Monday has been a very good day for Bayley Currey, coming off of the excitement of a dominating victory for the Dallas Cowboys over the Washington Football Team on Sunday, and now, the announcement of a full-time ride in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The 25-year-old will join JD Motorsports for his first full-season effort in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, after competing for the organization in seven of the final nine races in 2021, which resulted in three top-20 results at Las Vegas, Texas, and Kansas.
Currey was originally scheduled to drive full-time for Mike Harmon Racing last season, and even recorded a career-best seventh-place finish at Phoenix Raceway, but was replaced by funded drivers in late June, making his appearances with the organization scarce.
For Currey, it’s an opportunity to further prove himself and his driving ability with an organization that doesn’t have the operating budget like Xfinity Series juggernauts Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, Kaulig Racing, etc.
“I’m really excited about it,” Currey told TobyChristie.com. “We’ve been working since Phoenix, so we’ve really been pushing hard trying to get the cars better, massaging our speedway car up, so should be really good.”
The 33-race effort for Currey and JD Motorsports will include a plethora of partners, all of which will be announced at a later date, says Currey, who also mentioned that himself and Johnny Davis – the owner of JD Motorsports — are still working to put together additional partnerships for the 2022 season.
Despite what seems like a bigger change for the Driftwood, Texas-native, there will be a factor of familiarity to the effort in 2022, with Wayne Carroll and Mike Herman Jr each returning to their respective roles as crew chief and spotter for Currey, as they did at the end of 2021.
“I have Wayne Carroll my crew chief and he’s in charge, whereas before I was kind of able to take charge on setups and things like that, and now I’m just kind of doing what he tells me, and trying to make everything nice and make everything come together.”
For Currey, the excitement level is off-the-charts for 2022, as he looks to make the most of the opportunity and catch the eye of sponsors and industry members, much like former JD Motorsports drivers Landon Cassill and Ross Chastain have been able to do with the organization.
“I’m really looking forward to going back to Bristol,” said Currey. “I feel like I’ve always had good runs at Bristol, and a lot of the mile and a halfs, Kansas, Texas, I’m excited to see Atlanta, and see what that is going to be like with the reconfiguration. I’m excited about Dover, Nashville, all of the road courses, I’m excited for the whole year really.”
When thinking about Currey’s tenure in NASCAR, you wouldn’t rush to associate road course racing to a source of excitement, considering his relative inexperience, with only eight starts on road courses with one finish inside the top-30. However, the Texas-native displayed a sense of anticipation for the road courses.
“My very first race was on a road course, I raced road course go-karts from 7 to 10, before I got into Bandolero stuff,” Currey told TobyChristie.com. “I’ve really enjoyed them in the Xfinity Series car, the way they kind of sling around and bounce all over the curbs. I’m excited to see what Portland is going to be like. I’ve always enjoyed it. Getting to go to COTA is really cool since it’s twenty minutes from my house where I grew up.”
With the official announcement of his 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series plans out of the way, Currey is planning to spend time in the JD Motorsports shop preparing for the upcoming season, but that’s after he returns from his annual snowboarding trip, of course.
“I’m lacing up snowboard boots right now, we just flew into Colorado last night, so we’ll do the annual snowboarding trip, and get right back to work when we get back.”
…if you’re curious – and don’t want to find out the more painful way — it hurts more to crash on a snowboard than it does in a racecar, according to Currey, plus not having to worry about catching on fire is always a bonus, right?
Read more about Currey’s official announcement:
