Photo – Courtesy of RevRacing.com
Ryan Gifford, 24, is competing in his fourth season for Rev Racing in 2013 and is currently ranked fourth in NASCAR‘s K&N Pro Series East. Gifford recently won the Blue Ox 100 at Richmond International Raceway, the fifth race of the series this season. Along with his win at Richmond, Gifford has posted three top-fives and four top-tens in just seven races so far, revving up his racing career.
Impressive stats for the young driver, named earlier this year, as one of thirteen in ‘NASCAR’s Next’ program. Being part of this élite group, Ryan Gifford is a driver for fans to keep their eye on in the 2013 season and beyond.
For the 2012 season and in 14 races, Ryan Gifford finished the season ranked 11th with two top-fives and three top-tens in the K&N Pro Series East. In 2011, Gifford finished tenth in points and collected two top-fives and four top-tens in 12 races while competing in same series. In 2010, Gifford’s rookie season, the Tennessee native achieved a top-ten points finish, as well.
In the fourth race of the 2010 season at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, Gifford won the pole and dominated more than half of the race only to have a cut tire knock him from contention. Despite that and other setbacks that took away good finishes, Gifford was able to record four top-five finishes on the season, and his pole at Martinsville made him the first African-American in Series history to record such an accomplishment.
In 2008, Gifford joined Team Dillon Racing as a development driver for RCR. Competing in the Fastrak Dirt Late Model Series, Gifford scored three wins and 17 top-fives in 29 events.
The Winchester, Tenn., native knew he wanted to make racing a career even before he graduated from karts to dirt late models when he was 15. He found success in late models right away, earning three poles and four top-fives in his first season. He continued racing dirt late models and caught the eye of Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Vice President of Competition Mike Dillon in 2006.
Ryan Gifford is our next guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR Talk, Monday, July 8th at 8:30pm ET. Click the link to listen to the Podcast with Ryan Gifford and our other guests.
