South Jersey’s Lavar Scott is NASCAR’s third active Black driver. He’s ‘trying to change the whole dynamic of motorsports.’

Racing has always been in Lavar Scott’s DNA, stemming from the auto repair shop in Carneys Point, N.J., that his grandfather, Wayne Scott Sr., founded in 1978.

His older brother, mother Sonia, aunts and uncles, and even Wayne all raced growing up, mostly in drag racing. Scott began his racing journey when he was 5 years old on dirt tracks across Pennsylvania and Delaware. In trying to follow his older brother’s footsteps, Scott quickly developed an affinity for the sport, one that would lead to him becoming one of just a handful of Black NASCAR drivers.

“I just raced all my life and fell in love with the sport, just from the fact that when we show up to the racetrack when I was younger, show up with the cars that my grandfather worked on, helped build, and it was a family effort, family team,” Scott told The Inquirer recently. “We [would] drive to the racetrack together, and then doing that and winning races like that, you don’t find that other type of love and I guess gratitude for something like in any other sport that I played.”

Scott raced on dirt tracks until he was 14. When he turned 15, he transitioned to racing on asphalt tracks to try and seriously pursue a career in racing, which meant moving to Charlotte, N.C., to make that happen.

From those humble beginnings, Scott, now 22, has risen quickly. Six years ago, he was accepted into the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and is working his way toward racing at the highest level. Last month, Scott began his first year racing full-time in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the second-tier of the sport.

He credits his Pa. roots.

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“[I] became really good, worked hard at it, had a chance to move down south at 16 to become part of the NASCAR diversity program and be a part of Rev Racing,” Scott said. “I raced for Rev for five years throughout the ranks of late models, ARCA legends, [and] just had a really good few years with them. I was rookie of the year in 2024 in the ARCA [Menards Series].

“It all comes from racing back at home in the Pennsylvania area. We used to race there three times a week. It was a full-time job really as a kid racing. And that’s what got me to this point, was doing it consistently.”

Scott, whose racing journey will bring him back to the area later this year, is just the third active Black driver in the sport. He joins NASCAR star Bubba Wallace and fellow O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Rajah Caruth, who went through NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program with Scott. The two have continued their friendship on and off the track, and leaned on one another as they try to grow the sport.

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“I think me and Rajah go through so many things and we kind of battle it together,” Scott said. “We’re really in a team a little bit, trying to change the whole dynamic of motorsports and bring more of us alike in the sport.

“And it’s so good to have someone like him to do it with, because Rajah is a not only a great driver, but he’s a great person. … I really connect with [him], aside from just being a professional athlete together. He’s not just a teammate or just a friend, like he’s someone that we really going through this stuff together and figuring out, and it’s really cool.”

Through it all, Scott has remained himself.

And as he’s continued to level up, he’s also started to give back.

Scott, who races with Alpha Prime Racing, entered a partnership with Philadelphia-based Urban Affairs Coalition last fall, a nonprofit which aims to “unite government, business, neighborhoods, and community leaders to improve the quality of life, build wealth, and solve emerging issues in urban communities.”

Through this partnership, UAC is launching Team Racing-2-Education, with the goal of introducing young people to careers in engineering, data analytics, automotive tech, and media production within motorsports.

“Lavar represents the dreams of every kid. He represents the opportunity that every kid should have. And ultimately, we are in the business of changing and saving lives and making dreams come true through the nonprofit sector,” said Arun Prabhakaran, the president of the UAC. “The partnership really arose around this idea of, ‘How do we create enough visibility for a story like this to be able to change the way that America thinks about motorsports?’ They should think about motorsports, and see, ‘I could become a petrochemical engineer.’ They should see, ‘I could become a designer and design cool looking race cars.’”

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And while Scott is behind the wheel of his own car, he is also a perfect example, having gone from “a 5-year-old who was racing on a dirt track to arguably one of the most decorated motor sports athletes and NASCAR athletes in the region’s history,” Prabhakaran added.

For Scott, he sees the local interest, but hopes the partnership can open more eyes to the many motorsport jobs that don’t involve making a series of left-hand turns.

“I know in the Philadelphia market, there is so much interest in motorsports, but I want to expose more and make it more known to people,” Scott said. “I think anything you want to do … happens in motorsports, whether it’s like a designer, somebody working with tires, shock guys, social media.

“Every avenue that you can take in this world applies to motorsports in some way or form.”

Scott’s debut season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series began at the Daytona 500 in Florida on Feb. 14, where he finished 16th. But that was his third overall race in NASCAR’s second-tier series.

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Scott made his debut at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, last July, finishing 28th in the formerly named Xfinity Series, and raced again in September at the Xfinity Series at World Wide Technology in Madison, Ill., where he finished 19th.

The South Jersey native finished 28th at Atlanta Motor Speedway two weeks ago and finished 22nd at the Circuit of the Americas this past weekend, which is just outside of Austin, Texas.

He will compete at Dover Motor Speedway this season on May 16 and will race at Pocono Raceway on June 13. Scott is looking forward to being close to home for both tracks, with Pocono being less than two hours from his hometown and Dover just under an hour from where he grew up.

“Dover and Pocono, they’re fun tracks. Dover more so fits my driving style. It’s kind of really aggressive,” Scott said. “I like tracks like that where really a lot of it depends on the driver. And then Pocono, racing out in Pa. again, it’s always cool. It’s a big track. It’s definitely error dependent, so you got to be smart there. …

“It’s a lot around those weekends that matter to me and make it more than — I won’t say other weekends — but it’s an emphasis, and I definitely have those weekends circled on the calendar.”