Stephen Mallozzi

Stephen John Mallozzi (born January 15, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 33 Ford F-150 for Team Reaume. He also competes in late model racing and has previously competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Mallozzi started competing in childhood by racing go-karts at the age of nine. After winning various karting championships, he abruptly stopped racing when his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. After spending most of his college years working in various journalism and law fields, he eventually returned to racing, citing motivation from his father. Initially joining RBR in 2021 as a development driver, he later made a one-off Truck Series start for the team the following year. He later raced in more Truck Series races in 2023 for both RBR and AM Racing.

Early life

Early racing career Mallozzi was born to Stephen Anthony Mallozzi (born 1971) and Melissa Marie Miller (born 1970). Mallozzi stated that he became a fan of auto racing when he was three years old, while watching auto racing on television. Mallozzi, with assistance from his father, later went to a local go-kart track at the age of nine years old and raced his first event. By the age of eleven, he had started to race go-karts on a frequent scale.

Transition to journalism After stepping away from auto racing, Mallozzi transitioned to a journalism and broadcasting career. After graduating from Salesianum High School in 2019, he originally intended to join Rutgers University due to transport conflicts with the University of Virginia (UVA). However, after talking to a dean at UVA, he was persuaded to commit to Virginia in the fall of 2019, majoring in economics. While at UVA, he worked as a sports commentator for various sports programs.

Gradual return to racing

Early in 2021, Mallozzi talked to his father about frustrations that he had never raced in NASCAR. His father, who at this point had lived five years with cancer, stated, "If I treated my cancer the way you treated racing, I would have been dead five fucking years ago." During this time, he gained a close friendship with team owner Josh Reaume, gained an internship working for RBR, and started racing late models across the Carolinas.

2022–2023 By 2022, Reaume let Mallozzi drive an entry at the 2022 O'Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio, with Mallozzi driving the team's No. 43 entry. According to Mallozzi, the effort made to get to the track itself was strenuous; he crowdfunded a Facebook group, asked former sponsors to sponsor him for the race, and asked numerous personal friends to be spotters for the race. During the race weekend itself, Mallozzi was involved in a practice accident with G2G Racing's Mason Filippi. While the damage wasn't extensive, Mallozzi expressed frustration at G2G Racing, stating, "[G2G Racing] is the biggest joke of a racing organization in NASCAR... I will stand by that statement publicly to anyone." Mallozzi's car was eventually repaired and allowed to qualify, with Mallozzi finishing in 22nd in the race itself. He finished last after the car's battery suffered issues. His next race came at Gateway for RBR; he described the race as "my version of hell", due to the circumstances of both heading into the race and the race itself. He sold his personal Dodge Charger that he had gotten from a sponsorship deal to get to the race itself and during the race, his battery failed, resulting in a poor finish. Around this same time, he was working as a part-time server at a Outback Steakhouse franchise; after the Martinsville race, he made calls on social media platforms for Outback Steakhouse to sponsor an entry for him.

2024–2026 Mallozzi continued making starts in the Truck Series in 2024, racing in Martinsville and Pocono. Mallozzi also made his first start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series within the year at Pocono, finishing in 35th in his debut. In the following season, he maintained a part-time role for Reaume, starting-and-parking in all of his entries for the team; he later stated in an interview for The Philadelphia Inquirer that the occurrence of start-and-parking that season was the "biggest challenge behind being competitive and trying to not sacrifice professionally". In 2026, with no racing plans announced, Mallozzi began pitching on social media to Ram Trucks' racing division, which had opened up a NASCAR Truck Series program that year, for a one-race deal in the team's "Free Agent Program". He later described the Free Agent Program as a "very slim opportunity", but it had provided a "1% sliver of hope to do what I’ve always thought I could do in a way that would be fit for Hollywood". He later attended the University of Virginia, majoring in economics and graduating in 2022. He currently attends the Temple University Beasley School of Law, with Mallozzi scheduled to graduate in 2026.

Mallozzi currently works part-time as a server at an Outback Steakhouse franchise. He previously had worked at a Domino's franchise as a delivery driver; he was fired for having too many speeding tickets off the job. He also is an occasional writer for NASCAR news site TobyChristie.com, serving as the site's eSports journalist. Mallozzi has also used his writing position at TobyChristie.com to detail his racing career; he has stated on occasions that he believes to be "one of the poorest drivers in the entire Truck Series", stating the amount he has sacrificed in order to pursue a racing career compared to well-funded drivers in the series.

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2022 Reaume Brothers Racing 43 Toyota DAY LVS ATL COA MAR BRD DAR KAN TEX CLT GTW SON KNX NSH MOH22 POC IRP RCH KAN BRI TAL HOM PHO 61st 15 2023 AM Racing 22 Ford DAY LVS ATL COA TEX BRD MAR36 KAN DAR NWS CLT POC24 RCH IRP MLW KAN BRI32 TAL HOM PHO 54th 25 Reaume Brothers Racing 34 Ford GTW31 NSH MOH 2024 22 DAY ATL LVS BRI COA MAR28 TEX KAN DAR NWS CLT GTW NSH 67th 11 27 POC35 IRP RCH MLW BRI KAN TAL HOM MAR PHO 2025 2 DAY ATL LVS31 HOM34 MAR BRI35 CAR33 TEX KAN NWS CLT NSH MCH POC LRP IRP GLN DAR31 BRI NHA35 ROV TAL MAR PHO 54th 26

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points