James Swanson (racing driver)

James Swanson (born April 26, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver who has previously competed in the ARCA Menards Series, with a majority of his starts being with Wayne Peterson Racing. He has also competed in the ASA National Tour.

Racing career
In 2012, Swanson made his ARCA Racing Series in 2012, driving the No. 0 Ford for Wayne Peterson Racing at Berlin Raceway, finishing 26th due to a rear-end failure. He would make three more starts that year, with his best finish out of those starts being 18th at Madison International Speedway.

In 2013, Swanson ran all but one race (that being the season opener at Daytona International Speedway) for Wayne Peterson, primarily driving the team's No. 0 and No. 06 entries. He only finished four of those races and earned a best finish of sixteenth at Winchester Speedway, although he failed to finish that race due to a multi-car crash late in the event. He finished thirteenth in the final standings.

Swanson remained with Peterson for the 2014 season, driving in all but three races on the schedule. He occupied the same rides as he did last year, and earned a best finish of twelfth at Madison and Salem Speedway, and finished ninth in the final points standings. In the final race of the year at Kansas Speedway, Swanson was involved in a multi-car accident on lap 72, where he drove into the side of the car of Austin Wayne Self at near full speed whilst trying to slow down. Both drivers were able to escape without serious injury.

In 2015, Swanson ran the full schedule, starting the season with Wayne Peterson Racing for the first five races before moving to James Hylton Motorsports as a replacement for Brad Smith, who was injured in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, for all but New Jersey Motorsports Park, where he drove for Kimmel Racing. Through his time with Hylton, Swanson achieved three top-tens with a best finish of eighth at Winchester Speedway, and finished ninth in points again. Swanson and Hylton had originally planned to run again in 2016, driving in the fall race at Salem Speedway and potentially more races pending sponsorship, although nothing would materialize, and Swanson would not run any ARCA races in 2016. He then returned to the series in 2017, driving in three events, with the first being at Berlin Raceway driving for Fast Track Racing in the No. 10 Dodge, and the other two at Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway, driving for Wayne Peterson Racing.

After not racing from 2018 to 2022, Swanson entered the ASA National Tour race at Wisconsin International Raceway in 2023, driving the No. 7NJ entry, where he started and finished in 27th after running only eighteen laps due to mechanical issues.

ARCA Racing Series
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )