One of the most exciting young talents to enter the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) stable, Bryan Clauson is just a teenager, yet a seasoned racer by all means. During his relatively short career to date, Clauson has tallied multiple championships, wins, rookie of the year honors, podium finishes and has been the youngest driver to achieve and receive some of the most prestigious awards in Midget and Sprint Car racing history, including the 2006 National Midget Rookie of the Year title; the 2004 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Wildcard; and the Hoosier Racing Fan Club (HARF) “First Year Driver” award, which former recipients also include successful racers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. Clauson still holds the record for becoming the youngest Midget National Feature winner in USAC history, which he claimed by winning at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway in October 2005.

The teenage racer embarked on an entire new journey in 2007, as he transitioned from the open-wheel form of USAC racing to stock cars. In late March, he made his career first stock car start in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Series at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. During his ARCA debut, the then 17-year-old racer made quite an impression as he qualified third to start the event, and then led a total of 61 laps en route to a second-place finish. That was just the beginning of an impressive six-race run in the ARCA Series that resulted in one win, one pole and four top-fives—two of which were second-place finishes. Clauson maintained top-15 starts and finishes throughout all six efforts, averaging an eighth-place starting position and sixth-place finish.

In addition to his hectic race schedule, Clauson graduated from Noblesville (Ind.) High School in early June and then celebrated his 18th birthday on June 15, which made it officially legal for him to compete in NASCAR. Less than three months later, Clauson’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) debut arrived at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) on Friday, September 7. The Friday night run turned out to be a clean introduction in which he raced up to as high as 21st before a left-front tire rub relegated him to a 36th-place finish. Overall, it was a solid first step and clean run for Clauson and his Memorex crew. Four more runs followed and Clauson completed them all, showing improvement each time he climbed behind the wheel of the No. 41 Dodge. His last start of the season was an impressive one at Texas Motor Speedway where the teenager earned his first top-10 start of his young stock car career.

As CGRFS looks ahead to what is yet to come, Clauson’s performance to-date has shown tremendous promise and instilled great optimism in every crew member who has had the opportunity to work with him.