 position99th
Best finish11th (2015)
First race2014 Kroger 250 (Martinsville)
Last race2016 American Ethanol E15 225 (Chicagoland)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of November 9, 2020.

Raymond Black Jr. (born May 17, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro for SS-Green Light Racing.

Racing career

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, he moved to Palm Coast, Florida when he was nine years old. After playing racing video games on his PlayStation, Black developed an interest in racing professionally at age 14. In 2006, Black began racing in the Florida Mini Cup Racing Association's Junior All-Star division, winning the championship after finishing in the top five in every race.[1] In 2013, he began racing Pro Late Models.[2]

Camping World Truck Series

In 2014, Black made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway for SS-Green Light Racing, driving the No. 07.[3] Due to qualifying being rained out, Black started 29th based on his team's owners points standing in 2013.[4] Black finished 24th, five laps behind race winner Matt Crafton.[5] Black made six additional starts for the team in 2014, with a best finish of 18th at Chicagoland Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, the former being where he led his only lap of the season.

On December 16, Black announced he would compete full-time in the Truck Series with SS-Green Light for 2015, competing for Rookie of the Year honors.[6] In the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, Black finished fifth after avoiding a crash on the backstretch.[7] After not finishing in the top ten for the rest of the season, but rarely finishing outside the top twenty, he managed an eleventh-place points finish.[8]

Xfinity Series

Black at Road America in 2019

In November 2015, Black made his Xfinity Series debut at Texas, driving the No. 15 for Rick Ware Racing.[9] On January 13, 2016, Black announced he would drive the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro full-time for SS-Green Light Racing.[10] He finished nineteenth in his debut season, failing to break in to the top ten in any races.[11]

After starting the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with SS-Green Light, Black was replaced by Todd Bodine for the Charlotte race in 2017 due to a lack of sponsorship.[12] Spencer Boyd, Korbin Forrister, Andy Lally, Ryan Ellis and Devin Jones also ran in the 07 when Black could not bring sponsorship.[13] Boyd took over the ride that Black ran 21 of the 33 races in 2017[14] for 2018 with funding from Grunt Style.[15]

After losing his ride with Ware in the Cup Series, Black returned with B. J. McLeod Motorsports at Daytona in 2018.[16] The team failed to qualify along with five other cars. Black returned to the Xfinity Series sporadically in summer 2018, with Isokern Fireplaces as his sponsor.

In January 2019, it was announced that Black would compete full-time in 2019, driving the No. 07 car for SS-Green Light Racing.[17]

Black began the 2020 season by scoring his first career Xfinity top-ten finish, avoiding late crashes to finish eighth at Daytona.[18] Despite enjoying a strong start to the year with an average finish of 18.6 across the first five races, he withdrew from full-time racing in late May to help his sponsor and father's business CDA Technical Institute, which was struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]

Monster Energy Cup Series

In September 2017, Black joined Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car at Chicagoland's Tales of the Turtles 400.[20] After qualifying 39th, he finished 40th, 16 laps behind race winner Martin Truex Jr.[21] He made two more starts in the Playoffs, finishing 34th at Texas and 38th at Homestead.[22] On November 22, 2017, Black joined the RWR team for a full 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season and a Rookie of the Year effort.[23] However the deal fell through later in the offseason,[24] as Black's family, which owned reported sponsor ScubaLife, allegedly backed out of the commitment in December.

Despite no longer having a deal to drive full-time in the Cup Series for Ware, he did drive RWR's No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro Zl1 for the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400, with a 16th-place finish. It is worth mentioning, that Black's car was serviced by two female pit crew members, for the first time in NASCAR Cup Series history. [25]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

Monster Energy Cup Series

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup 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 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 MENCC Pts Ref
2017 Rick Ware Racing 51 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL MAR TEX BRI RCH TAL KAN CLT DOV POC MCH SON DAY KEN NHA IND POC GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH CHI
40 		NHA DOV CLT TAL KAN MAR TEX
34 		PHO HOM
38 		64th 01 [26]
2018 DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL MAR TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV KAN CLT POC MCH SON CHI DAY
16 		KEN NHA POC GLN MCH BRI DAR IND LVS RCH CLT DOV TAL KAN MAR TEX PHO HOM 55th 01 [27]

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity 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 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2015 SS-Green Light Racing 15 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL IOW CLT DOV MCH CHI DAY KEN NHA IND IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX
27 		PHO HOM 107th 01 [28]
2016 07 DAY
33 		ATL
33 		LVS
25 		PHO
25 		CAL
37 		TEX
22 		BRI
20 		RCH
24 		TAL
29 		DOV
17 		CLT
37 		POC
21 		MCH
23 		IOW
30 		DAY
39 		KEN
19 		NHA
21 		IND
33 		IOW
20 		GLN
20 		MOH
30 		BRI
14 		ROA
15 		DAR
21 		RCH
25 		CHI
28 		KEN
20 		DOV
24 		CLT
28 		KAN
19 		TEX
27 		PHO
36 		HOM
28 		19th 515 [29]
2017 DAY
18 		ATL
29 		LVS
31 		PHO
29 		CAL
27 		TEX
25 		BRI
37 		RCH
18 		TAL
40 		CLT DOV
24 		POC MCH IOW
29 		DAY
12 		KEN
27 		NHA IND
24 		IOW
30 		GLN MOH BRI
21 		ROA DAR
25 		RCH CHI KEN DOV
21 		CLT
21 		KAN TEX PHO
24 		HOM
25 		27th 245 [30]
2018 B. J. McLeod Motorsports 99 Toyota DAY
DNQ 		ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DAY
22 		35th 131 [31]
8 Chevy DOV
27 		KEN
22 		NHA IOW
28 		GLN MOH BRI
37 		ROA DAR IND LVS
17 		RCH
23 		TEX
19 		PHO HOM
78 CLT
19 		POC MCH IOW CHI
74 CLT
26 		DOV KAN
2019 SS-Green Light Racing 07 Chevy DAY
30 		ATL
23 		LVS
11 		PHO
18 		CAL
17 		TEX
35 		BRI
16 		RCH
21 		TAL
34 		DOV
24 		CLT
16 		POC
18 		MCH
30 		IOW
16 		CHI
20 		DAY
13 		KEN
35 		NHA
18 		IOW
11 		GLN
22 		MOH
19 		BRI
15 		ROA
14 		DAR
16 		IND
20 		LVS
19 		RCH
18 		CLT
32 		DOV
17 		KAN
14 		TEX
12 		PHO
14 		HOM
38 		16th 547 [32]
2020 DAY
8 		LVS
17 		CAL
22 		PHO
25 		DAR
21 		CLT BRI ATL HOM HOM TAL POC IND KEN KEN TEX KAN ROA DAY DOV DOV DAY DAR RCH RCH BRI LVS TAL CLT KAN TEX MAR PHO 40th 92 [33]

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 SS-Green Light Racing 07 Chevy DAY MAR
24 		KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW
24 		KEN IOW ELD 29th 148 [34]
08 POC
28 		MCH BRI MSP CHI
18 		NHA
21 		LVS TAL MAR TEX
18 		PHO HOM
28
2015 07 DAY
5 		ATL
25 		MAR
13 		KAN
21 		CLT
22 		DOV
11 		TEX
16 		GTW
13 		IOW
15 		KEN
13 		ELD
15 		POC
24 		MCH
26 		BRI
21 		MSP
15 		CHI
11 		NHA
13 		LVS
12 		TAL
14 		MAR
20 		TEX
19 		PHO
20 		HOM
18 		11th 635 [35]
2016 DAY ATL MAR KAN DOV CLT TEX IOW GTW KEN ELD POC BRI MCH MSP CHI
18 		NHA LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 99th 01 [36]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. ^ "Ray Black, Jr". Team Scuba. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  2. ^ "Ray Black Jr. Ready to Make Dirt Racing Debut at Eldora Speedway". Catchfence. July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  3. ^ Eddinger, Mark (March 25, 2014). "Seven Drivers Will Try to Make Their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Debut at Martinsville". Sports Media 101. Archived from the original on July 24, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  4. ^ "16th Annual Kroger 250" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  5. ^ "2014 Kroger 250". Racing-Reference. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  6. ^ "Ray Black Jr. to run full truck series schedule in '15". NASCAR. December 16, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  7. ^ Pennell, Jay (February 28, 2015). "Little-known rookie driver Ray Black Jr. turning heads in Truck Series". Fox Sports. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  8. ^ "Driver Ray Black, Jr. 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  9. ^ Knight, Chris (November 2, 2015). "Ray Black Jr. To Make NASCAR XFINITY Series Debut At Texas Motor Speedway". Catchfence. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  10. ^ "Ray Black Jr. stepping up to NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2016". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  11. ^ "Driver Ray Black, Jr. 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  12. ^ "Despite lack of sponsorship, Ray Black Jr. expected to return to SS Green Light Racing". Catchfence. May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  13. ^ "Car No. 07 in the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  14. ^ "Driver Ray Black, Jr. 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  15. ^ "Spencer Boyd's "dreams come true" with full-time Xfinity ride". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  16. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (2018-02-15). "NASCAR 101: Keeping Up with 2018 NASCAR Driver Changes". www.frontstretch.com. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  17. ^ "Ray Black, Jr returns to SS-Greenlight Racing". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  18. ^ Catanzareti, Zach. "Ray Black Jr. earns debut top 10 in 99th Xfinity start". Kickin' the Tires. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  19. ^ Albino, Dustin (May 23, 2020). "Ray Black Jr. focusing on family business, Rick Ware strikes deal with SS-Green Light Racing". Frontstretch. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  20. ^ "CUP: Ray Black Jr. wins tight last-place battle in Chicagoland's third-straight Cup race without a single DNF". brock.lastcar.info. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  21. ^ "2017 Tales of the Turtles 400". Racing-Reference. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  22. ^ "Driver Ray Black Jr. 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  23. ^ "Ray Black Jr. Joining Rick Ware Racing Full-Time for 2018 Cup Series Schedule". www.frontstretch.com. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  24. ^ Fair, Asher (2018-02-07). "NASCAR: Ray Black Jr.'s deal with Rick Ware Racing rumored to have fallen through". Beyond the Flag. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  25. ^ Southers, Tim (2018-07-04). "NASCAR Drive for Diversity female crew members ready for Daytona". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  26. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  27. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  28. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  29. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  30. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  31. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  32. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  33. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  34. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  35. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  36. ^ "Ray Black Jr. – 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
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