Car No.;Driver;Starts;Wins;T-5;T-10;DNF;Points
01;Landon Cassill;14;0;0;3;2;10th
4;Jeffrey Earnhardt;14;0;0;0;1;17th
It doesn’t carry an intimidating nickname like Darlington Speedway’s “Too Tough To Tame” or even Dover International Speedway’s “Monster Mile.”
But Kentucky Speedway can still leave drivers feeling a little shaken, thanks to its well-deserved reputation as NASCAR’s bumpiest track.
For Beavercreek native and Liberty Twp. resident Gary Keller, whose racing team brings two cars to tonight’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Kentucky is just one of the challenges he’s facing. One of Keller’s drivers is trying to convince him to turn vegan.
“(Landon Cassill’s) working on me,” Keller said. “I’m 61 years old. I’ve done well eating fried chicken.”
Keller — part owner in JD Motorsports along with Johnny Davis, a self-described “old South Carolina taters-and-beans boy” — hopes drivers Cassill and Jeffrey Earnhardt give new meaning to the term dine-and-dash in the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 (7:30 p.m., ESPN). The team is running the Nationwide Series full-time this season after running most of the races in 2013.
Cassill, driver of the No. 01 Chevrolet, enters Kentucky Speedway ranked 10th in Nationwide drivers’ points. Earnhardt has the No. 4 Chevrolet in 17th.
Those speedway bumps aren’t the only rough spots Keller’s team will face. Sprint Cup drivers Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski — and their multi-million-dollar teams — are among those scheduled to race in the Nationwide Series, too.
Keller and Co. hope to race with those names weekly. If their progress in the Nationwide Series continues, they want to go Sprint Cup racing full-time.
“This race team, with a little bit more financial backing, can win races,” Davis said. “We can accidentally win a race if all the stars and the moon line up with Landon, but with proper funding — or half the funding other teams got — we can contend to win on a weekly basis.”
Keller, owner of Disaster Services of Environmental Specialists, said JD Motorsports operates its two-car team on a budget of about $1 million. The top teams work with between $10-20 million. JR Motorsports (Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team), Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Roush Fenway Racing hold nine of the top 11 spots in the Nationwide points.
Main sponsors Flex Seal and G&K Services have helped JD Motorsports stay competitive. A little more help could push them to the next level.
“We’re getting closer to that big deal, we really are,” Keller said. “Johnny Davis and Gary Keller, trust me, we know how to handle a buck.”
JD Motorsports anticipates a top-10 finish from Cassill and a top-20 finish from Earnhardt tonight. Cassill has more experience after spending three years as a developmental driver with Rick Hendricks Motorsports. Keller and Davis think it’s a matter of time before Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale Earnhardt, catches up.
“It’s been a real good experience for once,” Keller said. “I’ve been involved in motor sports since 2002, and this is really the first time that I’ve seen some pleasure out of all of it. I’ve retired on and off a couple times where I had enough and got out of it. I always get pulled back in. It’s addictive.”
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