Jesse Hardin Little (born April 15, 1997) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 34

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro ...

for

Jesse Iwuji Motorsports Jesse Iwuji Motorsports is an American stock car racing team that competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. It was founded in 2021 by NFL hall of famer, Emmitt Smith, with NASCAR driver and United States Navy Reserve officer, Jesse Iwuji, ...

and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 02 and 20 Chevrolet Silverado for

Young's Motorsports Young's Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series. In the Truck Series, they field three full-time Chevrolet Silverados: the No. 02 for Jesse L ...

. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Chad Little. He and his father as well as Jason Little (Jesse's uncle and Chad's brother) previously owned a Truck, East and West Series

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

, which was known as Team Little Racing and then JJL Motorsports, from 2012 to 2019.

Racing career

Early career

A native of

Sherrills Ford, North Carolina Sherrills Ford is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place (CDP) in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 941 at the 2000 census. For the 2010 census it was included within the Lake Norman of Cat ...

and a third-generation racer, Little began his racing career in

quarter midgets Quarter midget racing is a form of automobile racing. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size midget car. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of a ...

at the age of 7, moving up to Bandoleros in 2007 and

Legends cars A legend is a historical narrative, a symbolic representation of folk belief. Legend(s) or The Legend(s) may also refer to: Narrative * Urban legend, a widely repeated story of dubious truth * A fictitious identity used in espionage Books, co ...

in 2009.Jesse Little
. NASCAR.com. Accessed 2013-10-19. He won the 2010 USAC Eastern Focus Young Guns

midget car Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on m ...

championship, and in 2011 competed in the UARA Stars late model series.

NASCAR

Little made his debut in NASCAR competition at the age of 15, competing in seven K&N Pro Series East events in 2012; driving a family-owned No. 97 Chevrolet, he was the youngest driver ever to start a race in the series. He returned to the K&N Pro Series East full-time in 2013, driving for Coulter Motorsports; he finished in the top 10 eight times on his way to the series' Rookie of the Year award. He returned to K&N East competition again in 2014, winning his first race at

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

. Little raced in the K&N East series on a part-time basis in 2015, winning at

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretc ...

with

Hattori Racing Enterprises Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) is a Japanese-American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Owned by former NASCAR and open-wheel driver Shigeaki Hattori they compete with the No. 1 ...

. In 2015, he added a limited schedule in the Camping World Truck Series in a partnership with

ThorSport Racing ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife ...

. In 2016, he joined his uncle's Truck Series team, JJL Motorsports. He made two attempts in the fall races at Texas and Homestead finishing 20th and 18th respectively. In 2017, Little and JJL returned, running 4 races. The first one was at Dover, where he finished 14th. He then finished a season-best 8th in Iowa. Little next raced at Bristol, continuing his strong performance, finishing 13th. His last start of 2017 came in Phoenix, where he was involved in a late-race crash, finishing 18th. In 2018, Little expanded his schedule to 9 races. He finished with six top tens, the highest finish a 6th at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, his best finish to date in the Truck Series. In July 2018, Little joined

Premium Motorsports Premium Motorsports (formerly Jay Robinson Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team last fielded the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 LE full-time for Brennan Poole, and the No. 27 Ca ...

for his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut in the

Quaker State 400 The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart, commonly known as simply the Quaker State 400, was a annual NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. The inaugural event was held on July 9, 2011 and was won by Kyle Bus ...

at Kentucky Speedway, driving the No. 7

Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

and finishing 35th. Little later joined Gaunt Brothers Racing at

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, also finishing 35th. In 2019, Little increased his Truck schedule again, planning to run 12 to 15 races in the newly renamed

Gander Outdoors Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of t ...

. On November 7, 2019,

JD Motorsports JD Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. It is owned and operated by Johnny Davis. It currently fields two Chevrolet Camaro SS teams: The No. 4 for Bayley Currey and ...

announced Little would race full-time for the team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series starting in 2020. Little finished 19th in points with two top-ten finishes. Little moved to B. J. McLeod Motorsports' No. 78 for the 2021 season. He lost his ride with McLeod's team to Josh Williams in 2022. On December 22, it was announced that Little would drive for

in the Truck Series for at least 12 races with the No. 02, splitting with

Kaz Grala Kaz Edward Grala ( ; born December 29, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. The Boston native is the youngest NASCAR ...

. Little also ran a one-off Xfinity event at Phoenix, replacing

Jesse Iwuji Jesse Ekene Iwuji ( ; born August 12, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver and officer in the United States Navy Reserve. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 34 Chevrolet Camaro for Jesse Iwuji ...

, whom was at his military duties. On September 14, 2022, Little announced that he would retire from NASCAR after the 2022 UNOH 200 at

Personal life

He is the son of former NASCAR driver Chad Little. They are not related to ''

NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable channel ...

'' pit reporter

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting duty for the 2007 and 2008 I ...

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.)

Monster Energy Cup Series

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

K&N Pro Series East

K&N Pro Series West

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Jesse Living people 1997 births People from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina Racing drivers from North Carolina NASCAR drivers