Dystany Spurlock is hungry to get after it.
History will coincide with this hunger in the grandest of ways at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday, with Spurlock, 34, making her NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut as driver of the No. 69 MBM Motorsports Ford (5 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). With the start, Spurlock will become the first Black woman to compete in one of NASCAR’s three national series.
RELATED: Dystany Spurlock ARCA page | Weekend schedule
“I’m very excited to get back on an oval,” Spurlock told NASCAR.com. “I hear [Dover] has a few characteristics like Rockingham [Speedway]. So, yeah, I’m ready to get out there and see what it’s really like.”
Spurlock traces her racing roots to childhood, when, at age 12, her godfather took her to a drag racing event. It was love at first sight, with the passion only growing from there. At 16, Spurlock received her first motorcycle, and her racing journey took off, eventually leading her to compete in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle circuit. In 2025, she became the second Black woman in history to compete in the Virginia NHRA Nationals.
Her motorsports passion expanded ever further this year. In March, she made her ARCA Menards Series East debut, wheeling the No. 66 MBM Ford to a seventh-place result at Hickory Motor Speedway. A subsequent start at Rockingham followed, with Spurlock again finishing inside the top 15. Two starts then came in ARCA Menards Series action; Spurlock finished 10th at Kansas Speedway in April and 29th at Watkins Glen International in May.
“The speed plays a huge factor because it doesn’t affect me — like, it doesn’t scare me, or don’t really have to get used to it, per se, because drag racing, we can go up to 200 miles an hour,” Spurlock said on lessons that have translated to stock cars. “That was already there, so that was one less thing I had to overcome. And I would definitely say the reaction. Everything is a reaction. Everything is speed. You have to do everything as precise as possible on a drag strip when it comes to that. So coming over to racing in NASCAR, my reaction is there, so now it’s just about me having to learn the race craft of the sport here in NASCAR.”
Spurlock’s Truck Series debut could’ve come sooner than the 1-mile, concrete “Monster Mile” confines, as she entered the race at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen road course a weekend prior. And while Spurlock did not qualify for the race, she learned many lessons that have only made the King William, Virginia, native as motivated as ever.
“I really feel that I would have had a better outcome if it wasn’t wet from the rain,” Spurlock said of her Truck attempt at The Glen. “So I do feel like that was an issue for me because I wasn’t able to get up to speed as quickly as I wanted to. But again, it’s racing. Things like this happen. It just gave me drive to put in more work that I possibly can to get ready and prepared for this weekend.”
Dystany Spurlock prepares for ARCA Menards Series East practice at Rockingham Speedway.
Spurlock has heeded advice from NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Lavar Scott on navigating her looming national-series debut. Scott — who coincidentally made his NASCAR debut at Dover last season and is learning the full-time O’Reilly Series ropes this year — works out at the same training facility as Spurlock and has provided her with pointers during simulator sessions.
Scott has been instrumental in Spurlock for the contest ahead, she explained.
“Lavar is the first person I call … I look at him like a little brother,” Spurlock said. “I’m like, OK, Lavar, you’ve been here before. What are the ins and outs that I need to know? So the fact that he’s even willing to sit down with me, go over everything in detail, is so amazing. I know this is now a year that he’s been in [O’Reilly], but all of the racing experience that he has over the years, I can definitely tell it when he’s helping me because it’s almost like he’s a driver coach. I’m very grateful for Lavar because he’s definitely helped me on the sim and for real-life, on-track things.”
MORE: Dover weekend hub | Truck Series schedule
Representation, to Spurlock, is as important as ever. Including Spurlock, three women (Natalie Decker in the No. 22 Team Reaume Ford and Toni Breidinger in the No. 27 Rackley WAR Chevrolet) will compete with the tailgaiters this weekend.
“I love the fact that there are three of us because we didn’t have the representation,” Spurlock said. “The only person that we had to look up for as being a woman in NASCAR was Danica [Patrick]. So the fact that I’m seeing more women, especially in ARCA, like, it’s so many of us. That means a lot because I feel that from the feedback that I’ve gotten is women don’t do this. There’s rarely any women racers. So the fact that we have more and I’m able to race beside Toni and Natalie, it’s great. I feel like we need more women power, or girl power, in this sport, so it makes me happy.”
Although she’s yet to turn a lap, Spurlock is eager to get on track and absorb as much information as possible. And while Spurlock is not cementing any expectations ahead of the concrete debut, the Dover excitement is palpable.
Time to get after it.
“I would say just to be able to do everything that I learned, but do it at the highest level that I’m able to do it at,” Spurlock said. “I don’t want to have some expectations in my mind or things that I want to do on the track, and I don’t meet them for myself. So I want to be able to hit all my points as great as possible.”
