Who is Brent Crews? Joe Gibbs’ next wonderkid to | Sports News

It was a ‘pinch me’ second when Brent Crews bumped into the legendary Joe Gibbs for the primary time.

He had been operating go-karts with Ty Gibbs when ‘Coach’ recommended he observe them to Millbridge and provides grime observe racing a attempt. He was simply eight years previous, however already starstruck.

“I was a huge football fan as well as racing growing up,” Crews remembers. “Joe’s won three Super Bowls and a lot of NASCAR Cup championships. So as a young kid, I was a little starstruck, to be honest with you.”

Fast ahead practically a decade, and Crews is not solely racing for Gibbs, however being groomed because the next huge factor inside one of NASCAR’s prime groups. He’s been fast-tracked into the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the place he’ll drive the No.19 car full-time as soon as he turns 18 on March 30, and there have even been solutions he is being earmarked to substitute one of the game’s greatest stars.

“Now being able to race for him is pretty much a dream come true,” Crews tells Express U.S. Sports.

The religion from Gibbs is about as huge a vote of confidence as yow will discover within the NASCAR storage, however one which Crews has actually earned. He may solely be 17, however the magnitude and selection of his varied accolades jumps off the screen.

He’s already a champion in go-karts, sports activities automobiles, grime midgets and Super Late Models, in addition to profitable a number of ARCA races and flashing his monumental potential within the Truck Series.

Crews truly grew up enjoying soccer and soccer and “didn’t really have any thoughts about racing”. When he determined he needed to attempt a more particular person sport, his dad took him to the go-kart observe.

“Ultimately, I hated it,” he says. But they nonetheless tried again round six months later, when the penny dropped.

“And I fell in love with it,” he remembers.

Since then, Crews has received in all places he has gone. His huge skillset, significantly in sports activities automobiles and go-karts, might have simply led to a highway towards Formula 1. Despite touring to Europe to race, and seeing the huge growth of the game within the States lately, Crews has solely ever had tunnel imaginative and prescient for one path.

“I never really wanted to go the Formula One route,” he says. “I just don’t agree with the fact that there’s only two or three guys that can win every year. 

“I’m a competitor, and in NASCAR, I feel like there’s 15 different guys that can win every week. I think that’s the best form of motorsport. 

“So I knew at a young age that that’s what I wanted to be a part of, probably around nine years old. So I never really looked back from the NASCAR route since then.”

Crews is a good instance of a new breed of drivers with a huge and assorted skillset. Given his love of grime racing, inspired by Joe Gibbs regardless of the notion he isn’t a fan of the self-discipline, the 2 Cup stars he grew up admiring are no shock.

“Growing up, I always looked at Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson,” Crews says. “And thankfully, my dad knew to push me to try new things and just get in absolutely everything that I could possibly drive, from dirt to pavement, oval to road, course, all of that stuff.

“I think it just makes you better. Between car control, when you’re on dirt, there’s a lot going on at one time, with having to change lines and all that different stuff. 

“And I think that’s what really carries over to the oval side of things. You see Kyle Larson moving around a bunch during a Cup race. And I just think that’s what makes the difference.

“So I’m glad I did that as a kid, and now that there are so many road course races on the schedule, I think it was super beneficial to go road course racing as much as we did as well.” 

Crews’ journey in go-karts and sports activities automobiles has putting similarities with close pal Connor Zilisch, who is two years forward in his journey however has already taken the NASCAR world by storm. Next yr, they’ll get to take their pleasant rivalry to its greatest stage but within the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

“It definitely is super cool,” Crews says. “I’ve grown up with Connor. I’ve raced him my whole life, and I’m so excited to race him this year. He’s a year and a half ahead of me on the age thing, so yeah he’s one of my best friends, and I’m happy to see him succeed.

“I know how good he is, and I feel really confident about everything that we’re gonna be able to do in the future. I’m looking forward to racing.”

Within the Joe Gibbs Racing building, it is not simply the proprietor he has in his nook. Crews has additionally raced dash automobiles each for and towards Chase Briscoe.

“Chase is a super good dude,” Crews says. “All he cares about is going racing and any form of motorsport. He’s a super straight-up guy, and now I’m able to be, I guess, his teammate, in NASCAR a little bit.

“He’s kind of mentored me a little bit through the dirt side of things, and the asphalt stuff. And he’s a good guy to have in your corner.”

And the person he as soon as seemed up to, Christopher Bell, has additionally proved the worth of his advice, serving to Crews take his ARCA car to Victory Lane in Phoenix final yr.

“Christopher’s been great,” he says. “I’ve been racing Christopher since I was 12 on the dirt side of things. I’ve never raced him on the oval stuff, but Christopher’s great on and off the racetrack.

“He’s helped me a good bit. We talked a lot about Phoenix, actually, before my ARCA race. I felt like I kind of struggled there a little bit, and he gave me some advice, and I was able to input it and be able to put it in Victory Lane.”

Crews’ expertise has additionally attracted huge names to his nook away from Joe Gibbs Racing, together with driving for the legendary Kevin Harvick on the CARS Tour.

“He helped me a lot,” he explains. “He did a lot for me on the driver side of the stuff. Somebody really good to have in your corner on how to make good decisions.

“He’s obviously a veteran in our sport, and he was a young kid once as well. And he was a hot head, obviously, so he knew how to kind of calm my emotions and guide me in the right direction. So I’m glad I had him in my young career.”

Crews got here good within the Truck Series late final season, ending second on the Charlotte Roval and fourth at Martinsville earlier than flashing his potential in Phoenix after help from Bell. He now enters the new season, making ready for a steep however thrilling studying curve, together with stepping up to greater, sooner tracks, the place he believes particular components of his vast base of expertise will switch properly 

“The end of that stretch on the truck schedule, I felt like we ran really well at Martinsville and Phoenix, which is a good mixture of tracks,” he says. “Then obviously had a really strong run at the Roval.

“I haven’t run any mile and a half stuff, so we’ll see there. But I feel like on the short track stuff, having all that late model experience translated well to the Truck Series, and then all the TA2 on the road course stuff, I obviously showed great speed at the Roval.

“I think mile and a half stuff is going to be a little bit of an eye opener, working on aero stuff, side drafting, and racing in dirty air, something that will be a little new, but sprint cars also teach a lot of that. So hopefully I’ll be able to kind of put that into play, and we’ll see how it works.” 

The finish aim is easy: race on Sundays.

“Obviously the younger the better, but don’t want to rush anything as well,” he says of his path to the Cup Series. “But that’s all I’ve dreamed of. If I can get there one day, that’s the goal.”

Further down the road, he has even greater plans, which again tie back to the 2 drivers he has seemed up to for all these years.

“I would obviously like to be in Cup one day, but I’d love to still be able to go dirt racing,” he says. “I think that’s always been like a dream of mine. To do what Christopher and Kyle do, where they get to go run their own midget, then go out in a cup race a week later.

“I think that’s kind of the coolest thing in the world, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was eight years old.”