| Wendell Chavous | |
| Birth Name: | Wendell Phillip Chavous Jr.[1] |
| Birth Date: | 28 February 1985 |
| Birth Place: | Hephzibah, Georgia |
| Total Truck Races: | 50 |
| Years In Truck: | 4 |
| Prev Truck Pos: | 17th |
| Prev Truck Year: | 2018 |
| Best Truck Pos: | 16th (2017) |
| First Truck Race: | 2014 Kroger 200 (Martinsville) |
| Last Truck Race: | 2018 Fr8Auctions 250 (Talladega) |
| Truck Wins: | 0 |
| Truck Top Tens: | 1 |
| Truck Poles: | 0 |
| Updated: | November 16, 2018 |
Wendell Phillip Chavous Jr. (born February 28, 1985) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current entrepreneur. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving both the Nos. 15 and 49 Chevrolet Silverados for Premium Motorsports. He has also driven for MAKE Motorsports and Mike Harmon Racing in the NCWTS.[2]
Chavous is also the owner of Steel Barn Truss, a manufacturing business that makes barn trusses.
Chavous made a name racing late models on dirt tracks, including appearances at the Fastrak Grand Nationals.[3]
Driving for Mike Harmon, Chavous made his first Truck start in the 2014 Kroger 200, starting last in the 36-truck field but making his way up to 27th. Two weeks later at Phoenix International Raceway, Chavous finished in the same spot in Harmon's No. 74, albeit more than 30 laps down. Switching to MAKE Motorsports for the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200 a week later, Chavous fell out with electrical problems and finished 31st.[4] After running sporadically in Premium Motorsports' No. 94 for the beginning part of 2015, the team and Chavous announced at Eldora Speedway that he would pilot the truck for the rest of the season.[5] However, the deal fell through, with Chavous running only the next three races. His best finish was a sixteenth before the announcement at Kansas Speedway.[6] He ran seven races on the season.[7]
On February 13, 2017, Premium Motorsports announced that Chavous would compete for 2017 Truck Series Rookie of the Year driving the team's No. 49 entry.[8] Chavous ran the full schedule, except Mosport and Phoenix where he was replaced by Gary Klutt, and Robby Lyons, respectively.[9] He scored a career-best finish of 14th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fall.[10]
On January 29, 2018, it was announced that Chavous would return to Premium's No. 49 entry for another full-time effort in 2018.[11] Brian Keselowski returned as crew chief.[12] As part of the announcement, addiction help nonprofit Sobriety Nation signed on as sponsor for the entire season.[13] The pairing yielded four top-fifteen efforts, up from one the previous year, although Keselowski departed the team in late spring. On October 8, 2018, Chavous announced his departure from Premium and NASCAR, effective following the October 14 race at Talladega Superspeedway, citing the need for more family time and business ventures as the reasons to step away.[14] He ended his career with a fifth-place outing in the race.[15]
Chavous is married and has a son, who races go-karts. He owns the business Steel Barn Truss, a barn truss manufacturing company.
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by 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 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | Mike Harmon Racing | 74 | Chevy | DAY | MAR | KAN | CLT | DOV | TEX | GTW | KEN | IOW | ELD | POC | MCH | BRI | MSP | CHI | NHA | LVS | TAL | MAR 27 | TEX | PHO 27 | 53rd | 47 | [16] | |||||||||||||||||
| MAKE Motorsports | 50 | Chevy | HOM 31 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Premium Motorsports | 94 | Chevy | DAY | ATL 24 | MAR DNQ | KAN 16 | CLT 25 | DOV | TEX | GTW | IOW | KEN | ELD 26 | POC 25 | MCH 23 | BRI 26 | MSP | CHI | NHA | LVS | TAL | MAR | TEX | PHO | HOM | 31st | 143 | [17] | |||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Premium Motorsports | 49 | Chevy | DAY 19 | ATL 20 | MAR 23 | KAN 31 | CLT 28 | DOV 19 | TEX 20 | GTW 18 | IOW 17 | KEN 19 | ELD 16 | POC 20 | MCH 17 | BRI 23 | MSP | CHI 18 | NHA 18 | LVS 14 | TAL 24 | MAR 21 | TEX 21 | PHO | 16th | 348 | [18] | ||||||||||||||||
| 15 | HOM 23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 49 | DAY 12 | ATL 23 | LVS 14 | MAR 18 | DOV 17 | KAN 27 | CLT 22 | TEX 12 | IOW 21 | GTW 15 | CHI 22 | KEN 24 | ELD 23 | POC 21 | MCH 16 | BRI 23 | LVS 28 | TAL 5 | MAR | TEX | PHO | HOM | 17th | 336 | [19] | ||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | MSP 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series driver points