Max Gresham joins Eddie Sharp Racing for five races

Eddie Sharp always wanted three trucks on the track in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS). Max Gresham always wanted to return to a championship-caliber team.

 

Gresham is last year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion, NASCAR’s top development series.

 

This year, both will get their wish with a selected five-race schedule agreement for the second half of the 2012 season.

 

Gresham will drive the No. 8 Made In USA Brand (MIUSA) Chevrolet for truck races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

Eddie Sharp Racing (ESR) will continue to compete for the NCWTS championship with Justin Lofton and Cale Gale.

 

“I have known the Greshams for a while, and when a series of events changed things for them, this opportunity presented itself,” team owner Eddie Sharp said. “They wanted to try something different and we were in a good position to bring them on to our team. We want to run our third truck, which has been a goal of mine from the beginning. So it was a matter of them contacting me and going in this direction.

 

“I am very honored and excited to have the opportunity to work with Max.”

 

Lofton currently is fourth in the NCWTS point standings with a victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 18. Lofton won the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Racing Series championship with ESR in 2009. Gale is 14th in the NCWTS standings.

 

“We feel that Max has a lot of talent, and has definitively shown his ability to win races and a championship at another level,” Sharp said. “Our job has long been to build winners and get people where they want to be. So this is a win-win opportunity. I get a talented young man to put in my equipment, and we are proving to the world that we are for real.”

 

Gresham’s debut with the team will come at his home track. He grew up in Griffin, Ga., just minutes from the Atlanta Motor Speedway. He started his career in the Bandolero Bandit Series in 2002 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he was 8-years old. After advancing to the Legends Car Series he won the track championship in 2005. He also won the Legends Car Semi-Pro National Championship in 2006 at the age of 13.

 

ESR is another opportunity to establish Gresham’s rise in the NASCAR ranks.

 

“I hate to use the word excited, but I can’t help it. I am super excited to go drive for Eddie Sharp Racing. It is hard to describe how much this means to me,” the 19-year-old driver said. “It will be a new leaf in my racing career, and a solid step in the right direction to demonstrate the potential that I have in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. It is going to be a strong step, and a productive one for me.”

 

And definitely a step that satisfies goals both Sharp and Gresham have had for a while.

 

ESR