Armani Williams

Armani Williams
Williams at Pocono Raceway in 2022
Born	(2000-04-14) April 14, 2000 (age 24) Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S.
ARCA Menards Series career
Debut season	2020
Current team	MBM Motorsports
Car number	No. 13
Former teams	Fast Track Racing
Starts	3
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	45th in 2020
Finished last season	2020
Previous series
2018–2019 2018–2019	NASCAR K&N Pro Series East NASCAR K&N Pro Series West
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
2 races run over 1 year
Car no., team	No. 6 (MBM Motorsports) No. 35 (Joey Gase Motorsports)
First race	2024 SciAps 200 (Loudon)
Last race	2024 Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
7 races run over 3 years
2023 position	66th
Best finish	65th (2022)
First race	2021 Toyota 200 (Gateway)
Last race	2023 Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Canada Series career
6 races run over 2 years
First race	2017 Fast Eddie/CHOKO 250 (Delaware)
Last race	2018 Visit New Hampshire 100 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
ARCA Menards Series career
3 races run over 2 years
First race	2020 General Tire 150 (Phoenix)
Last race	2024 Hard Rock Bet 200 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of October 26, 2024.

Armani Williams (born April 14, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 13 Toyota Camry for MBM Motorsports. He has also competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well as what are now the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West in the past.

Williams is the first NASCAR driver openly diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Over the course of his NASCAR career, Williams' cars have often sported blue paint schemes with the blue autism puzzle pieces to symbolize his diagnosis on the spectrum and to raise awareness. He is also one of four African-American drivers currently competing in NASCAR, along with Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace, Rajah Caruth, and Blake Lothian.

Racing career

Williams great-grandfather owned an auto-body repair shop creating the foundation for automobiles in the family. Williams in particular loved to play with Hot Wheels toy cars as a child, and later discovered NASCAR on TV and immediately began watching races. He soon decided it was what he wanted to do as a career, so he began racing go-karts at age 8, and eventually bandoleros after that.^[1] Specifically, he attended a competitive go-karting school and then participated in go-kart races.^[2]

Williams originally competed in the ARCA Truck Series,^[3] which was shut down during his time racing in that series, so he moved to the NASCAR Pinty's Series in Canada in 2017. Driving for his mentor, D. J. Kennington,^[1] Williams drove his No. 28 Dodge in five races (plus withdrawing from a sixth), with a best finish of eleventh in his debut race at Delaware Speedway. He made one start in 2018 for Peter Simone's No. 97 Dodge at New Hampshire, where he earned his first top-10 finish in the series with a ninth-place.

He raced once in both the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West in 2018 for Calabrese Motorsports and Patriot Motorsports Group, respectively. He returned to the Patriot team, renamed Kart Idaho Racing, in 2019 (after a change in ownership), after not qualifying for the race at Irwindale driving the No. 35 for Vizion Motorsports. After Williams' DNQ, John Wood stepped out of his No. 38 for Williams to drive it, where he finished twelfth. In the East Series, Williams competed with Kart Idaho at New Hampshire, finishing eleventh in that race.

Williams in 2020 would make his debut in the ARCA Menards Series at Phoenix, where he drove Fast Track Racing's No. 01 car to a 17th-place finish. He would then run team's No. 12 car at Michigan, where he scored a top-ten finish.^[4]

In 2021, he made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Gateway in the No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Toyota, finishing 21st.

In 2022, he will attempt two more races (originally 3 until Josh Reaume's Darlington throwback was released).

Personal life

Diagnosed at age two,^[5] Williams is on the autism spectrum and spoke his first word at three years old. He did have some social interaction and sensory issues growing up, as other people on the spectrum do, but quickly learned to improve and overcome them with the help of his parents.^[6]

He and his father attended the 2010 Brickyard 400 when he was ten which sparked his interest in racing along with playing with toy cars at home and watching NASCAR races on TV. He attends Oakland University studying mechanical engineering.^[6] His favorite driver growing up was Jimmie Johnson.^[2]

He is from Grosse Pointe, Michigan^[1] and had a 3.0 GPA at his high school while balancing school and racing.^[5]

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.)

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity 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	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2024	MBM Motorsports	6	Ford	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	COA	RCH	MAR	TEX	TAL	DOV	DAR	CLT	PIR	SON	IOW	NHA 33	NSH	CSC	POC	IND	MCH	DAY	DAR	ATL	GLN	BRI	KAN	TAL	ROV	LVS				72nd	6	[7]
	Joey Gase Motorsports	35	Ford																															HOM 35	MAR	PHO

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman 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	NCTC	Pts	Ref
2021	Reaume Brothers Racing	33	Toyota	DAY	DAY	LVS	ATL	BRI	RCH	KAN	DAR	COA	CLT	TEX	NSH	POC	KNX	GLN	GTW 21	DAR	BRI	LVS	TAL	MAR	PHO		72nd	16	[8]
2022		43		DAY	LVS	ATL	COA	MAR	BRI	DAR	KAN	TEX DNQ	CLT	GTW	SON	KNO	NSH	MOH	POC 31	IRP	RCH						65th	10	[9]
			Chevy																			KAN 35	BRI	TAL	HOM
	Young's Motorsports	20	Chevy																							PHO 35
2023	G2G Racing	46	Toyota	DAY	LVS	ATL	COA	TEX 29	BRI	MAR	KAN	DAR	NWS	CLT 35	GTW	NSH	MOH	POC	RCH	IRP DNQ	MLW	KAN	BRI	TAL	HOM 31	PHO	66th	16	[10]

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

K&N Pro Series East

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	NKNPSEC	Pts	Ref
2018	Calabrese Motorsports	43	Ford	NSM	BRI	LGY	SBO	SBO	MEM 16	NJM	THO	NHA	IOW	GLN	GTW	NHA	DOV	53rd	28	[11]
2019	Kart Idaho Racing	38	Ford	NSM	BRI	SBO	SBO	MEM	NHA	IOW	GLN	BRI	GTW	NHA 11	DOV			38th	33	[12]

K&N Pro Series West

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	NKNPSWC	Pts	Ref
2018	Patriot Motorsports Group	34	Ford	KCR	TUS	TUS	OSS	CNS	SON	DCS	IOW	EVG 15	GTW	LVS	MER	AAS	KCR	49th	29	[13]
2019	Vizion Motorsports	35	Chevy	LVS	IRW DNQ													51st	32	[14]
	Kart Idaho Racing	38			IRW 12	TUS	TUS	CNS	SON	DCS	IOW	EVG	GTW	MER	AAS	KCR	PHO

Pinty's Series

NASCAR Pinty's Series results
Year	Team owner	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points	Ref
2017	DJK Racing	28	Dodge	MOS	DEL 11	CHA	ICA	TOR	WYA 14	WYA 13	EDM	TRO	RIV 12	MOS	STE	JUK 13	17th	157	[15]
2018	Peter Simone	97	Dodge	MSP	JUK	ACD	TOR	SAS	SAS	EIR	CTR	RIS	MSP	ASE	NHA 9	JUK	42nd	35	[16]

ARCA Menards Series

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

ARCA Menards 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	AMSC	Pts	Ref
2020	Fast Track Racing	01	Ford	DAY	PHO 17	TAL	POC	IRP	KEN	IOW	KAN	TOL	TOL											45th	61	[17]
		12	Chevy											MCH 10	DAY	GTW	L44	TOL	BRI	WIN	MEM	ISF	KAN
2024	MBM Motorsports	13	Toyota	DAY 13	PHO	TAL	DOV	KAN	CLT	IOW	MOH	BLN	IRP	SLM	ELK	MCH	ISF	MLW	DSF	GLN	BRI	KAN	TOL	87th	31	[18]

^* Season still in progress

References

1. Segal, Davey (August 20, 2018). "Armani Williams Defying the Odds and Living His Dream in NASCAR". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
2. "Get to know Armani Williams in 6 questions". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. October 31, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
3. Johnson, Elizabeth Ofosuah (June 12, 2019). "Meet the first autistic NASCAR driver who is only 18 years old". Face2FaceAfrica. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
4. Torres, Luis (August 9, 2020). "Armani Williams Scores First Career ARCA Top 10 at Michigan". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
5. Campbell, Jason (June 30, 2017). "17-Year-Old Armani Williams is NASCAR'S First Driver with Autism". BlackDoctor.org. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
6. Sandison, Ron (September 10, 2018). "An Interview With Armani Williams, The First NASCAR Driver On The Autism Spectrum". The Art of Autism. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
7. "Armani Williams – 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
8. "Armani Williams – 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
9. "Armani Williams – 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
10. "Armani Williams – 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
11. "Armani Williams – 2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
12. "Armani Williams – 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
13. "Armani Williams – 2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
14. "Armani Williams – 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
15. "Armani Williams – 2017 NASCAR Pinty's Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
16. "Armani Williams – 2018 NASCAR Pinty's Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
17. "Armani Williams – 2020 ARCA Menards Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
18. "Armani Williams – 2024 ARCA Menards Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 17, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Armani Williams driver statistics at Racing-Reference