Three years after making his NASCAR Xfinity Series début for RSS Racing, C.J. McLaughlin has rejoined the team on a thirteen-race schedule for 2022. His slate will begin with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on 19 February. He will drive the #38 Ford Mustang with sponsorship from SciAps, who has supported McLaughlin throughout his career and for whom he currently works as a business development specialist.
“To be at Daytona in my own car with my name on it, I mean, when I was a kid, that was our one vacation a year, to go to Daytona,” said McLaughlin. “Now to be there in my own car with my name over the window, it means everything to me. I love that SciAps is behind this 100 percent.”
Following Daytona, he will race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5 March), Talladega Superspeedway (23 April), Texas Motor Speedway (21 May), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (16 July), Michigan International Speedway (6 August), Daytona 2 (26 August), Bristol Motor Speedway (16 September), Texas 2 (24 September), Talladega 2 (1 October), Las Vegas 2 (15 October), Homestead-Miami Speedway (22 October), and Martinsville Speedway (29 October).
After sporadic competition in the ARCA Menards Series and Camping World Truck Series, McLaughlin made his first Xfinity appearance at New Hampshire in 2019 for RSS, where he finished twenty-eighth. He ran four more races with the team that year, recording a best finish of twenty-third at Bristol.
2020 saw McLaughlin run the first and final races of the season in RSS’ #93, finishing twenty-seventh and thirty-seventh respectively. He also made two starts for B.J. McLeod Motorsports, the second of which at Texas saw him score his best career national series finish of twentieth. The run was equalled in the 2021 Truck race at Las Vegas with Reaume Brothers Racing, for whom he drove four races that year. His 2021 itinerary also included two runs for MBM Motorsports and four with Mike Harmon Racing, though he only finished one (thirty-seventh at Atlanta with MBM).
RSS fields the #39 Mustang full-time for owner/driver Ryan Sieg, while the team announced in October plans to field another car. In 2021, the #38 was used for a one-off by Sieg at Phoenix while his brother Kyle was in his #38. Parker Retzlaff will also drive the #38 in ten races for 2022.