Daniel Dye

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Dye first raced in the ARCA Menards Series East in 2020, driving the No. 43 for Ben Kennedy Racing.^[1] Dye would race two races that season, retiring at New Smyrna Speedway and finishing seventh at Five Flags Speedway.

Dye would come back in the 2021 season, this time with a scheduled full-time ride with Ben Kennedy Racing.^[2] However, Dye would only compete for four of the scheduled eight races before eventually switching teams. For the last four races of the season, Dye would race the No. 21 for GMS Racing.^[3] Dye, combined with his results from Ben Kennedy Racing and GMS Racing, would finish second in the final standings, only being beaten by Sammy Smith.

Dye would first race in the ARCA Menards Series West as a one-off race at Phoenix Raceway, driving the No. 22 for GMS Racing in 2021. He would finish twelfth. In 2022, he ran at Phoenix again in a companion event with the ARCA Menards Series, finishing second.

Dye would run a part-time schedule in the ARCA Menards Series in 2021 with GMS Racing, driving the No. 21 along with his full-time schedule in the ARCA Menards Series East. He would run six races in the 2021 season. After a seventh-place finish in his debut at the 2021 Menards 250, Dye would dominate the next race at Berlin Raceway in the 2021 Zinsser SmartCoat 200, scoring his first-ever ARCA Menards Series win in just his second-ever start in the series.^[4]

In 2022, he planned to run a full-time schedule for GMS Racing in the No. 43. Dye was instead charged with felony battery^[5] after striking a fellow student in the scrotum^[6] in what witnesses described as a "game".^[7] Dye was indefinitely suspended from ARCA competition after three races.^[8] Prior to the race at the Kansas Speedway, Dye was reinstated by ARCA after his charges were dropped from felony to misdemeanor and went on to compete in the event, finishing third.^[9][10] Despite not winning a race, he nearly won the championship until a mechanical issue relegated him to an eighteenth place finish at the season finale in Toledo, which resulted in a runner-up to Nick Sanchez by fourteen points in the final standings. Despite this, he won Rookie of the Year honors ahead of Sanchez's teammate Rajah Caruth.

On October 25, 2022, GMS Racing announced that Dye would compete full-time in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, making his series debut in the No. 43 Chevrolet Silverado.^[11]

On September 27, 2023, Dye signed with McAnally–Hilgemann Racing for 2024. Dye would continue using the No. 43.^[12] He finished eighth at Richmond, earning enough points to secure a spot in the Playoffs.

On October 29, 2025, Kaulig Racing announced Dye will join their Ram Trucks team in 2026.^[13]

On March 17, 2026, Dye was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR and Kaulig for mocking IndyCar Series driver David Malukas by insinuating that Malukas was homosexual on a Whatnot stream.^[14] On March 31, it was announced that Dye was released from Kaulig.^[15]

On September 17, 2023, it was announced that Dye would run three races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Alpha Prime Racing, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Champion Container.^[16]

In 2024, Dye ran a partial schedule with Kaulig Racing, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro.^[17]

On August 23, 2024, Kaulig Racing announced that Dye would pilot the No. 10 full-time in 2025.^[18] He had eight top-ten finishes and finished 20th in the final points standings.

In 2026, Dye would drive the No. 52 Ford for AM Racing on a partial schedule.^[19][20]

On April 20, 2026, it was announced that Dye would run five Cup Series races in 2026, beginning with the upcoming race at Talladega.^[21]

Dye is a second-generation driver, the son of Stacy Rumbaugh and Randy Dye, a businessman in Daytona Beach, Florida who owns two auto dealerships: Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram and Maserati Alfa Romeo of Daytona.^[22] Randy Dye was a former Pro Late Model driver who since July 2017 has served on the board of directors for The NASCAR Foundation. He is a cousin of MLB player for the Kansas City Royals, Josh Dye.

At the end of 2018 with his Pro Late Model debut on the horizon, he created the Race to Stop Suicide campaign in partnership with The NASCAR Foundation and Halifax Health with help from his father Randy who serves on the board of directors for The NASCAR Foundation.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2019, at only fifteen years old, Dye himself raised and donated over $15,000 towards Halifax Health's mental health programs.^[23]

Dye attended Father Lopez Catholic High School. While a student at Father Lopez, Dye was arrested on April 26, 2022 and booked in Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of felony battery, later reduced to misdemeanor battery.^[24][25] According to a police report, Dye "began dancing and grinding with his groin and pelvic area near his classmate's face" and then "came up from behind the boy and punched him in the groin", with the victim suffering "a possible ruptured testicle." Dye was granted a deferred prosecution agreement and ordered to complete an eight-hour anger management course, 25 hours of community service, and compensate the victim an undisclosed amount.^[26]

On March 17, 2026, Dye was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR and Kaulig Racing for mocking IndyCar Series driver David Malukas by insinuating that Malukas was homosexual on a Whatnot stream.^[14]