Chris Cook (born December 23, 1971) is an American professional race car driver and driving instructor, who instructs at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and competes irregularly in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

and other racing series, specializing in

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

racing as a

road course ringer In NASCAR, a road course ringer, also known as road course specialist, road course expert, or a road runner, is a non-NASCAR driver who is hired by a NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series team to race specifically on road courses. , current ...

Racing career

Cook was the youngest driver to become a chief instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. He has competed in the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship and in late model stock cars at

Nashville Speedway USA Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a motorsport racetrack located at the Nashville Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The track is the second-oldest continually operating track in the United States. The track held NASCAR Grand Nati ...

, as well as in selected NASCAR events, and in the

Formula D Formula DRIFT (also known as Formula D or FD) is an American drifting series, and was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that introduced D1 Grand Prix to the ...

championship. Cook is best known in drifting for a wreck at the 2007 NOPI Drift Los Angeles in which his

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by Street & Racing Technology, SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer Chrysler from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2011 to 20 ...

flipped, knocking Cook unconscious. After making a name for himself as an instructor for NASCAR drivers in road course racing, including instructing

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

in the art of road course driving, Cook made his debut in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series in 2005 at

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

, driving for

Joe Nemechek Joseph Frank Nemechek III (born September 26, 1963) is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Nemechek has made the second mos ...

and finishing 28th. He failed to qualify for several other races in 2005, 2006 and 2011 before qualifying for the 2011 Sprint Cup Series race at Infineon, substituting for Tomy Drissi in the

Max Q Motorsports Max Q Motorsports (formerly Gunselman Motorsports) was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owned by former driver Larry Gunselman. It fielded cars between 2009 and 2013. The team's car numbers are 37 and 64. Sprint Cup Series Car No. 37 history Aft ...

#37, and finishing 27th. He is one of the drivers referred to as a "road course ringer", specialist drivers who often replace regular NASCAR drivers at the two road course races on the tour schedule. Cook has also competed in twelve races in the NASCAR

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

(formerly the NASCAR Busch Series) between 1999 and 2009, with a best finish of 20th at

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a motorsport race track in Mexico City, Mexico, named after the racing drivers Ricardo Rodríguez (1942–1962) and Pedro Rodríguez (1940–1971). The circuit got its current name in 1979 after Ricardo ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in 2006 while driving for John McNelly. Cook has also competed in the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

, running for

Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, American Flat Track, and National Hot Rod Association, NHRA. History The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing with R ...

in the 2012 edition of the event; he finished 38th in the race. Later in 2012 he returned to the Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota for Humphrey Smith Racing at

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

, finishing 42nd; he also drove for

in the

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track in the Northeastern United States, northeastern United States, located in Dix, New York, just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, Watkins Glen, at the ...

in August. Chris Cook 51 Sonoma 2018

In 2018, Cook returned to the

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

with Ware, driving his No. 51 entry.

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

Xfinity Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

24 Hours of Daytona

( key)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Chris Living people 1971 births Racing drivers from Phoenix, Arizona 24 Hours of Daytona drivers NASCAR drivers Formula D drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Trans-Am Series drivers