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Who Is The Youngest Driver In NASCAR? An Explainer On NASCAR'S Age Limits
You have to be a certain age to compete in NASCAR, depending on the race.
NASCAR is an interesting sport, as people of all ages compete in various motor races. In fact, while the oldest NASCAR driver in the 2022 Cup Series is 46-year-old Kevin Harvick, the oldest active driver right now is 70-year-old racer Norm Benning.
However, while plenty of older people compete in the sport, there is indeed a minimum age limit.
In February 2022, NASCAR announced it was lowering the minimum age for drivers competing in its regional touring series to 15, per Speedway Digest. When it comes to the bigger races, people can compete as young as 16 (that is, after all, the legal driving age) in NASCAR's Trucks series, but only on tracks 1.25 miles or less in length and on road courses. They have to wait until age 18 to compete full-time in NASCAR's top three series, Cup, Xfinity, or Trucks.
The youngest driver competing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series 2022 is Harrison Burton, who is only 21 years old. Meanwhile, one of his competitors, Joey Logano, has an age-related record of his own: He's the youngest driver to ever win a Nationwide Series race in 2008, shortly after his 18th birthday. Logano is also the youngest driver to win in both the Cup and Xfinity series.
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Of course, plenty of other younger drivers have made NASCAR history. Trevor Bayne was the youngest person to win the Daytona 500 at 20 years old in 2011, while Chase Elliot is the youngest rookie to win a national series championship, which he did at age 19 in the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship.
Clearly, even if a driver is young, it doesn't mean they can't make a major mark in the NASCAR world. We'll just have to keep our eye on other upcoming NASCAR drivers!
“Race For The Championship” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network. Meanwhile, you can catch more NASCAR content on Peacock right now.
