NASCAR Driver Loses Ride Halfway Through Season

What’s Happening?

Kris Wright will reportedly not return to OUR Motorsports’ No. 5 entry following a mutual departure from the team.

• Wright was initially listed as the driver of the No. 5 for this weekend’s race at Dover; however, he was removed from the entry list and replaced with Kaz Grala on Tuesday Morning. According to Joseph Srigley of TobyChristie.com, Wright will not return to the team this season.
• Wright, a 30-year-old from Wexford, Pennsylvania, was just 18 races into what was supposed to be his first full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In those starts, Wright had the worst average finish amongst full-time drivers, 27.4, and one top five. OUR has yet to announce who, or if any driver, will take over the No. 5 full-time for the rest of the 2025 season.
• This was a stark comparison to most, including Anthony Alfredo, whom Wright replaced in the No. 5 this season. When OUR announced the switch in 2024, fans questioned the reasoning, as Wright was a journeyman driver with little to show from his starts in ARCA and the lower two NASCAR National Series.
• Despite his poor performances, Wright has found himself in the spotlight. This was thanks in part to a back-and-forth, both on the track and X, with DGM Racing’s Josh Bilicki. The two exchanged comments online following multiple weeks of run-ins on the track. Wright also landed in hot water with fans after inadvertently wrecking Justin Allgaier while the No. 7 was leading at Texas Motor Speedway in May.
• Grala, who is a journeyman driver himself, is a veteran of the Xfinity Series, with seven top fives and 19 top tens in 78 starts. Yet, the 26-year-old has just one National Series start this season, a 22nd-place finish with Sam Hunt Racing in the Xfinity Series race at Chicago.

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