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Tag: andy belmont racing

  • Mikey Kile: Ready For The Challenge with Andy Belmont Racing

    In their breakout season last year with driver Chad McCumbee, Andy Belmont Racing set the bar high as they won the Bill France Four Crown Award and finished fifth in driver’s points. With that said, Mikey Kile knows the expectations are high for him this year.

    “I can’t wait to get the season going,” Kile said. “They’ve really set the bar high at Andy Belmont Racing, so it’s a tremendous challenge to take it to the next level. I believe our ModSpace team will come out of the blocks fast. This race team will start the year in full stride.”

    The Westlake, La. driver has had success before as he finished fifth in points in 2010 with Venturini Motorsports. The season begins for the 28-year-old at Daytona with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 on February 18th.

    “I’m confident we’ll be in the championship hunt all year,” Jennifer Belmont said. “Mikey is the driver I believe can make us a contender in our flagship car. He’s always been fast at Daytona, so we’re confident he will get us off to a good start. Everyone on this race team has spent a lot of hours making sure he will have a good car. Mikey will do the rest.”

    Kile got started in racing through go-karts at a young age. Since then, he has moved up the ranks, having success at various levels. Career highlights include four carting championships, eight IMCA modified wins and 2008 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Rookie of the Year.

    In 2009, Kile ran some ARCA and Camping World Truck Series races for Brad Keselowski Racing. In the truck series, he qualified career-high 10th at Las Vegas and finished a career-high 11th at both Milwaukee and Gateway in the Truck Series. In the ARCA Series, he qualified a career-high 10th at Kentucky and finished a career-high fourth at Talladega.

    “It was good,” Kile said of that experience back in 2010. “Our first outing we ran at Martinsville and finished 11th. I think we ran six races and finished top-12 in three or four of the six. We were sixth quickest at Vegas and running top-10 there and top-10 at Texas and a pit stop issue there caught us outside of the top 10. It was a learning curve, but definitely running there and running good, I felt like I belonged there.”

    In 2010, he ran the full schedule for Venturini Motorsports, which led to him running some ARCA races for Venturini in 2011 and some NASCAR Camping World Truck and Nationwide races for Turner Motorsports.

    Last month, Andy Belmont Racing made it official that they had hired Mikey Kile for the entire 2012 season.

    Andy Belmont Racing also added a new crew chief to the team as they brought Jeff McClure on board. Though there will be one thing that stays the same for ABR as Modspace has come back on board.

    “ModSpace is always excited to start the season at Daytona,” said William Mann, vice president of ModSpace Motorsports. “The history and energy that comes with this historic track always creates an exciting race! We are looking forward to seeing Mikey get behind the wheel the No. 1 ModSpace Ford and deliver a top-notch finish.”

    “The entire team had a successful test at Daytona and they came back with a lot of notes to make the car even better,” Kile added. “This is an exciting time for everyone involved with this ModSpace race team. We’re all eager to get it started at Daytona. We will also be testing a new car at Talladega Superspeedway at the end of this month.”

  • ARCA: Mikey Kile Joins Andy Belmont Racing For 2012

    ARCA: Mikey Kile Joins Andy Belmont Racing For 2012

    Andy Belmont Racing announced today that Mikey Kile will be driving the No. 14 Andy Belmont Racing Ford for the entire 2012 ARCA season, beginning with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 on February 18th at Daytona International Speedway.

    “This is definitely an exciting time for ABR,” Belmont said. “I have watched Mikey progress each season as a driver and am confident that we will be in the hunt all year. I am also proud that he will be driving our No. 14 Ford this season. The tradition of that number goes back to my days as a modified driver in Pennsylvania.”

    Kile began his career racing in go-karts, before moving up to the modified and late model ranks.

    In 2009, the Westlake, La. native made his NASCAR debut, making six starts in the Camping World Truck Series for Brad Keselwoski Racing. In those six starts, he had three top-15 finishes.

    In 2010, he ran the full schedule for Venturini Motorsports. He got his first ARCA win at Michigan International Speedway.

    “I would say that’s the biggest win of my career – in ARCA,” Kile said of the Michigan win last March. “In 2010 in June, winning the race at Michigan and leading a bunch of laps at Pocono and just running upfront. Mainly, winning the race at Michigan is the best moment so far.”

    Along with the win, he scored two Menards Pole Awards presented by Ansell, seven top-fives and 15 top-10 finishes on his way to finishing fifth in points in 2010.

    “I had a good year in 2010, but I believe that we have the pieces in place to compete for the 2012 ARCA championship,” Kile said. “Andy has done a great job in putting together a quality team and I am really looking forward to the season opener in Daytona.”

    Kile ran a partial schedule for Venturini Motorsports in 2011, while running some races for Turner Motorsports in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

    For Andy Belmont Racing, they had a good 2011 season, as they won at Springfield, finished fifth in points and won the Bill France Crown Award.

  • Andy Belmont Racing Reflects on ARCA Test at Talladega Superspeedway

    Following the Daytona test, four teams proceeded to go to Talladega Superspeedway to lay down some extra laps as they continue to prepare for the ARCA season opener.

    One of the teams was Andy Belmont Racing with drivers Chad McCumbee and Robb Brent.

    “We had a pretty darn productive day,” team owner Andy Belmont told the ARCA Racing Network. “We went down with a game plan with lots to try, and we came away with some really solid info. It think it’s more productive to go to Talladega to test because there’s too many cars at the Daytona test, so track time is limited. With just four teams here yesterday, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We really accomplished a lot. Robb Brent tested a second car for us – it was the car that (Tom) Hessert got the pole with a couple years ago here. We completely rebuilt it, got the bugs out of it, so if we had to unload it, we’d have a hotrod.”

    Chad McCumbee, who has experience in both the ARCA Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, said the test proved beneficial.

    “It was a very productive day for the ModSpace Ford,” McCumbee said. “Also able to shake down the back-up car, so we’re pretty confident going to Daytona. We actually found some problems on our primary car that could have been detrimental had we not found them prior to Daytona.

    “Being that both tracks (Daytona and Talladega) are so smooth now, I think you can pretty much carry over all the information we got from the Talladega test, and take right to Daytona. The tracks are so similar so everything we learned, for the most part, is going to translate.”

    Belmont’s son Andrew was suppose to pilot the back-up car, however he recently had his appendix out. Belmont then made the call to put Brent behind the wheel of the car via his past experience in ARCA. 

    “I talked with Andy Wednesday night,” Brent said. “He offered up the chance to test his stuff; he’s always got great restrictor plate stuff, so I jumped at the chance. Before the call was done, I told him I’d be on the next flight. Got to the track about 9:30, 10 in the morning and tested all day. We worked some of the bugs out of his back-up car, had some fun; it was well worth it. Just a fun day all around.”

    Brent is hoping to pull together his plans for the 2011 season.

    “I’ve been constantly working on deals,” Brent said. “I’ve been contacted by a ton of teams – just need that sponsor. I’ll be in a car sometime, not fulltime, but I’ll be in a car somewhere.”

    Andy Belmont Racing knew the test would be crucial as beating six-time Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart, was also at the test, is never easy.

    “Our primary car was really solid with Chad (McCumbee); but Gerhart’s still the man to beat, no doubt about it,” Belmont said. “But I also think this kid McCumbee’s gunna give him all he can stand – we’ll see. But when it comes to Daytona, Gerhart’s always the man to beat. His focus has been on these two races (Daytona and Talladega) over the last 10 years. He spends most of his budget on these two races. You have to respect Gerhart. I do. We all do. He was really sporty yesterday.”