Sam Hunt Racing

The team, first known as DRIVE Technology, was founded in 2013 by Sam Hunt and Virginian Shayne Lockhart, a former NASCAR driver-turned crew chief. In 2013 they acquired assets from Joe Gibbs Racing's ARCA Menards Series East No. 18 team, which was closing down after the 2012 season. They kept using the No. 18. The team picked up sponsorship from the Denny Hamlin Foundation for most of the races.

At the end of 2019 Hunt announced the team would move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with their driver Colin Garrett in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Joe Gibbs Engines under the hood.

They started fielding the No. 26 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2019 in the season finale at Homestead–Miami Speedway for Colin Garrett, he started 15th and would end up finishing 21st.

For the 2020 season, SHR formed a partnership with Toyota Racing Development in continuation with their partnership on engines with Joe Gibbs Engines.{{cite web|url=https://www.jayski.com/2020/02/04/sam-hunt-racing-announces-partnership-with-trd/|title=Sam Hunt Racing announces partnership with TRD|work=Jayski's Silly Season Site|date=February 4, 2020|access-date=February 4, 2020}}

In 2022, SHR began operating out of The Motorsports Group's former shop just up the road from the shop they had rented from Rette Jones Racing from 2020-2021 as well as forming a larger partnership with TRD on the technical side.

File:Will_rodgers_(51382779401).jpg at the Indy Road Course in 2021.]]

Starting at the Indy RC, SHR started fielding a 2nd entry in the No. 24 for Will Rodgers with continued Partnership from GoodRx where he finished 28th after starting in 9th.

Jeffrey Earnhardt would drive the No. 24 at Daytona and would finish 15th. Joe Nemechek would attempt to race against his son John Hunter Nemechek however, due to qualifying being cancelled due to rain, the elder Nemechek did not qualify. He was originally entered for the Talladega race, but his entry was withdrawn because of the high chance of qualifying being rained out.

File:Tyler_Reddick_Xfinity_Auto_Club_2023.jpg in 2023.]]

Connor Mosack would anchor the No. 24 for the 2023 season by driving in 22 races. Cup series driver Tyler Reddick and Truck Series driver Corey Heim, among others, would also drive in the car for the team.

The first race in 2024 that Sam Hunt Racing entered the No. 24 into was the race at COTA, with Ed Jones serving as driver.{{Cite web |url=https://www.jayski.com/2024/03/06/ed-jones-joins-sam-hunt-racing-for-multiple-races-in-2024/ |title=Ed Jones joins Sam Hunt Racing for multiple races in 2024 |website=Jayski's Silly Season Site |publisher=NASCAR Digital Media |date=March 6, 2024 |access-date=March 6, 2024}} Ryan Truex was announced as the driver for the 2025 Daytona 300.{{Cite web |last=Christie |first=Toby |date=2025-01-27 |title=Ryan Truex Joins Sam Hunt Racing in No. 24 Entry at Daytona |url=https://tobychristie.com/nascar/xfinity-series/ryan-truex-joins-sam-hunt-racing-in-no-24-entry-at-daytona/ |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=TobyChristie.com |language=en-US}}

On February 23, 2025, it was announced that Corey Heim would drive the No. 24 part-time in 2025, with support from 23XI Racing.{{cite web |url=https://www.jayski.com/2025/02/23/corey-heim-signs-developmental-deal-with-23xi-racing/ |title=Corey Heim signs developmental deal with 23XI Racing |website=Jayski's Silly Season Site |publisher=NASCAR Digital Media |date=February 23, 2025 |access-date=February 26, 2025}}

On October 28, 2019, the team announced that they would field an Xfinity team for the first time in 2020, the No. 26 Toyota, with Garrett driving. Brian Keselowski became the team's crew chief, moving over from the Brandonbilt Motorsports No. 68 car.{{cite web|last=Kristl|first=Mark|date=October 28, 2019|title=Sam Hunt Racing, Colin Garrett Attempting Move To Xfinity Series|url=https://www.frontstretch.com/2019/10/28/sam-hunt-racing-colin-garrett-attempting-move-to-xfinity-series/|access-date=January 14, 2020|website=Frontstretch}} They later attempted the season finale at Homestead in 2019, where they qualified 15th and finished 20th in preparation for their 2020 schedule of races.

In 2020 Colin Garrett ran select races for the team with a best finish of 14th at Homestead-Miami in June of that year.

Brandon Gdovic would join the team for 2 races at the Indianapolis Road Course and Daytona Road Course finishing 12th and 28th respectively.

On October 26, 2020, it was announced that TD2 driver Mason Diaz would drive the No. 26 Toyota for the final two races of the 2020 season at Martinsville and Phoenix.{{Cite web|date=October 26, 2020|title=Mason Diaz Joining Sam Hunt Racing for Final 2 Races of Season|url=https://www.frontstretch.com/2020/10/26/mason-diaz-joining-sam-hunt-racing-for-final-2-races-of-season/|access-date=October 27, 2020|website=Frontstretch|language=en-US}}

File:Santino_ferrucci_(51308772205).jpg

In 2021 the team ran the full schedule with a huge rotation of drivers Brandon Gdovic, Kris Wright, Santino Ferrucci, Colin Garrett, John Hunter Nemechek. Grant Enfinger, Will Rodgers, and Dylan Lupton splitting the seat.

The team recorded their first ever top 10 with Brandon Gdovic at the season opener at Daytona.

In September at Richmond the team scored their first ever top 5 with John Hunter Nemechek battling for the win in the closing laps with Justin Haley and eventual race winner Noah Gragson going on to score a 3rd-place finish.

On January 13, 2022 Ryan Truex was announced to drive the No. 26 at Daytona as well as several other races throughout the season and the next day Jeffrey Earnhardt was announced to compete in at least 7 races bringing sponsorship from ForeverLawn.

File:Santino_ferrucci_(52242305225).jpg

On January 25, 2022, it was announced John Hunter Nemechek would drive the car at both races at Las Vegas in the season with sponsorship from Berry's Bullets. Other drivers such as Parker Chase, Derek Griffith, and Chandler Smith would also drive the No. 26.

On October 27, 2022, it was announced that Kaz Grala would drive the car in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway{{cite tweet |author=Sam Hunt Racing |author-link=Sam Hunt Racing |user=Team_SHR26 |number=1585753472418385922 |date=October 27, 2022 |title=One last surprise to end the season 🥳 @KazGrala will pilot our No. 26 Toyota GR Supra in the @NASCAR_Xfinity season finale at @phoenixraceway next weekend! #TeamToyota {{!}} #NXS {{!}} #LetsGoPlaces https://t.co/6cEUdbuPCk |language=en |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028002051/https://twitter.com/Team_SHR26/status/1585753472418385922 |archive-date=October 28, 2022 |url-status=live}} on November 5, 2022, marking Grala's Toyota Racing debut.{{cite tweet |last=Grala |first=Kaz |author-link=Kaz Grala |user=KazGrala |number=1587555837735624704 |date=November 1, 2022 |title=Last race of the season, and first race with @Team_SHR26! This will be my @ToyotaRacing debut, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what our Ruedebusch Toyota GR Supra can do on Saturday! 💪🏻 https://t.co/h882OK9Q7m |language=en |access-date=December 4, 2022}} On December 8, the team announced that Grala would drive the No. 26 full-time for the 2023 season.

file:Kaz Grala 26 Xfinity Sonoma 2023.jpg

Kaz Grala drove the No. 26 to two top-5 finishes at Richmond and the Charlotte Roval, as well as nine top-10 finishes during the season. Grala finished the season seventeenth in points. In late November, SHR announced that Grala wouldn't be returning to the No. 26 Supra in 2024. No replacement driver(s) were announced at that point.{{cite web |url=https://tobychristie.com/2023/11/27/kaz-grala-not-returning-to-sam-hunt-racing-in-2024/ |title=Kaz Grala Not Returning to Sam Hunt Racing in 2024 |last=Srigley |first=Joseph |date=November 27, 2023 |website=TobyChristie.com |access-date=November 27, 2023}}

file:Corey Heim 26 Xfinity Las Vegas 2024.jpg at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024.]]

In January 2024, the team announced Corey Heim, Jeffrey Earnhardt, and Sage Karam, would be driving the No. 26 in multiple races throughout the season.{{Cite web |title=Corey Heim Set to Run Partial Schedule with Sam Hunt Racing in 2024 {{!}} Sam Hunt Racing |url=https://samhuntracing.com/corey-heim-set-to-run-partial-schedule-with-sam-hunt-racing-in-2024/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=samhuntracing.com}}{{Cite web |last=SHR Staff |date=January 16, 2024 |title=Jeffrey Earnhardt Returns to Sam Hunt Racing for Multi-Race Deal in 2024 |url=https://samhuntracing.com/jeffrey-earnhardt-returns-to-sam-hunt-racing-for-multi-race-deal-in-2024/ |access-date=January 23, 2024 |website=Sam Hunt Racing}}{{Cite web |last=Srigley |first=Joseph |date=2024-01-23 |title=Sage Karam, CRC Industries Join Sam Hunt Racing for Daytona |url=https://tobychristie.com/2024/01/23/sage-karam-crc-industries-join-sam-hunt-racing-for-daytona/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=TobyChristie.com |language=en-us}}

In May 2024, it was announced that Truck Series regular, Dean Thompson, would make his debut in the Xfinity Series at Charlotte's spring race.{{cite web |url=https://tobychristie.com/nascar/xfinity-series/dean-thompson-to-make-xfinity-debut-for-sam-hunt-racing-at-charlotte/ |title=Dean Thompson to Make Xfinity Debut for Sam Hunt Racing at Charlotte |website=TobyChristie.com |last=Srigley |first=Joseph |date=May 20, 2024 |access-date=May 20, 2024}}

File:Dean Thompson 26 Xfinity Las Vegas 2025.jpg's car for 2025.]]

On January 7, 2025, SHR announced that Dean Thompson would drive their No. 26 car full time for the 2025 Xfinity Series season. Thompson started out his rookie season well, with an 8th place result at Daytona. After several average finishes, Thompson scored his second top 10 finish at Martinsville, finishing 6th. Two weeks later, a third top 10 finish was scored at Bristol with a 10th place finish. Then next week at Rockingham, Thompson scored SHR's first ever stage win by winning the second stage, which was also the first stage win of his own career.

In 2013 Sam Hunt along with former-driver turned crew chief Shayne Lockhart formed DRIVE Technology after they had acquired assets from Joe Gibbs Racing's NASCAR K&N Pro Series East No. 18 team, which was closing down after the 2012 season. Sam Hunt, ran the full season, moving over from Precision Performance Motorsports. They kept using the No. 18. The team picked up sponsorship from the Denny Hamlin Foundation for most of the races. The team later ended up running only part-time, skipping the races at Five Flags, Winston-Salem, both Iowa races, and New Hampshire. Also, Sergio Peña drove the car at the season-finale at Road Atlanta instead of Hunt.

In 2014, Hunt ran another part-time schedule. One of his races was set to be Daytona, but after full-time driver Brandon Jones failed to qualify in his own No. 33 car for Turner Scott Motorsports, he replaced Hunt in the No. 18. Other drivers for the team that year were Mason Massey in two races at the Langley and Columbus Speedways. Venezuelan female driver Milka Duno drove the No. 18 at the season-finale, now at Dover as a result of Road Atlanta being taken off the schedule.

The team attempted fewer races in 2015. Peyton Sellers drove two races at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and at Dover. Full-time ARCA Series driver Sarah Cornett-Ching drove the car at Bristol in a partnership between DRIVE Technology and her ARCA team, RACE 101.{{cite web |url=http://www.racechaseronline.com/featured/knpse-sarah-cornett-ching-kn-pro-series-east-debut-bristol-weekend/ |title=KNPSE: Sarah Cornett-Ching Set to Make Her K&N Pro Series Debut at Bristol This Weekend |website=Race Chaser Online |date=April 13, 2015 |access-date=January 6, 2020 |archive-date=September 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930135921/http://www.racechaseronline.com/featured/knpse-sarah-cornett-ching-kn-pro-series-east-debut-bristol-weekend/ |url-status=usurped }}{{cite web |first=Doug |last=Donnelly |url=https://www.arcaracing.com/articles/1994470-on-off-arca-weekend-cornett-ching-others-take-talents-to-bristol |title=On off ARCA weekend, Cornett-Ching, others take talents to Bristol |website=ARCARacing.com |date=April 17, 2015 |access-date=January 15, 2020}} Justin LaDuke made his only start of the year and to-date of his career at Winston-Salem. Hunt returned for two races at tracks in his home state of Virginia: Langley and Richmond.

The team continued to scale back in 2016, with Peña returning to the team for the first time in three years after he was released from Rev Racing. He ran the road course race at Virginia International Raceway, and it is his last NASCAR start to date. The team withdrew with Hunt at the next race at Dominion Raceway, another track in Virginia. Lockhart left the team in the end of the 2015 and Peyton Sellers become the new co-owner, the new team name became Hunt-Sellers Racing.

Sam Hunt and Peyton Sellers ran two races apiece that year.

HSR ran nearly the full season in 2018, with yet another driver from Virginia, rookie Colin Garrett, running all but the first two races of the season. Garrett originally signed on for four races but extended it to the remainder of the schedule after strong initial runs.{{cite web |last1=Segal |first1=Davey |title=Behind Sam Hunt's resilient NASCAR journey to stay on track |url=https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a2149121/behind-sam-hunts-resilient-nascar-journey-stay-track/ |website=Autoweek |access-date=May 11, 2020 |date=September 6, 2019}} He finished tenth in points. His best finish was a third at the first of the doubleheader races at South Boston, his only top-5 of the year. Garrett did score four top-10's as well. Clinton Cram served as crew chief in 2018.

The team announced on January 17, 2019, that Garrett would return to the team, (now renamed as Sam Hunt Racing after Sellers departure) to run the full season with them in 2019. In addition, the team switched from Toyota to Chevrolet that year.{{cite web |url=https://speed51.com/sam-hunt-racing-names-driver-for-kn-east-season/ |title=Speed51.com |date=January 17, 2019 |access-date=January 14, 2020}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://drivetechnologyusa.com Drive Technology USA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308081416/http://www.drivetechnologyusa.com/ |date=March 8, 2020 }}
• {{Racing-Reference owner|Sam_Hunt}}

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