A stone-faced Ross Chastain, majority owner and founding member of Motorsports Management International, put it simply for Ryan Ellis: You would be dumb not to do the DGM Racing deal.
Last summer, Ellis was deciding on his future. He had a two-year extension on the table to remain with Alpha Prime Racing after being the team’s primary driver since 2022. At the same time, he was weighing his options after bolstering a strong resume of sponsors in recent seasons. He could dictate where he landed.
RELATED: Ryan Ellis driver page
The decision wasn’t easy, however. Ellis credits Alpha Prime for finding his love and passion for racing once again. Since bursting onto the national series scene more than a decade ago, the Virginia native has played several different roles away from the driver’s seat, including as the public relations and marketing director for Go Fas Racing with Matt DiBenedetto while also having full-time jobs outside of the sport.
And though Ellis didn’t know anybody at DGM, he felt a change was needed. So, he listened to Chastain, who has delivered a pair of top fives for DGM in limited starts.
“Looking at the middle to back half of last year, just getting frustrated with little things along the way,” Ellis told NASCAR.com of why he wanted change. “I know you always compare yourself to your teammates, and that’s the only real way to figure out what a driver is doing or how good a driver is. In a very respectful way, because I love Tommy [Joe Martins, Alpha Prime’s co-owner] and I love Alpha Prime, but I felt like the [No.] 44 was on a much different deal than the 43, and the 43 was a notch above the 45. I love Brennan and everyone at that team — my crew was awesome — but I wanted to make sure that I positioned myself for the optics to look good.”
Drivers within the DGM walls have been known to overachieve throughout the years. Josh Williams tallied a team-high six top-10 finishes during the 2020 season. Alex Labbe became a real threat on road courses during multiple stints, and last year, Kyle Weatherman earned a pair of top 10s.
It was time for Ellis — who is still chasing his coveted first top 10 finish in 175 NASCAR starts — to challenge himself. He is paired with Mario Gosselin, who serves as the team owner and crew chief for the No. 71 Chevrolet. Gosselin always has his competitive juices flowing, wanting to maximize DGM’s potential.
“That’s why I do this,” Gosselin said. “I don’t try to survive, go home and go to the next one — we want to go race. We can’t afford to tear stuff up every week, but I’ve won races — not necessarily in Xfinity — and championships. That competitiveness, I still have it. Just because I’m not driving, we’re not going out there to try to complete all the laps and come home with a participation award.”
Gosselin is an ideal counterbalance to Ellis, who believes the reins are loose for the first time in his career.
“I feel like I’ve always had the owner hat on being a small-team guy my whole life, even racing legends cars and late models,” Ellis said. “When Tommy would pull the reins back and give us a speech or strategy of hanging back, it would double or triple down what I was thinking. At Daytona, Mario was like, ‘We’re here to [expletive] race.’ I had never been told that before. I’ve realized it has made my mindset going into race weekends so much easier because we’re racing cars.”
It’s staggering for Ellis to be in his current position. Four years ago, he was working multiple full-time gigs, using racing as a side hustle. But as a typical racer’s mind thinks, he believes it can always be better.
“The competitive side of me would only see things that I don’t have,” Ellis said. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life, knowing that I have a full-time job, making enough money to build a solid future for my daughters.
“It feels fulfilling to be a race car driver. I don’t want to lose that ever again because I felt like that in 2016. It wasn’t dark years, but I didn’t feel like I had a purpose in life other than making my wife happy and my dogs happy and counting down days at that point. Now, I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
The opening three months of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season have been trying for Ellis. He sits 28th in the championship standings, the second-lowest position among the full-time drivers. Gosselin can recall more than 50 points that the No. 71 team has given away, whether it be from late wrecks or mechanical woes.
The mesh of personalities has been good, though, with Ellis giving solid feedback to the No. 71 team. This positive meshing will look to continue this Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with the field returning to action for the first time in three weeks.
MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule
“I think the biggest thing was he is always there at the end,” Gosselin said, with the No. 71 team having only one DNF through 12 races. “We’ve got to work on our raw speed and qualify a little bit and get him a little bit aggressive. That’s always a fine line.
“I feel like if we’re not running top 20, I’m not happy. But then you finish just outside the top 20 and you look at who outran you and it’s like, ‘Damn, the competition has gotten really deep in the field.’ Top 20s are what we’re after.”
Ellis is already looking ahead to the 2026 season. Many of his current partners who followed him from Alpha Prime to DGM have already discussed returning and helping propel the 35-year-old forward. The goal is to remain with DGM.