Ray Ciccarelli

Ray Ciccarelli (pronounced "siss-a-relli") (born January 20, 1970) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 49 Chevrolet Silverado for CMI Motorsports. He has also competed in what is now the ARCA Menards Series East and the ARCA Menards Series.[1]

Ray Ciccarelli
Ciccarelli at Pocono Raceway in 2018
Born	(1970-01-20) January 20, 1970 Ellicott City, Maryland
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series career
24 races run over 4 years
Truck no., team	No. 49 (CMI Motorsports)
2019 position	33rd
Best finish	33rd (2019)
First race	2017 Eldora Dirt Derby (Eldora)
Last race	2020 Henry Ford Health System 200 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of August 7, 2020.

Ciccarelli has said he will retire at the end of the 2020 season due to the decisions by NASCAR banning the display of the Confederate flag from their sporting events.[2]

Racing career

ARCA Racing Series

Ciccarelli drove part-time in the series in 2014, 2015, and 2016 for teams Carter 2 Motorsports, Kimmel Racing, Hamilton-Hughes Racing, and Hixson Motorsports. He started his own team, Ciccarelli Racing, for 2017. The team's first race came in the season-opener at Daytona where Ciccarelli finished 21st in his No. 38 Ford after a solid seventh-place qualifying run. The team returned at Talladega, although they used owner points from the full-time Hixson Motorsports No. 3 car to have a better shot of qualifying for the race (which they successfully did). Using that number instead of the No. 38 (which had only run Daytona), they picked up a thirteenth-place finish in the race. Ciccarelli had driven for the Hixson team in a few races in 2016.

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

Ciccarelli in the No. 0 for Jennifer Jo Cobb at Homestead in 2018.

Ciccarelli's No. 49 for his own team at Daytona in 2019.

In 2017, Ciccarelli made his Truck Series debut in the Eldora Dirt Derby, driving the No. 10 truck for Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing. He started 32nd and finished 22nd. After that, he start-and-parked the No. 0 truck for the same team in 4 races at Michigan, New Hampshire, Texas, and Phoenix. He finished 26th, 29th, 28th, and 26th respectively. He returned to the No. 10 truck at Homestead. He qualified 31st, but an engine malfunction before the green flag waved gave him a 32nd-place finish.[3][4]

In 2019, Ciccarelli acquired trucks, equipment, and owner points from the closed Premium Motorsports No. 49 truck[5] and restarted his own team, now under the name CMI Motorsports, which stood for "Ciccarelli Moving & Installation", a company owned by Ciccarelli and which is one of the team's sponsors. After running the first two races of the season, Ciccarelli and the CMI Motorsports team skipped the third round at Las Vegas with a planned comeback for the fourth round at Martinsville.[6]

NASCAR departure announcement

On June 10, 2020, Ciccarelli announced on Facebook that he intended to retire from NASCAR at the end of the 2020 season, decrying recent decisions by NASCAR that he believed ventured into the realm of politics.[2] The announcement came after NASCAR's decision to ban the presence of the Confederate flag at their events, due to the flag's longtime association with white supremacist groups, in the midst of the George Floyd protests.[7] Other NASCAR drivers praised the ban.[8]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	NGTC	Pts	Ref
2017	JJC Racing	10	Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	GTW	IOW	KEN	ELD 22	POC											HOM 32	38th	59	[9]
		0														MCH 26	BRI	MSP	CHI	NHA 29	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX 28	PHO 26
2018				DAY	ATL	LVS	MAR	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	IOW	GTW	CHI	KEN	ELD DNQ						TAL DNQ	MAR DNQ	TEX	PHO	HOM 25	61st	31	[10]
	Beaver Motorsports	50	Chevy														POC 27	MCH	BRI	MSP 28	LVS
2019	CMI Motorsports	49	Chevy	DAY 28	ATL 26	LVS	MAR DNQ	TEX 16	DOV 24	KAN	CLT	TEX	IOW	GTW	CHI	KEN DNQ	POC 19	ELD	MCH 9	BRI				MAR 21	PHO	HOM 31	33rd	130	[11]
	JJC Racing	0	Chevy																		MSP 29	LVS	TAL
2020	CMI Motorsports	49	Chevy	DAY DNQ	LVS	CLT	ATL	HOM 29	POC 27			KAN 32	KAN 24														-*	-*	[12]
		83								KEN 32	TEX			MCH 34	DAY	DOV	GTW	BRI	LVS	TAL	MAR	PHO

Busch East Series

NASCAR Busch East Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	NBESC	Pts	Ref
2006	Glidden Motorsports	83	Ford	GRE	STA	HOL	TMP	ERI	NHA	ADI 16	WFD 15	NHA 31	DOV DNQ	LRP	35th	331	[13]

ARCA Racing Series

ARCA Racing Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	ARSC	Pts	Ref
2014	Carter 2 Motorsports	97	Dodge	DAY	MOB	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE	POC	MCH	ELK	WIN	CHI	IRP 19	POC								44th	390	[14]
		40															BLN 19	ISF 22	MAD	DSF	SLM	KEN	KAN
2015	Kimmel Racing	68	Ford	DAY	MOB	NSH	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE	POC 32	MCH	CHI	WIN	IOW	IRP								90th	200	[15]
	Carter 2 Motorsports	97	Dodge														POC 20	BLN	ISF	DSF	SLM	KEN	KAN
2016	Hamilton-Hughes Racing	63	Dodge	DAY DNQ	NSH 33	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE															74th	300	[16]
	Hixson Motorsports	2	Chevy							POC 26	MCH	MAD	WIN	IOW	IRP 24	POC	BLN	ISF	DSF	SLM	CHI	KEN	KAN
2017	Ciccarelli Racing	38	Ford	DAY 21	NSH	SLM																		66th	290	[17]
		3					TAL 13	TOL	ELK	POC	MCH	MAD	IOW	IRP	POC	WIN	ISF	ROA	DSF	SLM	CHI	KEN	KAN

References

1. "Ray Ciccarelli NASCAR News, Rumors & Updates". FoxSports.com. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
2. Heim, Mark (June 10, 2020). "NASCAR's Ray Ciccarelli posts he's done at end of season, disagrees with Confederate flag policy". AL.com. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
3. "Ciccarelli makes NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with JJCR at Eldora". ESPN.com. July 14, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
4. Frederick, Cole (November 10, 2017). "Truck catches fire during NASCAR practice at Phoenix and driver has to evacuate fast". alt_driver. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
5. Beard, Brock (February 14, 2019). "PREVIEW: The ARCA invasion beefs up Truck Series entry list while the XFINITY Series struggles". LASTCAR. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
6. Beard, Brock (February 28, 2019). "PREVIEW: "Something old and something new" the theme of Las Vegas entry lists". LASTCAR. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
7. Morton, Victor (June 10, 2020). "NASCAR Truck Series driver to quit over Confederate flag ban". The Washington Times. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
8. "Bubba Wallace praises NASCAR's Confederate flag ban but one driver says he's quitting over decision". CBS News. June 11, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
9. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
10. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
11. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
12. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
13. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2006 NASCAR Busch East Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
14. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2014 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
15. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2015 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
16. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2016 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
17. "Ray Ciccarelli – 2017 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved March 1, 2018.

External links

• Ray Ciccarelli driver statistics at Racing-Reference