From 2017 to 2021 he ran for his own race team that he co-owned with his family, being the youngest team owner in NASCAR history at only the age of 16.
He returned to Martinsville in the spring of 2018, driving for Beaver Motorsports. In his first race with live pit stops, Cram accidentally hit a crew member on his first pit stop and climbed to a 17th-place finish on the lead lap.[4] Cram's third attempt was also at Martinsville; this time it was a joint effort between his family Cram Racing Enterprises and Copp Motorsports. He finished 24th and also ran the next race on the schedule at ISM Raceway in the No. 83.[5]
In 2020, Cram served as a mechanic for the No. 6 NASCAR Xfinity Series team of JD Motorsports. He also ran Truck races for Long Motorsports and Reaume Brothers Racing.[6] Cram left Long Motorsports in August for financial reasons,[7] but later purchased the team and ran the No. 41 under the Cram Racing Enterprises banner for the rest of the 2020 Truck season.[8]
In 2022, Cram announced that he would attempt the Xfinity Series' September Darlington race driving the No. 35 car for Emerling-Gase Motorsports. He qualified for the race and finished 30th. He would also attempt to qualify for two races in the Mike Harmon Racing No. 47 car but failed to qualify. He also drove the MBM Motorsports No. 13 in the season-finale at Phoenix, which he did qualify for, and finished 31st.
In 2023, Cram would run the majority of the Xfinity Series season in the No. 74 car for CHK Racing (formerly Mike Harmon Racing). However, he and the team would fail to qualify for the majority of the races they attempted. After one of the races that they did qualify for, Charlotte in May, Cram and the team lost 10 driver and owner points due to the car having an air duct violation. He became one of the few drivers in NASCAR history to have a negative point total in the standings at some point in a season. (Michael Waltrip in 2007 in the Cup Series is another example after he was penalized during Daytona 500 Speedweeks that year.)[11] He would also drive the SS-Green Light Racing No. 07 car at Martinsvillein April and the Alpha Prime Racing No. 44 car at Darlingtonin September.[12] He would also drive the G2G Racing No. 47 in the Truck Series race at Darlington in May. His team would later be penalized with the loss of 25 owner points for having an outdated window net in that race.[13]
On December 6, 2023, it was announced that Cram will run full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2024, driving the No. 4 car for JD Motorsports.[14] After four races, Cram would be scaled back to a part-time schedule. In July 2024, it was reported that back in April 2024, JD Motorsports had filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and laid off several of their employees. Starting at Pocono, Cram would return to Mike Harmon Racing in their No. 74 car and would qualify for the race after his original team, JD Motorsports withdrew their No. 6 entry. This would be the first race that MHR had qualified for all year. Cram would crash on Lap 1 and would finish the race in 38th. At Darlington he would back in the No. 74 but would fail to qualify. The next week at Atlanta he would qualify for the race but would retire after 18 laps due to engine troubles. He would once again fail to qualify at Bristol. On September 10, it was announced that Cram would drive for DGM Racing in their No. 92 entry for 5 races starting at Kansas.
Personal life
Cram's father Kevin Cram is a former crew chief in all three NASCAR national series and his uncle Clinton Cram is still in the profession, crew chiefing Dawson's first Truck attempt.[15][16][17]
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.)
^"(Twitter post)". Twitter. Alpha Prime Racing. August 30, 2023. @dawsoncram41 joins the team lineup this weekend at @TooToughToTame! He will honor @kylepetty and his 2003 colors.
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