After competing in a few NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 2022, Drew Dollar seems to have disappeared from the NASCAR world. The driver competed in the Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports, but failed to impress due to a series of lackluster performances. His only career win came at Talladega Superspeedway while driving for Venturini Motorsports, which remains his greatest achievement to date.
While it seems to be a common trend in NASCAR circles to hype past racers, fans took to Reddit to downplay Drew Dollar’s abilities, even though just a few years ago he was touted as one of the most promising young drivers.
An insight into Drew Dollar’s journey
Drew Dollar began his career in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and the CARS Late Model Stock Tour. After signing with DGR Crosley in 2018, Dollar was given the No. 54 car and drove in the first seven races of the year. He finished in the top ten in all but one race this season and ninth in the drivers’ standings. Dollar also competed in two ARCA Menards Series races with the same team, finishing sixth and seventh at Gateway and Kansas while driving the No. 4 Toyota.
The Kyle Busch protégé then moved to Venturini Motorsports in 2020, replacing Christian Eckes and ultimately winning his first race at Talladega Superspeedway. In 2021, Dollar moved to Kyle Busch Motorsports for a part-time schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, competing in eight of the 22 races that season. After Kyle Busch Motorsports took over Joe Gibbs Racing’s ARCA operations in 2022, Drew Dollar signed a four-race contract to drive the No. 18 Toyota. Not surprisingly, his best finish in those four races was a seventh-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Aside from that, Dollar never finished higher than 15th in the other three races.
His final race was at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he finished 24th. Dollar also competed in two Xfinity Series races with Joe Gibbs Racing, finishing 36th at Daytona International Speedway and 13th at Talladega. The accident between Kyle Busch’s protégé and Corey Heim at the 2022 Kansas ARCA race drew a lot of criticism. After the accident, Dollar’s former boss Bill Venturini told FOX Sports: “Drew ruins everything when he drives for you, and then ruins everything when he races with you… Just typical Drew stupid behavior… Wow, he doesn’t need to be a racer. He could probably make a living doing a bunch of other things.” Dollar seems to have taken Venturini’s advice seriously, and he never showed up on the racetrack again after the 2022 season, leaving fans to speculate on what happened to the driver.
NASCAR fans voice their opinion about Kyle Busch’s protégé
A conversation that started on Reddit about Dollar’s fate has blossomed into a full-blown debate about whether he deserves a spot in NASCAR. While nepotism and good financial pedigrees are nothing new in the sport, with many riders relying solely on their family name or sponsorship to secure a spot, one fan expressed the belief that that’s the only reason Dollar got a chance in the sport he did: Nascar.
He wrote on Reddit: “He’s a really badass and I can only thank my family’s concrete construction company for letting me in his car.” Driving in the Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports and the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, it’s fair to say that Drew Dollar has had opportunities that other drivers can only dream of. A fan on Reddit reminisced about his season in the Camping World Truck Series with KBM, when Drew Dollar finished the season in 36th place after eight races. One fan highlighted this, writing: “I remember him driving an undamaged KBM truck and getting passed by a Rome shitbox.”
In response to the question posed in the original post, the fan reflected on his success with Venturini Motorsports and KBM. The fan stated the reason for his departure: “Drew had one career win at ARCA (Talladega) and one top 15 finish at Trucks (Daytona). He was in Toyota’s program for four years and left because they ran out of money or he or Toyota realized it wasn’t working.”
One fan expressed relief that Drew Dollar, a young driver with a reputation for being reckless, is no longer racing. This fan posted on Reddit: “Didn’t he intentionally wreck someone in ARCA and put Tim Richmond in the hospital?” Another fan shared the backstory about Dollar’s motivation for joining NASCAR, saying racing was always meant to be just a stopgap before continuing his education. The fan wrote, “I know people who raced with him as kids. NASCAR was never a ‘career move’ for him. It was literally just something he could do to keep college and the real world away for a while.”
What do you think of Drew Dollar? Let us know in the comments!
