Joey Robert Gase was born on February 8, 1993, in the United States and grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he graduated from Xavier High School in 2011. He found his entry into motorsport as an eight-year-old in karting: in 2001, he won his first race in the Junior-1 karting class at Hawkeye Downs Speedway, the track that would become his sporting home in the years to come. A formative personal event cast a shadow over his youth when his mother, Mary Jo, passed away from a brain aneurysm when Gase was 18 years old; her organ donation saved or improved the lives of 66 people and became the driving force behind his later engagement off the racetrack.
His rise through the American junior series came via the ASA racing series starting in 2008 as well as starts in the ARCA Racing Series, the USAR Pro Cup Series, and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2010 and 2011. In August 2011, Gase made his debut in what was then the Nationwide Series at Iowa Speedway for Go Green Racing in the No. 39 Ford, before he was set to run the full season for this team in 2012, which only partially came to fruition due to sponsorship reasons. In 2013, he switched to Jimmy Means Racing, continued racing for Go Green Racing in parallel, and gained experience in the Camping World Truck Series, including a start-and-park effort in Atlanta for Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing.
Titles in the national NASCAR series have eluded Gase so far, but his resume features remarkable successes from the regional short-track scene: in 2007, he became the youngest driver ever to win the Modified-B championship at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, and in 2009 came the Late-Model title at Hawkeye Downs Speedway, also as the youngest champion in the track’s history. His best career performance to date in the Xfinity Series was marked by a fifth-place finish in May 2015. For his engagement in promoting organ donation, he was recognized after the 2015 season with the inaugural Comcast Community Champion Award. With over 300 Xfinity starts and nearly 100 Cup Series starts to his credit, Gase ranks among the most experienced drivers in the field, and at the end of 2021, he founded Joey Gase Motorsports, his own Xfinity team.
In the 2026 season, Joey Gase is running full-time for NY Racing Team in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he had previously competed in the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. After years as a part-time driver and team owner, he is seeking continuity in this role and a more stable platform to build on earlier highlights such as his fifth-place finish in 2015 and to continue bringing his commitment to organ donation to the big stage of the Cup Series.
Joey Gase in the News