Robert Lyons II (born January 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet SS for Cook Racing Technologies. He has also competed part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series and in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the past.
Racing career
Early career
Lyons started his racing career at the age of six, racing
. Lyons raced dirt bikes for over a decade, winning two
Florida championships.
After injuring both legs in a crash when he was fifteen, Lyons quit bike racing at eighteen.
He then moved to Legends car racing
after seeing former motocross racer
Ricky Carmichael transition.
After Legends cars, Lyons competed in the Pro All-Stars Series in 2014.
In December 2014, Lyons tested at Daytona International Speedway in an ARCA Racing Series car that was prepared by both Rick Ware Racing and MacDonald Motorsports.
In early 2015, Lyons joined
Chad Finley and his team as a development driver to compete in the 2015
CARS Tour;
Lyons wound up only running three of the races.
Lyons made a return to the CARS Tour in 2017
and also competed in the Short Track Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR
Lyons announced on November 9, 2017 that he would be making his
NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series, driving for Premium Motorsports at Phoenix International Raceway.
His effort was led by former
NASCAR driver
Brian Keselowski as crew chief.
The pairing came together after Lyons and Premium owner Jay Robinson met at Charlotte Motor Speedway in fall 2017.
After accidents eliminated the majority of the field, Lyons finished 12th in his Truck debut.
In his debut, Lyons was almost wrecked by teammate
Jason Hathaway near the end of the race but survived.
During the week after the Phoenix race, Lyons was approved for all of
NASCAR's 1.5-mile tracks, leading to a second race with Premium a week later for the Truck season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway,
where he finished 24th.
On January 23, 2018, it was announced that Lyons would drive Premium's No. 15 truck full-time in 2018.
In 2019, Lyons joined Chad Finley Racing for a part-time schedule in the No. 42 Silverado, sharing the truck with owner Chad Finley.
Lyons joined JD Motorsports for the first three Xfinity races in 2020.
In 2021, Lyons returned to the Xfinity Series, joining MBM Motorsports to drive their No. 61 Toyota for the season-opener at Daytona as well as the possibility of additional races later in the year.
Personal life
Lyons grew up in Clearwater, Florida. He soon took after his dad Bob Lyons who was a well known drag racer and became a dirt bike racer until the age of 18. After moving to stock car racing, Lyons became good friends with
Xfinity Series driver
Garrett Smithley.
Lyons is also a user of the online racing simulator
iRacing.
He graduated from Indian Rocks Christian School.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
() (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Xfinity Series
Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series
ARCA Menards Series
() (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)
CARS Super Late Model Tour
()
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points
External links
