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.
Chavous is also the owner of Steel Barn Truss, a manufacturing business that makes barn trusses.
Racing career
Early years Chavous made a name racing late models on dirt tracks, including appearances at the Fastrak Grand Nationals.
Camping World Truck Series 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. 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. 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. He ran seven races on the season.
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. Chavous ran the full schedule, except Mosport and Phoenix where he was replaced by Gary Klutt, and Robby Lyons, respectively. He scored a career-best finish of 14th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the fall.
On January 29, 2018, it was announced that Chavous would return to Premium's No. 49 entry for another full-time effort in 2018. Brian Keselowski returned as crew chief. As part of the announcement, addiction help nonprofit Sobriety Nation signed on as sponsor for the entire season. 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. He ended his career with a fifth-place outing in the race.
Personal life Chavous is married and has a son, who races go-karts. He owns the business Steel Barn Truss, a barn truss manufacturing company.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Camping World Truck Series 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 MAR27 TEX PHO27 53rd 47 MAKE Motorsports 50 Chevy HOM31 2015 Premium Motorsports 94 Chevy DAY ATL24 MARDNQ KAN16 CLT25 DOV TEX GTW IOW KEN ELD26 POC25 MCH23 BRI26 MSP CHI NHA LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 31st 143 2017 Premium Motorsports 49 Chevy DAY19 ATL20 MAR23 KAN31 CLT28 DOV19 TEX20 GTW18 IOW17 KEN19 ELD16 POC20 MCH17 BRI23 MSP CHI18 NHA18 LVS14 TAL24 MAR21 TEX21 PHO 16th 348 15 HOM23 2018 49 DAY12 ATL23 LVS14 MAR18 DOV17 KAN27 CLT22 TEX12 IOW21 GTW15 CHI22 KEN24 ELD23 POC21 MCH16 BRI23 LVS28 TAL5 MAR TEX PHO HOM 17th 336 15 MSP24
K&N Pro Series West NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts Ref 2014 Mike Holleran 38 Chevy PHO IRW S99 IOW KCR SON SLS CNS IOW EVG KCR MMP AAS PHO21 78th 23
Season still in progress Ineligible for series driver points
References
External links
Steel Barn Truss website