| C. J. McLaughlin | |
| Birth Name: | Charles Joseph McLaughlin |
| Birth Date: | 1 July 1992 |
| Birth Place: | Framingham, Massachusetts |
| Total Busch Races: | 42 |
| Years In Busch: | 6 |
| Busch Car Team: | No. 38 (RSS Racing) Nos. 07/14 (SS-Green Light Racing) |
| Prev Busch Pos: | 39th |
| Prev Busch Year: | 2023 |
| Best Busch Pos: | 39th (2022,2023) |
| First Busch Race: | 2019 ROXOR 200 (Loudon) |
| Last Busch Race: | 2024 The LiUNA! (Las Vegas) |
| Busch Wins: | 0 |
| Busch Top Tens: | 1 |
| Busch Poles: | 0 |
| Total Truck Races: | 5 |
| Years In Truck: | 2 |
| Prev Truck Pos: | 108th |
| Prev Truck Year: | 2021 |
| Best Truck Pos: | 108th (2021) |
| First Truck Race: | 2019 M&M's 200 (Iowa) |
| Last Truck Race: | 2021 Victoria's Voice Foundation 200 (Las Vegas) |
| Truck Wins: | 0 |
| Truck Top Tens: | 0 |
| Truck Poles: | 0 |
| Updated: | July 24, 2024 |
Charles Joseph "C. J." McLaughlin (born July 1, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang for RSS Racing and the Nos. 07 and 14 Chevrolet Camaros for SS-Green Light Racing. He has also previously competed in the NASCAR Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series.
McLaughlin tested an ARCA Racing Series car for Hamilton Hughes Racing in early 2016.[1]
In June 2019, McLaughlin finished 23rd in his first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race in the M&M's 200 at Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 33 for Reaume Brothers Racing.[2] The following month, he made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the ROXOR 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for RSS Racing.[3] McLaughlin remained with RSS for the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, running a 20-race schedule with the team.[4]
On April 21, 2021, McLaughlin appeared on a podcast and announced that he would return to Reaume Brothers Racing to compete in five Truck Series races for the team, beginning at Kansas in the No. 34. His schedule also included the race at Charlotte. He also revealed that he would be competing in the Xfinity Series for five races, one of them being New Hampshire, but he did not announce which team he would be driving for.[5] He would end up driving for both MBM Motorsports and Mike Harmon Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2021.
In 2022, McLaughlin returned to RSS Racing to drive part-time for the team in the Xfinity Series in the team's Nos. 38 and 28 cars. He did not run any Truck Series races that year.
On January 30, 2023, it was announced that McLaughlin would run 18 races in either the No. 35 car or No. 53 car for Emerling-Gase Motorsports in the Xfinity Series in 2023.[6] After it was announced on February 2 that team co-owner Joey Gase would drive the No. 53 car at Daytona, it was also revealed that McLaughlin (and Brad Perez and other EGM co-owner Patrick Emerling) would drive the No. 53 with the No. 35 car having one full-time driver.[7]
In 2024, McLaughlin started the Xfinity Series season driving for RSS Racing again in their No. 38 car part-time. That year, the CEO of SciAps (McLaughlin's longtime sponsor), Don Sackett, began to dabble into NASCAR team ownership in a collaboration with RSS and the entry was fielded under the banner of Viking Motorsports. After McLaughlin failed to qualify for two of the first four races of the year, Sackett was disappointed with him and replaced him with Matt DiBenedetto for the rest of the season.[8] McLaughlin would get another opportunity in the Xfinity Series with SS-Green Light Racing to drive for them in three races: Daytona in August in the No. 14 car and Atlanta in September and Talladega in October in the No. 07 car. He would have a different sponsor, Main Street Auto, in these races.[9]
McLaughlin graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering.[10]
He is not related to former NASCAR driver Mike McLaughlin and his son Max, who has also competed in the Truck and ARCA Series in recent years.
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Pts | Ref | |
| 2019 | Reaume Brothers Racing | 33 | Chevy | DAY | ATL | LVS | MAR | TEX | DOV | KAN | CLT | TEX | IOW 23 | GTW | CHI | KEN | POC | ELD | MCH | BRI | MSP | LVS | TAL | MAR | PHO | HOM | 109th | 01 | [17] |
| 2021 | Reaume Brothers Racing | 34 | Toyota | DAY | DAY | LVS | ATL | BRI | RCH | KAN 34 | DAR | COA | CLT 27 | TEX | NSH | POC | KNX | GLN | GTW | DAR | 108th | 01 | [18] | ||||||
| 33 | BRI 26 | LVS 20 | TAL | MAR | PHO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| ARCA Menards Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pts | Ref | ||
| 2018 | Fast Track Racing | 10 | Toyota | DAY | NSH | SLM | TAL | TOL | CLT | POC | MCH | MAD | GTW | CHI | IOW | ELK | POC | ISF | BLN | DSF | SLM | IRP | KAN | 90th | 155 | [19] | |
| 2019 | Our Motorsports | 09 | Chevy | DAY | FIF | SLM | TAL | NSH | TOL | CLT | POC | 36th | 490 | [20] | |||||||||||||
| Ford | MCH | MAD | GTW | CHI | ELK | IOW | POC | ISF | DSF | SLM | IRP | KAN | |||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Fast Track Racing | 01 | Chevy | DAY | PHO | TAL | KAN | CLT | BLN | ELK | MOH | IOW | POC | MCH | IRP | GLN | ISF | MLW | DSF | KAN | BRI | SLM | TOL | 114th | 18 | [21] | |