KANSAS CITY, Kansas - Spencer Gallagher announced Friday that he will not return to the No. 23 Xfinity car for GMS Racing after this season.
Gallagher said he would take a more managerial role in his family’s GMS Racing team. He said the team has not selected a replacement. He also said that team will continue to field entries in the Truck Series.
Gallagher has one career Xfinity win in 55 career starts. He won at Talladega in April. Shortly after he was suspended indefinitely for violating NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. He returned at Kentucky in July. He said he has no plans to race again, although he didn’t rule out a possible Truck race at some point.
“Trust me when I say this is the hardest decision I have ever had to make and I do not make it lightly,” Gallagher said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “At the end of the day, this came down to what do I want for my future, what do I want for GMS’ future and how can I grow this team and this sport. Candidly, the problem with being a driver is if you’re going to be a driver, that’s generally all you can be. ... If you’re going to be a driver, at least to my mind, you need to be a race car driver from the time you wake up at 6 a.m. Monday morning to the time you go to bed at 10 p.m. Sunday night.
“There’s absolutely no off-time. You have to be totally focused and totally committed every second of the day to pushing yourself and your team to finding that last little tenth. That can be a really time-consuming process as fun as it is. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for any other ventures to go on and I make no bones about it I’m a businessman’s son. At the end of the day I see opportunity out here and I feel a calling within me to go chase it to benefit myself and benefit our sport.
“I think, candidly, this sport could use young fresh minds in leadership roles that are not afraid to go out and try to change things up and try to find something that works that helps all of us out. That’s what I see. I came here 10 years ago and I fell in love with this sport, with this business. I want to help it thrive. I believe, more so than in the seat, that’s where my real skill set lays.
“I’ve got a lot of connections still back in Silicon Valley. Racing can be a unique crucible again for proving out a lot of automotive technologies that are getting ready to hit us.”
Forward into a bold new world. Time to take this to the next level, for me and for @GMSRacingLLC 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/4VOOqgWZfp
— Spindlematic Galvmatron (@23SpeedRacer) October 19, 2018