Dystany Spurlock’s long-awaited chance at NASCAR arrives in the East Series at Hickory: ‘We’re going to go for it’

Evidence of Dystany Spurlock being a racing-loving “adrenaline junkie” — her words — is everywhere.

Look on her social-media channels, brimming with photos and videos of her drag racing motorcycles. Look at her left arm, graced by tattoos depicting auto parts.

Look at her past, when her first vehicle upon obtaining her driver’s license had not four wheels, but two. Look at her future as she begins a career in stock-car racing with the goal of reaching NASCAR’s top series.

That journey begins in earnest Saturday at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway, where Spurlock over the last several months has tested and raced Late Models in preparation for what will be a historic moment. When she competes in the Cook Out 200 (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET on The NASCAR Channel and FloRacing), She’ll become the first Black woman to race on the ARCA Menards Series platform.

“I’ve had so many doors closed in my face,” Spurlock, 33, said of previous attempts to race full-bodied stock cars. “But now I have the opportunity, and we’re going to go for it.”

RELATED: How to watch Saturday’s Hickory race on The NASCAR Channel

Spurlock at this point is used to being a first — or close to it — in so many areas across motorsports. For example, last summer she became the second Black woman to compete in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class. In 2019, she became the first woman to win a 4.60 index final.

She describes these accomplishments as “amazing” and “great,” but she insists they’re not the driving force behind her career. This is her passion, and she views the historic nature of her presence as an example for others.

“It opens up the eyes of other little girls and little boys who look like me and say, ‘Hey, I can really do this,'” Spurlock said. “But more so the girls, because you have Bubba (Wallace), Rajah (Caruth), Lavar (Scott) (as Black drivers in NASCAR), but there’s no women. Even when I race motorcycles and I go to schools for career days, they know nothing about drag racing at all to even know it’s a thing or that a girl does it.

“So when they see me, when I say they light up. … I can see the motivation in them to achieve their dreams in whatever it is they want to do.’

Spurlock once was one of those girls. She grew up just a couple miles from Richmond Raceway influenced by her grandfather, who in addition to loving NASCAR used to “rip up the streets in his car.” She also remembers riding on the back of motorcycles with her mom and dad.

At least in the early years, her friends didn’t share the same passion. They rode bicycles and played basketball and football — Spurlock later went on to play cornerback on her middle and high school football teams — but racing was an interest generally kept within the family. There, she recalls asking her parents for a go kart: “Because I think I’m Jeff Gordon or somebody.”

Things changed when Spurlock progressed through her high school years, after she had been introduced to motorcycle racing and had developed a friend group that enjoyed riding.

Her mom found her a motorcycle on Craigslist; she says her parents were nothing but supportive of her motorsports obsession from Day 1.

The goal has always been a career in NASCAR, but multiple opportunities over the years fizzled out. Her best chance came late in 2019, when she put together a deal to run a local Late Model series. Then COVID-19 hit.

She spent the years that followed competing not just on motorcycles, but at the Skip Barber Racing School in formula cars. That’s when she met Chris Harris, the co-founder of Foxxtecca.

Harris knew about Spurlock’s status as a “unicorn” in the racing industry, so he invited her on his podcast. The relationship blossomed, and when Harris and Kellie Crawford founded Foxxtecca to focus in part on diversity and inclusion in motorsports, Spurlock suddenly had a support system.

“They knew I wanted to race cars,” Spurlock said. “They were like, ‘Listen, as soon as we can make this happen, we’re going to make it happen.’ They believed in me, came in with the money and were like, ‘We’re going racing, girl.’ And they would always tell me this.”

Spurlock in 2026 plans to run a half season of NHRA alongside what she hopes becomes a busy schedule of ARCA Menards Series racing. She believes the drag racing only helps her in a stock car, reaction time being a connective attribute.

Spurlock in the past has supported her motorsports aspirations with full-time jobs outside the industry. She’s worked in hospitality, served as a flight attendant and driven trucks, but now she’s “retired” from those jobs so she can focus on racing. She even moved from Virginia to Statesville, North Carolina, a hot bed for NASCAR.

For Spurlock, a perfect progression would be to run ARCA this year, make her NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at the end of the season, run that series full-time in 2027 and break into the NASCAR Cup Series soon after that. Of course, she understands how much development she needs and how sponsorship works. That doesn’t impact her drive.

Naturally, Spurlock’s time away from the track will continue to feature anything that others might consider daunting. “Anything I can do that’s adventurous, sign me up,” she laughed. “Snowboarding, all that. I love to travel.”

From a racing standpoint, 2026 will be Spurlock’s most “adventurous” year to date.

The self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie wouldn’t have it any other way.