Bill Lester

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Bill Lester
Lester in 2008
Born	William Alexander Lester III (1961-02-06) February 6, 1961 (age 63) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Achievements	First African-American to win a Rolex Sports Car Series race (Virginia International Raceway, 2011, GT Class)
NASCAR Cup Series career
2 races run over 1 year
Best finish	68th (2006)
First race	2006 Golden Corral 500 (Atlanta)
Last race	2006 3M Performance 400 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	111th (1999)
First race	1999 Lysol 200 (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
143 races run over 9 years
2021 position	89th
Best finish	13th (2003)
First race	2000 Line-X 225 (Portland)
Last race	2021 Fr8Auctions 200 (Atlanta)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 7 3
Rolex Sports Car Series
Years active	1998–2001, 2007–2012
Starts	52
Wins	1
Poles	2
Best finish	3rd in 2011
Last updated on: December 30, 2021.

William Alexander Lester III (born February 6, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 17 Ford F-150 for David Gilliland Racing. Lester previously competed full-time in the Truck Series from 2002 to midway through 2007. Lester was the NASCAR's only full-time African-American driver during that time. After that, he moved to sports car racing, competing in the Rolex Sports Car Series from 2007 to 2012. Lester had also competed part-time in the same series from 1998 to 2001.

He also made two NASCAR Cup Series starts in 2006 and one Busch Series (now Xfinity) start in 1999.

Since his retirement from driving, Lester has worked as a member of the NASCAR National Motorsports Appeals Panel.^[1]