SS-Green Light Racing

SS-Green Light Racing

Owner(s)	Bobby Dotter Gene Christensen (former) Ken Smith (former) Steve Urvan (former)
Base	Mooresville, North Carolina
Series	Xfinity Series
Race drivers	07. Joe Graf Jr., Ross Chastain, J. J. Yeley, Josh Bilicki
Sponsors	07. Bucked Up Energy Drink, Z Grills, HazHeart.com, Responsibility Gold, Powerweld, KeepItSecure.net, G-Coin, SmartSanitizer, Insurance King, CNC Swiss Inc.
Manufacturer	Chevrolet
Opened	1995
Career
Debut	Xfinity Series: 1995 Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Latest race	Xfinity Series: 2021 Food City 300 (Bristol) Camping World Truck Series: 2016 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead)
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0

SS-Green Light Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 07 Chevrolet full-time for Joe Graf Jr., Ross Chastain, J. J. Yeley, and Josh Bilicki. The team is owned by former driver Bobby Dotter, who also drove for the team in numerous races when he was still driving. Dotter is currently the team's sole owner, although at various points in the team's history, businessman Ken Smith (who left the team in July 2017^[1]) and Steve Urvan (in 2010 only) as well as Texas politician Gene Christensen (who unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary for Texas's 4th congressional district in 2008) were co-owners of the team with Dotter.

Green Light began competing in the Truck Series in 2000 and merged with SS Racing in 2008 during the economic downturn after teams merging was a common thing at the time which resulted in financial success and stability. SS Racing was a team which was competing in the ASA and had previously partnered with Green Light's Truck team on various occasions, but fully merged with GLR beginning that year.

The team competed in the Truck Series each year until 2017, when they decided to focus on their Xfinity program.

Xfinity Series[]

Car No. 07/76 history[]

In 2016, the team announced that they would field the No. 07 full-time for Ray Black Jr. with sponsorship from ScubaLife.com in all the races. He picked up 9 top-20 finishes, with a best finish of 14th in Bristol (August). He finished 19th in the driver standings. Black returned to the No. 07 for 2017, but was replaced with Todd Bodine for Charlotte. It was later announced that Spencer Boyd and Andy Lally would drive at Pocono and Mid-Ohio respectively.

On October 19, 2017, it was announced that Spencer Boyd would drive the No. 76 Chevrolet Camaro full-time in 2018 for SSGLR.^[2] This would end up being the No. 07 team renumbered. The No. 76 came from sponsor Grunt Style's slogan/logo, which has the year 1776 on it because they sell Americana themed products. Boyd would finish the year 26th in the final point standings.

Boyd left for a Truck Series ride with Young's Motorsports for 2019, and Black Jr. returned to the team from a part-time ride with B. J. McLeod Motorsports to replace Boyd and would compete full-time again, and the car was renumbered back to the No. 07. He was announced to return to the team for the 2020 season as well.

On May 23, 2020, Black Jr. announced that he would no longer be driving the No. 07 in order to concentrate on helping his family business, the CDA Technical Institute, recover after it experienced financial problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Black's departure, it was announced that Rick Ware Racing had cut a deal with SS-Green Light to field some of their drivers in the No. 07 for the remainder of the season. This began with Garrett Smithley in the car for Charlotte^[3] and Carson Ware, Rick's son, making his series debut at Bristol.^[4] The team’s highlight of the year was when Gray Gaulding wheeled the 07 car to a 2nd-place finish at Daytona International Speedway when the top 4 wrecked on the final corner. Garrett Smithley scored a top 10 at Talladega, and Jade Buford scored a top-10 at Charlotte.

Car No. 07/76 results[]

Year	Driver	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	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2016	Ray Black Jr.	07	Chevy	DAY 33	ATL 33	LVS 25	PHO 25	CAL 37	TEX 22	BRI 20	RCH 24	TAL 29	DOV 17	CLT 37	POC 21	MCH 23	IOW 30	DAY 39	KEN 19	NHA 21	IND 33	IOW 20	GLN 20	MOH 30	BRI 14	ROA 15	DAR 21	RCH 25	CHI 28	KEN 20	DOV 24	CLT 28	KAN 19	TEX 27	PHO 36	HOM 28	24th	515	[5]
2017			DAY 18	ATL 29	LVS 31	PHO 29	CAL 27	TEX 25	BRI 37	RCH 18	TAL 40		DOV 24			IOW 29	DAY 12	KEN 27		IND 24	IOW 30			BRI 21		DAR 25				DOV 21	CLT 21			PHO 24	HOM 25	28th	368	[6]
	Todd Bodine											CLT 30
	Spencer Boyd													POC 33					NHA 27								RCH 31	CHI 28				KAN 33	TEX 29
	Korbin Forrister														MCH 31														KEN 33
	Devin Jones																					GLN 26
	Andy Lally																						MOH 5
	Ryan Ellis																								ROA 21
2018	Spencer Boyd	76	DAY 25	ATL 29	LVS 36	PHO 30	CAL 30	TEX 25	BRI 25	RCH 28	TAL 40	DOV 30	CLT 21	POC 28	MCH 22	IOW 22	CHI 29	DAY 17	KEN 24	NHA 24	IOW 23	GLN 24	MOH 25	BRI 25	ROA 21	DAR 31	IND 36	LVS 22	RCH 33	CLT 29	DOV 32	KAN 19	TEX 25	PHO 28	HOM 30	31st	302	[7]
2019	Ray Black Jr.	07	DAY 30	ATL 23	LVS 11	PHO 18	CAL 17	TEX 35	BRI 16	RCH 21	TAL 34	DOV 24	CLT 16	POC 18	MCH 30	IOW 16	CHI 20	DAY 13	KEN 35	NHA 18	IOW 11	GLN 22	MOH 19	BRI 15	ROA 14	DAR 16	IND 20	LVS 19	RCH 18	CLT 32	DOV 17	KAN 14	TEX 12	PHO 14	HOM 38	18th	547	[8]
2020			DAY 8	LVS 17	CAL 22	PHO 25	DAR 21																													18th	574	[9]
	Garrett Smithley							CLT 31		ATL 24						KEN 31	KEN 16													TAL 8
	Carson Ware								BRI 22			HOM 28		POC 20
	J.J. Yeley										HOM 11
	Gray Gaulding												TAL 8											DAY 2				BRI 18	LVS 24					MAR 35
	Jade Buford														IND 14						DAY 16										CLT 8
	David Starr																	TEX 13	KAN 24			DOV 27	DOV 20		DAR 34							KAN 24	TEX 35		PHO 16
	R.C. Enerson																			ROA 20
	Joey Gase																									RCH 20	RCH 23
2021	Joe Graf Jr.		DAY 11	DAY 20	HOM 27	LVS 18	PHO 25	ATL 29	MAR 38	TAL 33	DAR 37	DOV 29		CLT DNQ	MOH 30	TEX 31		POC 32		ATL 25	NHA 24	GLN 30		MCH 38	DAY 35	DAR 19	RCH 31	BRI 17	LVS	TAL	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO
	Ross Chastain												COA 30
	J.J. Yeley																NSH 22
	Josh Bilicki																		ROA 29				IND 25

Car No. 08 history[]

In 2018, it was announced that Gray Gaulding would drive the 08 full-time in 2019. In April's MoneyLion 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, Gaulding finished a career-best second.

On January 16, 2020, it was announced that Joe Graf Jr. would drive the No. 08 car for the 2020 season, replacing Gaulding. He moved up from the ARCA Menards Series, where he drove the No. 77 for Chad Bryant Racing full-time for two years. Graf started out the season with Core Development Group sponsorship, but signed a multi-year deal with Bucked Up Energy before Homestead-Miami. He posted a best finish of 13th thrice, and wound up 22nd ^[10]in points, respectfully.

Car No. 08 results[]

Year	Driver	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	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2019	Gray Gaulding	08	Chevy	DAY 34	ATL 16	LVS 12	PHO 16	CAL 16	TEX 21	BRI 15	RCH 17	TAL 2	DOV 20	CLT 14	POC 20	MCH 16	IOW 14	CHI 14	DAY 8	KEN 15	NHA 17	IOW 14	GLN 15	MOH 14	BRI 6	ROA 29	DAR 15	IND 13	LVS 7	RCH 22	CLT 29	DOV 18	KAN 17	TEX 13	PHO 12	HOM 17	15th	713	[11]
2020	Joe Graf Jr.			DAY 36	LVS 20	CAL 31	PHO 31	DAR 19	CLT 19	BRI 13	ATL 26	HOM 16	HOM 13	TAL 34	POC 35	IND 26	KEN 13	KEN 22	TEX 21	KAN 28	ROA 25	DAY 26	DOV 18	DOV 21	DAY 37	DAR 23	RCH 19	RCH 27	BRI 27	LVS 27	TAL 31	CLT 15	KAN 32	TEX 22	MAR 21	PHO 27	29th	422	[12]

Car No. 15 history[]

SSGLR partnered with the No. 15 team of Rick Ware Racing to have Ray Black Jr. drive that car at Texas in November. In that race, which was his Xfinity Series debut, Black Jr. finished 27th. Jimmy Weller III and B. J. McLeod also ran one race each in No. 15.

Car No. 55/77/90 history[]

In April 2014, the team announced a partnership with Viva Motorsports to field the No. 55 car usually run by Jamie Dick in select races. The team was fielded in the races that Viva wasn't using the No. 55 car. SS-Green Light's Nationwide Series program debuted on April 11 at Darlington Raceway with veteran Todd Bodine.^[13][14] Jimmy Weller III made his series debut the next week at Richmond, finishing 40th after a mechanical failure.^[15] Bodine ran a second race at Dover. Timmy Hill, Andy Lally, Caleb Roark and David Starr all ran single races for the team.

In July, Brennan Newberry made his Nationwide Series debut at Loudon in a partnership with NTS Motorsports and sponsor .^[16] Newberry ran three races in the No. 55 with a best finish of 19th at Watkins Glen.

Brennan Newberry made his fourth Xfinity career start with SS-Green Light/NTS Motorsports at Phoenix in the fall, now driving the No. 77 Qore24 Chevrolet, since Viva Motorsports was running the 55 car that race. Newberry finished 36th after an early crash.^[17]

For 2015, the team formed an alliance with King Autosport and changed the number to No. 90. It ran on weeks King Autosport wasn't using the No. 90 car. The team partnered with Rick Ware Racing to field the car in a few races, similar with the No. 15. Jimmy Weller III and Todd Bodine drove the No. 90 in four races each. Andy Lally drove two races, B. J. McLeod, Tyler Young and Korbin Forrister all ran single races for the team. In 2016, the team helped King Autosport to field the car in two races, one with Bodine at Watkins Glen and Lally at Mid-Ohio.

Car No. 99/35 history[]

In 2017, SS-Green Light collaborated with B. J. McLeod Motorsports to jointly field McLeod's No. 99 car, with David Starr driving it for the full season. For the summer Daytona race only, Korbin Forrister was scheduled to replace Starr in the No. 99, but got the flu, and Starr ended up driving his normal car anyhow. In that race, Starr ended up getting a top-5 finish, the only one of the season for both him and the team. The partnership ended in 2018, with Starr moving to the Jimmy Means Racing No. 52, and McLeod fielding the No. 99 by themselves in 2018, and SS-Green Light would switch the partnership for their second team to the Go Green Racing No. 35 of Joey Gase.

Car No. 99/35 results[]

Year	Driver	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	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2017	David Starr	99	Chevy	DAY 40	ATL 32	LVS 28	PHO 32	CAL 24	TEX 24	BRI 36	RCH 17	TAL 18	CLT 31	DOV 33	POC 25	MCH 21	IOW 14	DAY 5	KEN 31	NHA 30	IND 29	IOW 26	GLN 30	MOH 17	BRI 40	ROA 28	DAR 36	RCH 35	CHI 22	KEN 29	DOV 38	CLT 26	KAN 27	TEX 31	PHO 29	HOM 32	33rd	315	[18]
2018	Joey Gase	35		DAY 33	ATL 26	LVS 20	PHO 24	CAL 16	TEX 20	BRI 16	RCH 22	TAL 21	DOV 20	CLT 17	POC 19	MCH 39	IOW 21	CHI 22	DAY 32	KEN 33	NHA 22	IOW 17	GLN 22	MOH 24	BRI 18	ROA 19	DAR 21	IND 15	LVS 15	RCH 22	CLT 23	DOV 30	KAN 15	TEX 22	PHO 22	HOM 23	20th	495	[19]

Truck Series[]

Truck No. 07 history[]

The No. 07 truck began racing in 2001 with former owner driving the Chevrolet. He failed to finish higher than 30th that season and completed just 63 laps total. and Mike Olsen drove the No. 07 for a total of three races that season in addition. Jason Small began racing the No. 07 full-time the following season with Sunbelt Rentals sponsoring. He had two top-tens and finished 22nd in the points standings. Rich Bickle drove the No. 07 at the season opener in 2003, before Bobby Dotter drove for several races in the truck. Jeremy Mayfield had a sixth-place finish the following race at Lowe's, with Stan Boyd and driving in select races afterwards. Johnny Chapman would then drive for six races, with and Mark McFarland driving in between. Dotter and Shane Sieg would finish out the year in the truck. Ricky Moxley drove the No. 07 truck for the Lucas Oil Camping world truck series in INDY.

In 2004, Sieg was hired as the full-time driver with sponsoring. Despite an eighth-place finish at Milwaukee, he was released before the final quarter of the season, and Sean Murphy and Andy Houston would end the season in the truck. Murphy would be hired to drive the No. 07 for the first five races of the season, and after one thirteenth-place finish, Butch Miller took over at Mansfield, and finished tenth. Rich Bickle, Chris Wimmer and Eric Norris also raced the No. 07, before drove a total of six races, with a best finish of 26th. Chase Pistone, José Luis Ramírez and Wimmer finished out the season in the truck. Murphy returned at the beginning of the 2006 season, but did not last long, with Clint Bowyer finishing seventh at Martinsville in the Jack Daniel's truck. , , Johnny Chapman and Butch Miller drove one race apiece, with Kevin Lepage driving a pair of races with sponsorship. Chad McCumbee drove the No. 07 for a pair of races, when became the team's new primary sponsor. Travis Kittleson then became the team's new driver for three races, his best a sixteenth at Nashville Superspeedway. T. J. Bell would drive for one race, and John Mickel brought sponsorship from and leased out the No. 07 for the rest of the season, his best finish 20th.

After the 2006 season, Tim Sauter and joined the team for 2007. Despite only one top-ten finish, Sauter finished 16th in the points but was runner up to Willie Allen for Rookie of the Year. Both Sauter and departed at season's end, possibly due to the struggles of the housing market.^{[citation needed]} Shane Seig, Sean Murphy and Ryan Lawler shared the ride in 2008 with ASI Limited.

In 2009, Chad McCumbee returned to SS Green Light Racing to drive the No. 07 in 21 races. With part-time sponsorship from and Valvoline, he had five top-ten finishes and finished 19th in points. Jason Young and Burt Myers filled in the rest of the schedule. Sean Murphy opened the 2010 season by finishing 13th at Daytona with sponsoring. For the rest of the season, Donny Lia and Tony Jackson split the driving duties, with Jackson scheduled to run 7 races. After a long string of bad luck, Lia departed the No. 07 team after the O'Reilly 200 at Bristol.

For 2011, the team swapped between Toyota and Chevrolet. Donnie Neuenberger drove at Daytona and B. J. McLeod drove at Phoenix with . Johnny Chapman drove a few races in the truck, mostly as a start and park. In 2012 the 07's lineup added on former Pro Cup driver Jeff Agnew, as well as T. J. Duke.

For 2015, Ray Black Jr. piloted the car full-time with the sponsorship . He finished 12th in the points standings in 2015, including a 5th-place finish at Daytona.

For 2016, Black Jr. moving to the Xfinity Series, and the team had multiple drivers throughout the season, starting with French driver Michel Disdier at Daytona with as his sponsor. He finished 11th after avoiding 2 big ones.

In 2017, SS-Green Light decided to close down their Truck team to focus on competing in the Xfinity Series, and they sold their equipment and owner points to Rick Ware Racing, which fielded the No. 12 truck that year.

Truck No. 08 history[]

The current No. 08 truck debuted in 2007 as the No. 0 with Sharon Rice listed as the owner. Brandon Knupp drove it first at Texas Motor Speedway, and finished 34th after suffering overheating. Three weeks later, Wayne Edwards drove the truck and finished last with braking malfunction. In 2008, the No. 0 ran a part-time schedule with Christensen as the owner. Butch Miller drove most of the races, with two 32nd-place finish, along with Wayne Edwards, Chris Jones, Mike Olsen, Norm Benning, Johnny Chapman and Kevin Lepage.

The truck did not return until 2010 as the 21 and Steve Urvan as the owner. Donny Lia began the season in the ride, later moving to the No. 07 with Tony Jackson. The No. 21 would then be fielded as a 'start and park' truck with Johnny Chapman, Butch Miller and Chris Eggleston sharing the ride. Jake Crum made his NCWTS debut in the No. 21 at the Bristol Motor Speedway on August 18, 2010, during the O'Reilly 200. Crum qualified 13th and ran well early in the event, but fell victim to a broken fuel pump midway through the event. The truck was later taken over at the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 by David Starr who had left Randy Moss Motorsports the week prior due to lack of performance and the decision to have the No. 81 miss Chicago and Kentucky. Starr drove the No. 21 Chevrolet to a top-10 finish at Chicagoland. The No. 81 and sponsorship were then moved over from Moss Motorsports, and Starr drove the truck for the rest of the season to a 9th-place finish in points. In 2011, Starr and the team struggled to keep up, scoring 8 top-10s and finished 13th in points. Starr then left to join . The truck number was changed back to the No. 08, and was driven by Florida native Ross Chastain in 2012. Chastain scored a 3rd-place finish at Bristol, as well as 3 top 10s. Sometimes in the season he had to start and park, due to lack of funds. he would end his season 17th in points. Chastain would later depart for Brad Keselowski Racing, and would be replaced by the returning David Starr for 2013, changing back to No. 81. Starr would only run the first seven races before sponsorship issues forced him to sit out most of the season.

For 2014, the team reverted to No. 08 Chevrolet Silverado. Jimmy Weller III opened the season with a 9th-place finish at Daytona. In 2015, Korbin Forrister took over the driving duty of the No. 08 Chevrolet Silverado in a partnership with B. J. McLeod Motorsports.

In 2016, the No. 08 team shut down, and Forrister moved to Lira Motorsports No. 59 truck. SS-Green Light would only field the No. 07 that year, which was their last one in the Truck Series.

Truck No. 23 history[]

Green Light Racing began competing in 2000 with Dotter driving the No. 45 Chevrolet in two races, with a best finish a seventeenth at The Milwaukee Mile. For the 2001 season, Dotter would drive the 08 full-time while campaigning for Rookie of the Year. He had a 10th-place finish at IRP and finished fifteenth in points. He continued to drive the 08 truck in 2002, posting four top-ten finishes and finishing a career best fourteenth in points. In 2003, rookie Jody Lavender was hired as the team's driver for most of the season, bringing sponsorship from and . He finished seventeenth in points that year despite missing four races. He was replaced in those races by Dotter and Shane Sieg, who ran two races apiece.

Ken Weaver was hired as the next driver of the 08 truck in 2004, bringing as sponsorship, and he raced a total of fifteen times, with a best finish of 18th at Texas Motor Speedway. Various other drivers raced the 08 truck that season, including Dotter, Tony Raines, A. J. Fike, Butch Miller, and Sean Murphy. Weaver started driving the 08 truck for the first three races in 2005, and had a sixth-place finish at Daytona International Speedway, before he left the team. Without a primary sponsor, the team began racing with the driver-by committee schedule, and drove for the team at Martinsville Speedway, before Rich Bickle drove the next two races, and finished fifth at Mansfield. Butch Miller and Kevin Lepage drove one race apiece, before Johnny Chapman drove in four of the next five races. Miller and Topham raced another time in the 08 that year, along with Jarit Johnson, Chris Wimmer, Mark McFarland and .

In 2006, Bobby Hamilton Jr. raced in the first three races of the season with sponsoring the team's Dodge, before he left to drive full-time for his father's team. Butch Miller drove the next week at Martinsville, and followed at the following race, when the team returned to Chevrolet. Mike Greenwell made his debut at Mansfield, finishing 26th, and after Johnny Chapman drove at Dover, Chad McCumbee was hired as Green Light Racing's first full-time driver in two years. With the exception of two races where Chris Wimmer and Mike Greenwell raced, McCumbee drove the 08 for the rest of the season, posting two seventh-place finishes and was runner-up for Rookie of the Year despite missing the season opener at Daytona. He was hired to race the 08 for the 2007 season, skipping the Sam's Town 400 due to making his NEXTEL Cup debut at Pocono Raceway, being replaced by Eric Norris. He left for MRD Motorsports late in the season, and Shane Sieg took his place, for a couple of races, with Dennis Setzer driving at New Hampshire. Chris Jones took over the ride starting at Martinsville. For 2008, Jason White brought sponsorship from GunBroker.com, along with the team's manufacturer change to Dodge. They did not have any top-ten finishes and ended the season nineteenth in points. Butch Miller became the team's primary driver in 2009, with Johnny Chapman, Lepage, Murphy and Brandon Knupp filling in. The team ran completed races with , Chrissy Wallace, Jamie Dick and Brett Butler. White returned to the truck in 2010, changing the number from 08 to 23, and the team had their best season. White won the pole at Daytona and was in the top five in points for half of the season. However, the team's performance dropped and they took home a 10th-place finish in points. White left the team for the upstart Joe Denette Motorsports for 2011.^[20]

Other Truck teams[]

Beginning with the 2006 season, Green Light Racing began fielding a third team when the expected field was short. Wayne Edwards drove the 03 truck first in 2006, finishing 36th and 35th respectively. Johnny Chapman then drove at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing 35th. Chapman drove the 78 at Atlanta in 2007, finishing last. Other drivers of the 06 truck in 2007 were Morgan Shepherd, , Randy MacDonald, Dotter, Edwards, and Brandon Knupp.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Official website (older version, last updated in 2015)
• SS-Green Light Racing owner statistics at Racing-Reference (Bobby Dotter)
• SS-Green Light Racing owner statistics at Racing-Reference (Gene Christensen)
• SS-Green Light Racing owner statistics at Racing-Reference (Ken Smith)
• SS-Green Light Racing owner statistics at Racing-Reference (Steve Urvan)