The day is finally here! Seventeen-year-old Brent Crews officially makes his long-awaited O’Reilly Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing at the iconic Circuit of the Americas. After being announced last November as the near–full-time driver of the No. 19 in the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Crews had to sit out a couple of early races because of age restrictions. But today marks the start of his next chapter, built on talent, maturity, and a surprisingly honest view of why he once walked away from a potential Formula One path.

Why Brent Crews walked away from Formula One

Looking back nearly eight years, Brent Crews remembers the moment he realized Formula One just wasn’t for him. As he recounted, “I was probably nine years old, ten years old, and I was like, ‘I can’t do it.’ And he was like, ‘Why? F1 is so cool.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t want to go racing where there are only two to four cars that can win every week. I want everyone to have a chance to win, and it just be the best driver won.’”

At the time, his observations weren’t wrong. During that era, the Mercedes‑AMG Petronas Formula One Team powerhouse was steamrolling the grid. With Lewis Hamilton taking championships in 2014, 2015, and 2017–2020, and teammate Nico Rosberg winning in 2016, the competitive balance in F1 was heavily skewed. Only a handful of cars realistically had a shot at victory each weekend. And it was exactly the environment young Crews wanted to avoid.

To understand why, it helps to break down the structure of Formula One: teams with the most money and engineering resources naturally rise to the top. F1 rewards innovation, wind-tunnel time, exotic materials, and massive technical departments capable of finding tenths of a second. The result? Periods of dominance! Mercedes in the hybrid era, Red Bull in others, while many midfield teams simply hope for points rather than wins.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

NASCAR, however, operates under a completely different philosophy. Instead of technological arms races, NASCAR relies on a spec-car system designed to keep competition tight. This parity model means winning isn’t reserved for a select few. From 2014 to 2020 alone, champions came from a range of organizations like Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Furniture Row Racing. It’s working proof that success is far more evenly spread.

For Crews, that balance matters. It’s why he chose NASCAR, why today’s debut carries so much meaning, and why his journey is built on a simple belief he formed as a kid: the best racing is the kind where anyone can win.

The path he chose instead

While a potential Formula One opportunity hovered in front of a young Brent Crews, he ultimately forged a very different path. It was deeply rooted in American racing culture and built on merit, grit, and raw talent. That journey began at the GoPro Motorplex, where Crews first climbed into a go-kart and immediately showed promise. By 2016, he wasn’t just competing. Instead, he was winning, capturing the USPKS rookie-class championship and planting the seeds of a remarkable career.

That same year, Crews jumped into outlaw karts, embracing dirt racing with a level of fearlessness that quickly set him apart. His rise was meteoric. He climbed from Box Stocks to the Open Class and, by 2019, became the first driver ever to win in every outlaw kart class at Millbridge Speedway. Additional victories, like the Outlaw Kart Nationals in Knoxville, further cemented his reputation as a natural.

In 2022, Crews transitioned to pavement with a full season in the SCCA Trans-Am TA2 ProAm Series with Nitro Motorsports. Mid-season at Road America, he made history. Crews earned his first pole and became the youngest-ever Trans-Am race winner at just 14 years, three months, and four days. That same year, he made his late model debut, cruising to the CARS Pro Late Model Tour championship with an average finish of 2.0. He continued his dominance in 2024 with multiple Late Model Stock victories and a Rookie of the Year title.

Then came ARCA. Driving for Venturini Motorsports and later Joe Gibbs Racing, Crews stacked wins across ARCA Menards, ARCA East, and ARCA West – Phoenix, Rockingham, IRP, Bristol, Springfield, and more. Each outing reinforced that his talent translated at every level.

By 2025, he entered the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Tricon Garage before forming his own team and earning multiple top tens. And finally, in late 2025, Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed Crews would pilot the No. 19 Toyota nearly full-time in 2026. It was a culmination of a path built not on shortcuts or politics, but pure racing DNA.

This is the journey Brent Crews chose: diverse, demanding, and entirely earned.