Victor Gonzalez Jr. (born July 18, 1975) is a Puerto Rican professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the

NASCAR Xfinity 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 ...

, driving the No. 17

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sh ...

for

Niece Motorsports Niece Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Owned by Al Niece, it currently fields No. 40 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for Dean Thompson, No. 42 Chevrolet Si ...

. Twice a competitor 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 endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

endurance race, he became the first Puerto Rican driver to compete in a top level NASCAR series when he broke the barrier in 2009.

Racing career

05VictorGonzalezJr2010Bucyrus200RoadAmerica

99 Victor Gonzalez Jr 2012 Road America Sargento 200

Gonzalez began his racing career in 1990 in showroom stock cars in his native Puerto Rico; he spent several years competing in

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

, including two races in the

North American Touring Car Championship The North American Touring Car Championship was a touring car racing series using the Supertouring formula that raced in North America in 1996 and 1997. The series was funded in part by IndyCar team owner Gerald Forsythe with input from British se ...

, before switching to

open wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have th ...

competition in 1997, competing in the

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was a professional open-wheel auto racing series from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were primarily on road and street courses in Nor ...

for two years, then, after two years in the Dominican Republic GTS Cup, moving to the

Toyota Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

in 2002, where he competed in the series' companion event to the

Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It wa ...

, finishing 21st; in 2003 he returned to the Barber Dodge series, where he finished 20th in points, posting a best finish of 2nd following winning the pole at

The Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectato ...

. He established a reputation as an excellent driver on road courses, and became the only Puerto Rican driver to become an instructor at the

Skip Barber Racing School The Skip Barber Racing School is an American racing and driving school. Skip Barber founded the school in 1975. History In 1975, Skip Barber started the Skip Barber School of High Performance Driving at Riverside International Raceway. In 1976, ...

. In 2005 and 2006, Gonzalez competed in the

endurance race, co-driving a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and ori ...

for Team Sahlen. He finished 9th in both events. Gonzalez made his debut in NASCAR competition in 2009, 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 ...

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled ''Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve'' (), is a motor racing circuit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. It has previously hosted the FIA World Sportsc ...

in the Nationwide Series

NAPA Auto Parts 200 The NAPA Auto Parts 200 Presented by Dodge (French title: ''NAPA Pièces d'auto 200 présenté par Dodge'') is a discontinued NASCAR Nationwide Series race that took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 2007 to ...

, driving the No. 05 Ford for Day Enterprises. He became the first Puerto Rican driver to compete in a NASCAR national touring series event, finishing 14th in his inaugural event. Gonzalez returned to the No. 05 for four races in 2010, making his oval track debut at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. ...

; his best finish of the year came at Montreal where he finished 16th. In 2012, Gonzalez returned to the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 99 Toyota for

RAB Racing RAB Racing with Brack Maggard was an American professional stock car racing team that attempted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Racing Series. The team was co-owned by Robert A. Benton Sr. and his ...

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Ch ...

in June, where he finished 17th, and at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

in August, where he finished 16th. Victor Gonzalez Jr

In April 2013, it was announced that Gonzalez would make his NASCAR

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

debut, driving the No. 36 Chevrolet for

Tommy Baldwin Racing Tommy Baldwin Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the modified ranks. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, and is owned by former crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., son of the late modifi ...

in races at

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the souther ...

and

that summer. He was the first Puerto Rican driver to start a Sprint Cup race. Gonzalez and

made an agreement in June 2017 to have Gonzalez drive Niece's No. 45 truck at

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park and Mosport International Raceway) is a multi- track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. The facility features a , 10-turn road course; a ad ...

that summer.

Motorsports career results

Barber Dodge Pro Series

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

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

Sprint Cup Series

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

Season still in progress
not eligible for series points

North American Touring Car Championship

(

)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Victor Jr. Living people 1975 births Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican racing drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers NASCAR drivers Atlantic Championship drivers Barber Pro Series drivers Global RallyCross Championship drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers North American Touring Car Championship drivers