The off-season is almost over and Bayley Currey is looking forward to the green flag dropping on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Season. (Image: Action Sports Photography)
Joining The Podium Finish for the NASCAR Xfinity Series quarterly interviews is Bayley Currey. No stranger to the sport, Currey has over 100 starts across the top three tiers of NASCAR.
After running a partial schedule with the organization last season, 2022 brings excitement for the young Texan as he begins a full-time stint as the driver of the No. 4 for JD Motorsports.
In this pre-season conversation, he shared team goals, must-eats in Austin, schedule thoughts, and more. Get ready for the 2022 Xfinity season and let’s talk with Bayley Currey!
Terra Jones: We’ll start off with a Bayley Currey Crash Course for those who may not know a lot about you. You’re originally from Driftwood, Texas. I confess I had to Google that because I had never heard of it! You grew up racing go-karts and Bandoleros. One of our photographers, Sean Folsom, shared a trailer for the show Track Rats. And there was a very young Bayley Currey in the video! I also saw that Daniel Hemric was on the show, too.
So did you actually race against Hemric, or were you two running in different series and just on the show at the same time?
Bayley Currey: Yeah, we raced together! We were both in the Pro Division in the Legends Car Series. Pretty much as soon as I got into racing Legends Cars, like the kid series, the guy I was driving for at the time was like, “If you want to go try to be the best, you’re gonna have to race the best.” So I moved up right away, straight to the Pro Division. So yeah, I actually raced Daniel quite a bit back in the day.
Jones: That’s really awesome. I missed out on this show so I wasn’t sure how it worked. Is there anyone else that you raced against when you were younger that you’re running with now in Xfinity?
Currey: I raced Bubba Wallace a lot when I was young. As far as the Xfinity Series, I raced with Kyle Weatherman a lot. Chad Finchum, Mason Massey, the Bassett Brothers. I’m sure I’m forgetting some of them!
Jones: That’s so neat. Now, I also read that you are a Mechanical Engineering student. Obviously, racing is the main goal right now. But how do you hope to utilize that degree, either in your career now or in the future?
Currey: Well, to be honest, I’ve actually taken a break from school. Since my racing career has picked up I’ve decided to focus on that more and get everything out of it that I can. When I was doing mechanical engineering school, I was doing that almost like a backup plan. When I first moved out here, I didn’t know if racing would ever work out. I never thought I’d be where I’m at today. So that was always kind of a backup in case this wasn’t gonna work out. I was already out here so I could try to be an engineer for a team.
Jones: That definitely makes sense! And before we move to the track, share a little about the podcast you have.
Currey: Yeah, it’s called Real Men of Genius. Self-proclaimed men of genius. Me and a buddy of mine, Matt Hendricks, we just talk about whatever. It’s pretty racing-centric, I guess. We talk about things in the racing industry. Whenever we have guests on, we talk about some good old stories from growing up racing or even some behind-the-scenes stuff in NASCAR that no one ever gets to see. So that’s been a lot of fun.
I’m actually recording another one this evening. Stefan Parsons is going to be a guest. My normal co-host, Matt Hendricks has helped me out with some marketing stuff and has worked in the industry for about as long as I have really, doing pit crew stuff, social media stuff for teams, and things like that. So he’s on there. But, yeh. It’s a lot of fun. You can find it on Apple and Spotify. I tried to do the YouTube thing, but I haven’t done it a few episodes. But whenever I have guests, I’ve tried to make sure to do those as well.
Jones: Thanks for sharing all of that! Let’s look at 2022. It was announced you’ll be with JD Motorsports full time. So congratulations on that news! I imagine the consistency of a full-time ride is something you’ve looked forward to for some time. What are some goals and expectations you and your team have in place for this season?
Currey: Really, just maximize our efforts. We had some really good runs last year when I ran with Johnny (Davis), and then we had some that weren’t so hot as well. I think our good runs kind of outshined though. We had a couple bad runs at the end of the year, but I think if we can be consistent and run like we did at Texas, Vegas, Kansas, we can have a really good year. And one of the main goals is to be top 20 in Owner and Driver Points. I think that’s pretty big. Obviously, the purse money at the end of the year helps out the team a lot.
Bayley Currey hopes to maximize his efforts, leaning on the confidence of a full-time schedule in 2022. (Image: Action Sports Photography Inc)
And now that I’m starting to run a full year, to be able to have the confidence to know that I’m racing that next weekend and there’s no doubt. I’ve just got to go out there and perform. I’ve been working in the shop all off-season with Wayne (Carroll), my crew chief. We’ve been building some nice cars, getting ready for Daytona. We’ve about got the Daytona car ready now. So yeah! Really excited for the season!
Jones: That’s great! Thank you for sharing that. Along those lines of maximizing efforts, one of our team members at The Podium Finish, Stephen Conley, submitted this question. He said, “Every driver wants to win, but sometimes you’re kind of forced to pump the brakes on those expectations, especially when running with a smaller team. Knowing your talent may exceed what you’re driving at times, how do you balance getting the best out of the equipment, but not overstepping the line?”
Currey: Really, I go out there and I drive as hard as I can every week. Honestly, you want to win. But if you can’t win that week, you’re out there in that race and you’re looking at, “Okay, we’re gonna do the best we can to get the highest finish we can, regardless.” That’s what it comes down to. I feel like for me, I want to do better than I did last week. Every time. So that’s really how I look at it every week – do better than we did the last time, learn something new each week, and just continue to try to get better.
After seasons of piecing together rides, Bayley Currey heads into 2022 with a full-time schedule with JD Motorsports. (Image: Action Sports Photography Inc)
Jones: That’s definitely a great plan to have! Let’s look at the schedule a little bit. NASCAR didn’t really change up the Xfinity schedule too much this season. However, they added a trip to Portland. So first of all, what were your thoughts when you heard you were headed to the Pacific Northwest? And then how do you personally prepare for a track that’s brand new to the series?
Currey: My first thought was that’s a really long ways away! (laughs) That’s gonna be a long flight! And then getting ready for it. I remember I watched the IndyCar race there from last year, and I remember actually thinking, it was before the schedule came out, thinking “Man, that’s kind of a cool place for an Xfinity race!” And then, sure enough, a month later, it’s in there.
So to prepare, it’s not on iRacing which kind of makes things a little bit harder. But I’ve watched the ARCA West races they’ve had out there, watched IndyCar races. I watched like a 1995 NASCAR Supertruck race from out there. So really, just watching. I looked at it on Google Maps, studied the layout. I think it’s gonna be similar, setup-wise and driving-wise, to Watkins Glen – a lot of right-hand turns, not very many lefts.
But yeah, that’s really all you can do to prepare without a simulation and being able to go out there.
Jones: Sounds like you’ve done what you can! Continuing with newer tracks, last year, NASCAR threw dirt on Bristol and let the Trucks and the Cup Series have at it. For the second year in a row, Xfinity doesn’t get to participate. So are you okay with missing out or do you wish y’all had a shot at that?
Currey: I really wish we were going, honestly. I actually went and helped out with Neice Motorsports as a road crew guy. Really, I just wanted to go to see it and that was my free ticket to go. So I did that. And I remember thinking while watching practice, “Man, an Xfinity car would be the best thing here!” I think we put on one of the best shows every week and I think an Xfinity car around that place would put on a great show. I think they would have taken to the dirt very well.
It stinks that we’re not going, but I’m sure the team owners, and teams…actually, I don’t mind! I work in the shop! I’ll pressure wash that thing off! (laughs) I really don’t care. I just wanna go out there and have fun driving around! I’m sure they wouldn’t be super excited about it, but I would love to get a dirt race on the Xfinity Series schedule.
Jones: I agree. I think it would be so much fun! Another newer track is COTA and that’s a home race for you being an Austin area native. So for fans coming to the race, what are some of the places that they must see when they’re in town?
Currey: I don’t know about must-see, but I know must-eat!
Need to know where to eat while at COTA? Bayley Currey has you covered! (Image: Action Sports Photography Inc)
Jones: That works!
Currey: You’ve got to go to Matt’s El Rancho. It’s just South of Austin, downtown. Whenever I go home to visit, I probably eat there about three or four times in a matter of five days. It’s just that good. Like, if my flight lands around noon, we’re going there to eat lunch. I’d say there or Chuy’s. There’s a lot of great Mexican food around Austin, or really, I guess it’s Tex Mex.
But yeah, just going downtown too. I haven’t really been downtown a whole lot recently. But back in my college days, I used to go to Texas State, I would go down there quite a bit. Sixth Street, Rainey Street, a couple really cool areas with some bars on them and things like that. But yeah! Austin’s a really cool town. I really miss it a lot. There’s a lot of stuff to do down there, a lot of places, a lot of things to see. Too hard to name off the top of my head.
Jones: Sounds delicious and fun! It’s Quarterly Question time: We’re in the middle of the Winter Olympics. So if you could show up to the Winter Games and have a fighting chance to medal, what event are you participating in?
Currey: Snowboard Slopestyle, even though the judges really screwed up this year, in my opinion. I’m very big on snowboarding. All the snowboarders I follow on Instagram have just been going on about how the judges made the complete wrong call. But I would still say that. I love snowboarding. I love doing all the jumps and rails and things like that. So that would be the event I’d have to go for.
Jones: It’s so fun to watch! We’re hooked on it all. And then the last one for you. As you know, the beginning of the NASCAR season brings in a lot of new fans. So if I’m a new fan tuning in to the Xfinity race next weekend, give me three reasons to cheer for Bayley Currey.
Currey: Well, A: Everybody loves the underdog. I feel like we are a very competitive underdog with our team over here at JD Motorsports. I don’t know. B: I’m a pretty aggressive racer. So that’s kind of fun to watch! And, let’s see. Okay, if you have any relationship with the state of Texas, I think that’s another good reason! (laughs)
But yeah, I think we have a really good shot going to Daytona and we’re building a really nice piece. Hopefully, we can go there and do something with it!
A huge thank you to Bayley Currey and JD Motorsports for helping to make this series possible. Be sure to follow Currey’s social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to keep up with the latest!
