RICHMOND, Va. — More than a dozen children crowded around the Team Reaume hauler on Friday afternoon. Dystany Spurlock was still inside, trying to decompress from an exciting, exhausting and exhilarating experience.
She had just qualified for her second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race as one of 36 cars to make the field out of 39 entries. What’s more, Spurlock grew up around here. Less than 10 miles away from Richmond Raceway is Highland Springs High School, where she was the only girl on the football team.
“I was freaking out,” Spurlock told USA TODAY Sports after qualifying. “We made it. This is home, you know? I’m very grateful.”
Spurlock emerged from the hauler and the kids from a local Boys & Girls Club cheered. She talked to them about her life, how she drove 18-wheelers to fund her aspirations in motorsports, her accomplishments in racing motorcycles and how earlier this year, she became the first Black woman to race in one of NASCAR’s top three national touring circuits.
The children peppered the 34-year-old with questions. As she was answering them, practice for the Cup Series began and roars from the engines made hearing Spurlock impossible. So, she picked up a gold Sharpie and began signing autographs and taking photos with all of them.
“To have them come here to see me do something that's never been done before is great,” Spurlock said. “It gives them something different to look at, to see, to experience and to just be a motivation for them.”
The Black’s Tire 250 was supposed to run Friday night at Richmond, but a thunderstorm rolled in, soaked the track and pushed the race to Saturday afternoon. Spurlock, in the No. 2 Ford for Team Reaume, fell several laps down and finished 35th. But she was able to appreciate a few small victories: She qualified, didn’t wreck, finished the race and wasn’t last.
And, more importantly, she learned.
“The goal was to finish, but at the end of the day, I’m a competitor. I want to be able to be competitive, I want to be up there with the top runners,” Spurlock said. “But there is a reality - those guys running in the top have A1 equipment, they’ve been racing forever. I have to remind myself I’m only a few months into this. So, it’s okay, I love the sport. I’m literally learning in real time.”
Spurlock’s first foray into motorsports was racing motorcycles at the age of 16. In 2024, she made history as the first woman to win the DME Racing Real Street class in the XDA Motorcycle Drag Racing Series with a run at 178 miles per hour. A year later, she debuted in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle.
But NASCAR was always her first love and something she always wanted to try. She just needed the opportunity and the funding. Foxxtecca - a media and events company based in Detroit founded by Chris Harris and Kellie Crawford - have put their money, resources and support behind Spurlock this year as she begins her journey in stockcar racing.
“It’s been a great year. I give all the credit to my team. They vibe for me,” Spurlock said. “They want to make sure that whatever it looks like that needs to get done, they do it. I didn't expect to be doing as well as I have been. I still don’t know a lot yet and I’m thankful for the other drivers that have given me input.”
Spurlock made her debut in the ARCA Menards Series - akin to NASCAR’s minor leagues - on March 28 at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway. While it no longer hosts NASCAR Cup Series races, it’s a venue steeped in the sport’s history. Ralph Earnhardt was a track champion there, and legends like Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett and David Pearson all captured checkered flags at Hickory between 1953 and 1971.
When Spurlock got behind the wheel of the No. 66 Chevrolet for MBM Motorsports there, another piece of history was written at Hickory as Spurlock became the first Black woman to drive in the ARCA Series. She finished seventh that day and has had four other top-15 finishes in seven ARCA races.
“I’ve never been that person who wants to be out here just to drive. I want to learn what it takes for the car or the truck to be as great as it can be. I want to learn about the track bar, the shocks, the springs, all the things,” Spurlock said. “I know that there's other people that have been racing since they were 5, but that's okay. I'm going to do what I can learn.”
After some strong results in ARCA, Spurlock set her sights on NASCAR. She went to the Truck Series race at Watkins Glen, but failed to qualify. Undeterred, she returned the next week at Dover and joined two other women on the track, Toni Breidinger and Natalie Decker, and qualified 34th in the 36-truck field.
Spurlock’s historic day, where she became the first Black woman to drive in NASCAR, was cut short when she got loose coming out of Turn 2, spun and hit one of the hard walls at the Monster Mile.
In practice at Richmond on Friday, Spurlock spun twice, but took away lessons from each incident and recovered to hit her marks in qualifying.
“Spinning is a part of it, you know, especially when you're learning,” Spurlock said. “I don't have a lot of experience as of yet in the truck, so you kind of have to try things. You have to push a little harder and see where it'll take and where it gives. I just have a really short-term memory when it comes to it, and I just go back out there and try to hit my points again. When you spin, you know it’s not going to work, so you try the opposite.”
The Truck Series race at Richmond was filled with a wide variety of drivers in terms of ages and experience. There was 16-year-old Tristan McKee making his NASCAR debut, 51-year-old Elliott Sadler returning to the sport for the first time in seven years, up-and-coming drivers like Layne Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt and eight-time Cup Series winner Shane van Gisbergen.
But even a driver like McKee has more experience in stockcars than Spurlock, as he’s been racing late-models since he was 10 years old. She told her team on the radio her truck felt loose and brake issues led her to fall laps behind early.
Still, Spurlock saw an opportunity to learn even as the race leaders lapped her.
“The best time for me to learn is when I'm actually racing,” Spurlock said. “So, when I get behind someone like Shane van Gisbergen or Kaden Honeycutt, I'm following their line. I'm seeing where they're lifting, I'm seeing where they're braking, I'm seeing how much they're braking and when they're getting on the gas on exit. I take that time to be a true student of the sport.
“I’m very much a show-me person. If I see it and do it, I’m like a sponge.”
The next race for Spurlock will be at the ARCA Series finale at Kansas on Sept. 25. She finished 10th there in April.
Spurlock is already mapping out her future in motorsports. The plan next year, Foxxtecca’s Chris Harris says, is for her to run a full season in ARCA with MBM Motorsports and do a part-time schedule in the NASCAR Truck Series.
She’s confident that the more she races, the more she’ll learn and the more she’ll improve.
“Seat time is the best time,” Spurlock said. “Next year is going to be better.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In second NASCAR race, Dystany Spurlock learns, savors small victories