Rick Carelli (born November 9, 1954) is an American crew member for Stewart-Haas Racing and former race car driver from Arvada, Colorado. He was nicknamed the "High Plains Drifter". He won multiple times in the #6 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series truck. He was the spotter for Kurt Busch in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Carelli won the NASCAR Southwest Tour championship in 1991 and won 21 times in the series during his career. He joined the NASCAR Winston West Series in 1992, and he was named the series Rookie of the Year. He returned to the series in 1993, capturing the series championship and Most Popular Driver award. He has won nine times in that series.

He was one of the original drivers in the Craftsman Truck Series, starting at the series' first race at Phoenix in 1995. Carelli raced every series race until he suffered near-fatal injuries when his truck hit the wall during a race at Memphis Motorsports Park in 1999. He suffered a basal skull fracture, damaged his carotid artery and sinus. He recovered and returned to race the entire 2000 season. He won another race at Richmond International Raceway in 2000 with an underfunded team that he was the crew chief for. He also made 9 Winston Cup starts from 1992 to 1994. He stopped driving in 2004 and moved into the administrative side of motorsport.

After retiring from driving, he later became the team manager for Kevin Harvick Incorporated – a position that he held when Ron Hornaday won the 2007 championship. He currently works with NTS Motorsports as the team general manager. Carelli was also the spotter for the Stewart-Haas Racing #41, driven by Kurt Busch.

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