Davis Ready for Debut

[Schwartz Fan]

Davis Ready for Debut



There have been milestones aplenty for the NASCAR Nationwide Series program at Joe Gibbs Racing already this season, and teenage driving prodigy Marc Davis gets to add to that growing list when he straps into the No. 18 DLP HDTV Toyota Camry for Saturday’s Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tenn.

The 18-year-old African-American from Silver Spring, Md., will make his first Nationwide Series start in Saturday’s 250-lap event around the .75-mile oval that lays just a stone’s throw from the banks of the Mississippi. A product of the JGR driver development program founded by Joe Gibbs and the late Reggie White in May 2003, Davis made quite a name for himself and JGR in the NASCAR Camping World Series East the past two seasons, racking up eight top-five finishes and 13 top-10s in 26 races. He finished the 2008 campaign two weekends ago fifth in the season-ending point standings after placing ninth as a series rookie in 2007.

“It’s been a long time coming," Davis said. "I’m really looking forward to making my Nationwide Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing and especially with DLP on the car. I’m really excited about it and looking forward to it.”

Saturday’s Nationwide Series race puts Davis in the highly enviable position of driving for JGR’s No. 18 Toyota team, which heads to Memphis riding a three-race winning streak after victories by Kyle Busch at Dover (Sept. 20), Denny Hamlin at Kansas (Sept. 27), and Busch again at Charlotte (Oct. 10) – three of the No. 18 team’s nine wins in all this season. With another nine Nationwide Series victories by its No. 20 Toyota team, JGR has become the winningest organization in a single season in series history.

Of course, Davis would like nothing better than to add to those impressive victory totals beginning this weekend as he is introduced to the Nationwide Series ranks as JGR’s latest teen driving phenom. Fellow 18-year-old and Camping World Series East graduate Joey Logano, with whom Davis traded paint on numerous occasions in 2007, has already made history this season by becoming the youngest Nationwide Series winner ever when he drove JGR’s No. 20 Toyota to victory in June at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. Logano will once again be behind the wheel of the No. 20 car in Memphis as a teammate to Davis.

Like JGR’s Nationwide Series teams this season, Davis is certainly no stranger to victory lane. He parlayed a strong 2006 season in the Limited Late Model and Late Model ranks at Hickory Motor Speedway into his Camping World Series East ride for JGR in 2007 and 2008. He became just the second African-American driver to win at Hickory, a feat first accomplished by former JGR development driver Chris Bristol in April 2004. Davis tallied six victories during his remarkable rookie season, along with six poles, 17 top-fives and 20 top-10s.


While Saturday marks the Nationwide Series debut for Davis, it won’t be his first taste of competition in NASCAR’s top-three series. In early September, just up the Mississippi at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., he put in a solid day’s work in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, driving the No. 81 entry that is co-owned by National Football League star receiver Randy Moss. Davis qualified the race truck 12th and finished 16th, proving his racing mettle on one of NASCAR’s quirkiest ovals.

The No. 18 Toyota team from JGR is hoping for more of the same from its latest 18-year-old driving sensation Saturday at Memphis. There couldn’t be a better place as, after all, more often than not this season JGR’s Nationwide Series teams have had the competition singing the blues.

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