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Following Sunday afternoon’s Can-Am 500 race near Phoenix, TriStar Motorsports announced that driver Cole Whitt has retired from NASCAR competition.
The 27-year-old native of San Diego, California, raced his 13th and final Cup Series event of the 2018 season at ISM Raceway where he started in 34th and finished 25th. His best finish for this season was at the spring Texas race, where he passed the checkered flag in 19th place.
In a Twitter post, TriStar Motorsports thanked Whitt for his contributions to the team and wished him the best in his future endeavors outside of racing.
Whitt accumulated 161 Cup Series starts during his career and ran the entire Cup schedule in 2014, ’15, and ’17. Over the years, Whitt has earned 13 top-20 finishes and a best result of 11th in the 2016 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
In both of his first two full Cup seasons, Whitt finished 31st in the points standings.
Before ending his driving career behind the wheel of the No. 72 entry for TriStar Motorsports, Whitt also drove for Swan Racing, BK Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and Premium Motorsports.
In 2011, Whitt became the first rookie to lead the points standings in the Camping World Truck Series and ended the season ninth in points. The following year, Whitt moved up to the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series driving for JR Motorsports, where he finished the season in seventh place while racking up four top-five finishes.
