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A driver development program, [a] also known as a driver development team or driver academy, is a system or structure designed for young kart and race car drivers to learn and perfect their racing skills. These programmes are devised by racing teams, external companies and funded partnerships primarily to attract and develop future racing talent. Most programmes now employ a wide range of skilled coaches and technologies to train all of the physical and psychological abilities inherent in driving at the limit and winning races. Most racing teams will sign a driver to a multi-year contract in which they fund or part fund the driver in junior formulas (such as Formula 3 and Formula 2 in Europe, and Late models and ARCA in stock car racing) and gradually help them succeed to the highest levels of motorsport. Some teams have been criticized for unfair long-term and low-paying contracts for the talented drivers they find whilst also charging the less talented drivers very high fees for the use of their simulations and facilities. Companies that specialise in racing driver training or development programmes remain commercially viable through selling time in their simulators or gyms and generally speaking do not fund a drivers career. Funded partnerships, good driver management companies and driver search and development initiatives will fund or part fund a drivers development and will survive as long as the owners financial commitment and or success at recouping their investment. Be that a return from a talented drivers wages or a promotional exercise designed by a brand or corporation.
The following is a list of teams that currently have a driver development programs or are driver development teams.
In 1998, McLaren became the first Formula One team to establish a driver development program, founding the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Support Programme; its initial cohort famously included 13-year-old kart racer Lewis Hamilton, who became the first driver development program alumnus in Formula One to win the World Drivers' Championship in 2008. The Red Bull Junior Team have graduated 14 members—and two former members—to Formula One, noted for their use of a second team to promote junior talent under the wing of Helmut Marko. As of 2024, Red Bull have coached two World Drivers' Champions, both winning their titles with Red Bull Racing: Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
All of these teams have their own developmental driver programs and/or field cars/trucks on their team for developmental drivers.
Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rallycross Championship, Extreme E and the Rolex Sports Car Series. It was founded in 1990 by businessman and former racecar driver Chip Ganassi from the assets of Patrick Racing to compete in the CART IndyCar World Series.
The Red Bull Junior Team, commonly referred to as the Red Bull Driver Academy, is a driver development programme run by the conglomerate company Red Bull GmbH in an attempt to identify potential future racing stars in open wheel racing. The similar Red Bull Driver Search, now ended, was an American spinoff of the same idea held in 2005. Members of the Junior Team are financed and sponsored by Red Bull in lower racing formulae.
Brett Bradley Moffitt is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Toyota Tundra for Tricon Garage and the No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado for Hettinger Racing and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing.
GMS Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, fielding three Chevrolet Silverado trucks: the No. 23 for Grant Enfinger, the No. 24 for Rajah Caruth, and the No. 43 for Daniel Dye.
Lucas A. Lambert is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for Spire Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Cup Series driven by Carson Hocevar.
AM Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series fielding the No. 15 Ford Mustang Dark Horse full-time for Harrison Burton. They also compete in the ARCA Menards Series fielding the No. 32 Ford Mustang full-time for Christian Rose. The team also had a technical alliance with Stewart–Haas Racing. The team used to compete the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series fielding the No. 22 Ford F-150 part-time for multiple drivers.
The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 23rd season of the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in North America. The season began with the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2017, and ended with the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 17. Johnny Sauter entered the season as the defending drivers' champion. This was the final season for Brad Keselowski Racing and for Red Horse Racing.
The 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 24th season of the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in North America. Christopher Bell entered as the defending champion, but he did not defend his championship, leaving his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports entry to a number of drivers throughout the season, with Todd Gilliland covering the majority of the schedule in the truck. Title sponsor Camping World Holdings rebranded the series with their Gander Outdoors brand they acquired in 2017 for the 2019 season, replacing the Camping World brand.
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 27 full-time for Jeb Burton, the No. 32 part-time for multiple drivers, and the No. 87 part-time for Mike Skeen. Founded by Jordan Anderson, the team has a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.
Niece Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Owned by Al Niece, it currently fields the No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for Bayley Currey and Connor Mosack, the No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for Matt Mills, the No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for multiple drivers, and the No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado part-time for multiple drivers. Niece Motorsports formerly had a technical alliance with GMS Racing that started back in 2018.
The 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series was the 25th season of the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in North America. It marks the transition of the series' corporate sponsor from Camping World to its subsidiary Gander Outdoors.
Drivers Edge Development is a NASCAR driver development program formed in a joint venture between Chevrolet, JR Motorsports and GMS Racing. The program aims to groom the next generation of racing superstars through a tiered competition pipeline coupled with comprehensive off-track education. Participants in the program have options to race in five types of developmental series with entries fielded by the two teams. The tiers include JRM’s regional late model team, GMS’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams, and JRM’s NASCAR Xfinity Series teams. Off the track, drivers have access to a host of programs focusing on their physical, mental and technical development with an emphasis on brand building and support for partner procurement and retention.
The 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series was the 26th season of the third highest stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in North America. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 14. The regular season ended with the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on September 10. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 6, where Sheldon Creed won the championship over his teammates Zane Smith and Brett Moffitt in a 1-2-3 sweep for GMS Racing in the standings. ThorSport Racing driver Grant Enfinger finished fourth in the standings, the other driver to advance to the Championship 4. Austin Hill won the regular season championship and was the points leader for most of the season, but failed to advance to the Championship 4 and finished 6th in the standings.
The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 39th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 on February 15. The regular season ended with the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway on September 11. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at Phoenix Raceway on November 7.
Our Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro SS full-time for Anthony Alfredo. The team also previously competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, fielding the No. 02 and No. 09 teams. They have also competed in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The team is also one of the youngest owned teams in NASCAR being co-owned by 19-year-old Mary Our.
The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 40th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 13. The regular season ended with the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 6.
The 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 27th season of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 12. The regular season will end with the race at Watkins Glen International on August 7. The NASCAR playoffs will end with the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 5. This season marks the 13th for Camping World Holdings as the series' title sponsor. After two years of advertising their Gander Outdoors retail chain in the title sponsorship, company CEO Marcus Lemonis announced on September 15, 2020, that the sponsorship would switch back to the Camping World brand beginning in 2021, which was the same name of the series from 2009 to 2018.
The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 41st season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 19 at Daytona International Speedway and ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race on November 5 at Phoenix Raceway.
The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 42nd season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 18 at Daytona International Speedway and ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race on November 4 at Phoenix Raceway.
Josh Green is an American racing driver. He currently competes in the 2023 INDY NXT driving for HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing. Green previously competed with Turn 3 Motorsport in the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 Championship.