Dawson Cram

Dawson Kevin Cram (born September 12, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver, mechanic, and team owner. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 74 Chevrolet SS for Mike Harmon Racing, and part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 74 Chevrolet Silverado RST for MHR. He has previously competed in the ARCA Menards Series.

From 2017 to 2021, Cram ran for his own race team that he co-owned with his family, being the youngest team owner in NASCAR history at only the age of 16.

Racing career

Early career

In 2007, at the age of five, Cram started racing in Mini Dwarf race cars in his hometown, San Diego, California. He later moved to Mooresville, North Carolina and started to race in the INEX Bandolero Series. After winning 13 times in Bandoleros, he made the move to legend cars in 2014. His racing slate in 2017 included various starts in legends cars, Super Trucks, and late models in the Whelen All-American Series and an attempt at a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.

NASCAR

On October 24, 2017, Cram was announced to be driving for Cram Racing Enterprises in the No. 11 truck at Martinsville Speedway in 2017 Texas Roadhouse 200. A blown engine during practice ended the team's weekend, forcing the No. 11 team and Cram to withdraw.

Cram returned to Martinsville in the spring of 2018, driving for Beaver Motorsports. In his first race with live pit stops, Cram accidentally hit a crew member on his first pit stop and climbed to a 17th-place finish on the lead lap. Cram's third attempt was also at Martinsville; this time it was a joint effort between his family Cram Racing Enterprises and Copp Motorsports. He finished 24th and also ran the next race on the schedule at ISM Raceway in the No. 83.

In 2020, Cram served as a mechanic for the No. 6 NASCAR Xfinity Series team of JD Motorsports. He also ran Truck races for Long Motorsports and Reaume Brothers Racing. Cram left Long Motorsports in August for financial reasons, but later purchased the team and ran the No. 41 under the Cram Racing Enterprises banner for the rest of the 2020 Truck season.

Ahead of the 2021 Truck season, Cram voiced his plans to run the full schedule. In July, he joined Mike Harmon Racing for his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

In 2022, Cram announced that he would attempt the Xfinity Series' September Darlington race driving the No. 35 car for Emerling-Gase Motorsports. He qualified for the race and finished 30th. He would also attempt to qualify for two races in the Mike Harmon Racing No. 47 car but failed to qualify. He also drove the MBM Motorsports No. 13 in the season-finale at Phoenix, which he did qualify for, and finished 31st.

In 2023, Cram would run the majority of the Xfinity Series season in the No. 74 car for CHK Racing (formerly Mike Harmon Racing). However, he and the team would fail to qualify for the majority of the races they attempted. After one of the races that they did qualify for, Charlotte in May, Cram and the team lost 10 driver and owner points due to the car having an air duct violation. He became one of the few drivers in NASCAR history to have a negative point total in the standings at some point in a season. (Michael Waltrip in 2007 in the Cup Series is another example after he was penalized during Daytona 500 Speedweeks that year.) He would also drive the SS-Green Light Racing No. 07 car at Martinsville in April and the Alpha Prime Racing No. 44 car at Darlington in September. He would also drive the G2G Racing No. 47 in the Truck Series race at Darlington in May. His team would later be penalized with the loss of 25 owner points for having an outdated window net in that race.

On December 6, 2023, it was announced that Cram will run full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2024, driving the No. 4 car for JD Motorsports. After four races, Cram would be scaled back to a part-time schedule. In July 2024, it was reported that back in April 2024, JD Motorsports had filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and laid off several of their employees. Starting at Pocono, Cram would return to Mike Harmon Racing in their No. 74 car and would qualify for the race after his original team, JD Motorsports withdrew their No. 6 entry. This would be the first race that MHR had qualified for all year. Cram would crash on Lap 1 and would finish the race in 38th. At Darlington he would back in the No. 74 but would fail to qualify. The next week at Atlanta he would qualify for the race but would retire after 18 laps due to engine troubles. He would once again fail to qualify at Bristol. On September 10, it was announced that Cram would drive for DGM Racing in their No. 92 entry for 5 races starting at Kansas.

Personal life

Cram's father Kevin Cram is a former crew chief in all three NASCAR national series and his uncle Clinton Cram is still in the profession, crew chiefing Dawson's first Truck attempt.

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.)

Xfinity Series

Craftsman Truck Series

Season still in progress

Ineligible for series points

Switched to Truck points mid season

ARCA Menards Series

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

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cram, Dawson
2001 births
Living people
Racing drivers from San Diego
NASCAR drivers
ARCA Menards Series drivers
21st-century American sportsmen