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  • Jeffrey Earnhardt to make 100th Xfinity start at Texas

    Jeffrey Earnhardt to make 100th Xfinity start at Texas

    A significant milestone is in the making for Jeffrey Earnhardt, driver of the No. 0 Chevrolet Camaro for JD Motorsports with Gary Keller in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway, Earnhardt will achieve his 100th career start in the Xfinity Series.

    A fourth-generation competitor from Mooresville, North Carolina, and grandson of the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, Jeffrey made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International in August 2009. By then, he had competed in the NASCAR Busch East Series and what is now the ARCA Menards Series East for the last two seasons for Dale Earnhardt Inc. before being released. 

    Driving the No. 40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet at Watkins Glen, Earnhardt started 36th and finished 24th in his series debut. He ended up competing in another Xfinity race in 2009 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, where he finished 31st. 

    After competing in select NASCAR Truck Series races for Rick Ware Racing in 2010, Earnhardt was set to compete in the series on a full-time basis with RWR as a rookie contender. Following the first four races of the season, however, Earnhardt’s full-time ride was cut and he ended up competing in one additional Truck race and two Xfinity races for the remainder of the season. In the Xfinity Series, he drove for RWR in two races at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and at Daytona International Speedway in July, where he notched a 19th-place result.

    In 2012, Earnhardt competed on a full-time basis in the Grand Am Series in the Rolex GT Class for Rick Ware Racing. He also competed in a total of six Xfinity races, four with RWR while making one with Go Green Racing and one with Randy Hill Racing. His best result during his six-race slate in 2012 was 21st at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.

    Earnhardt’s racing schedule in 2013 expanded as he made 17 starts throughout the 33-race Xfinity Series schedule. During the season, all but one of his 17-race Xfinity schedule occurred with Go Green Racing, where he finished no higher than 16th place. His lone start outside of Go Green Racing was with JR Motorsports and for his nephew, Dale Earnhardt Jr., at Richmond Raceway in April. Driving the No. 5 Keen Parts/CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet Camaro for JRM, Earnhardt started 22nd and finished 17th.

    In 2014, Earnhardt competed on a full-time basis in the Xfinity Series with JD Motorsports and in the No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro. Throughout the season, his best result was 12th place at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. He was able to capture six top-20 results and an average result of 26.3 throughout the 33-race schedule before finishing in 18th place in the final standings.

    Throughout the 2015 season, Earnhardt made a total of six Xfinity starts in the No. 55 Chevrolet Camaro for Viva Motorsports. His best on-track results were 15th at Bristol in April and 12th at Talladega in May.

    From 2016 to 2018, Earnhardt competed in a total of 73 races in the NASCAR Cup Series as he drove for teams that included Go Fas Racing, BK Racing, Circle Sport-The Motorsports Group, StarCom Racing, Premium Motorsports and Gaunt Brothers Racing. His best result in NASCAR’s premier series during the three-year span was 11th place at Daytona in July 2018.

    A week before the 2018 season concluded, it was announced that Earnhardt will be returning to the Xfinity Series and join Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 18 Toyota Supra sponsored by Xtreme Concepts/iK9 for nine races in 2019. A few days before the 2019 Xfinity Series commenced, Earnhardt’s part-time 2019 schedule expanded when Xtreme Concepts Inc. formed Xtreme Concepts Racing (XCI Racing) with intentions of competing in five Xfinity races and two Cup races with Earnhardt driving throughout the season. 

    Earnhardt made his first start with JGR in the 2019 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway. During the event, Earnhardt finished in the top five in both stages and led 29 laps before being shuffled back to a 15th-place result. The following race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Earnhardt restarted on the front row alongside teammate Christopher Bell on a three-lap shootout and was in position to win his first NASCAR career race. His chances of winning, however, evaporated when he struggled to pick up speed on the outside lane and was shuffled back. Nonetheless, he was able to finish in sixth place and achieve his career-best result within NASCAR’s top three major division series. 

    Four races later, Earnhardt made his first start with XCI Racing at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished in eighth place. Another five races later, Earnhardt rallied from a spin with 58 laps remaining to make a late charge and notch a career-best third-place result at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The result marked Earnhardt’s first top-five career result across NASCAR’s top three major division series and it was also meaningful for Earnhardt, who sported a special patriotic scheme to his No. 18 Toyota during the Charlotte race while paying tribute to Mooresville, North Carolina, Officer Jordan Sheldon, who died in the line of duty during a traffic stop earlier in May. 

    In August, Earnhardt announced that he and XCI have parted ways, which ended Earnhardt’s 2019 season early and the end of his partnership with XCI and Joe Gibbs Racing. By then, he had made five Xfinity starts with JGR, two Xfinity starts with XCI Racing and one Cup start with XCI, which occurred at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

    In February 2020, Earnhardt rejoined JD Motorsports with Gary Keller and started the season with plans on competing in 12 Xfinity Series races. He made his first start of the season at Darlington Raceway in May, where he finished 23rd. He went on to finish 25th the following week at Charlotte before he notched a 15th-place result the next week at Bristol.

    Since Darlington in May, Earnhardt ended up competing on a full-time basis with JDM and he has driven the No. 0 Chevrolet Camaro in all but two races, where he drove the No. 15 Chevrolet for JDM. Through last weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway, Earnhardt has achieved 13 top-20 results, a best result of 11th place at Charlotte in October and an average result of 22.3.

    Catch Earnhardt’s milestone start at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 24, at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

  • The teenage dream: The Kyle Fowler story

    The teenage dream: The Kyle Fowler story

    [media-credit name=”http://www.kylefowler.net” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]Growing up just miles away from the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Fowler developed a love for car racing. Fowler, now a 19 year old from Symrna, has grown to become a major prospect in the eyes of one small car operation.

    Randy Hill Racing, a team formed late last season, signed Tim Andrews to a full-time deal to drive the No. 08 Ford Mustang throughout the 2012 Nationwide Series campaign. But, due to sponsorship woes, the team decided to go with a different approach.

    Casey Roderick, along with Fowler, have each ran a minimal portion of the ten races completed this season.

    Fowler’s resume isn’t the most impressive.  However, the 19 year old has driven for three well-known figures throughout the world of motorsports including Eddie Sharp, Ken Schrader, and Billy Venturini, all of which came in the ARCA series.

    “My experience in the ARCA series was definitely very beneficial when I had to come over here to the Nationwide Series with the help of Randy Hill Racing. I was able to race on similar tracks like the ones I’m racing on here and it was great to have some experienced people behind me such as Mr. Schrader and the Venturini’s in ARCA,” said Fowler.

    Randy Hill has known Fowler for a few months now. Before the two met, Hill was an ordinary fan who wanted to own a team. Hill was able to accomplish this feat over time. When he had an open seat for the Las Vegas, Bristol, and Texas races, he set his sights on giving Fowler a shot at stardom.

    “Well honestly it was a last minute deal when I got the call before Vegas. I think it was Monday , the week before as Mr. Hill called that morning and I didn’t know, nor have a clue what he would say,” said Fowler. “A lot of times last minute deals don’t usually work out, but we’re very fortunate to get valuable seat time and get our first start under our belt.”

    At times, Fowler wasn’t sure if he was able to get back in the car again at any point throughout the remaining portion of the schedule. Fowler kept in mind that a return to ARCA would be something he would consider, yet it wasn’t his first option.

    In his three races behind the wheel this season, the Georgia native has qualified no worse than 21st, including his Texas Motor Speedway debut where he broke a crank on a practice qualifying run. The team bounced back though with an impressive 21st place finish after starting from the back of the pack.

    “It’s great to be able to do that. We’re a low budget team so we don’t have a lot of cars. If we tear one up, it’s hard to fix it and come back to the track so if we can keep the car out there and work between race to race, then we’ll definitely start gaining on it and I think that’s kind of what happened with us,” Fowler said. “We were able to make big gains throughout the race and with ten minutes to go left in practice, we blew a motor so that kind of put us behind the eight-ball there. We changed the motor, got it ready for qualifying and got a pretty decent lap out of it.”

    In his three Nationwide Series appearances, Fowler has experience a mechanical issue in each of the races. Even though that is just ol’ lady luck,

    Fowler has shown that he has the talent to take his equipment to the front of the pack.

    Fowler didn’t climb up to the Nationwide Series by himself. His family had a lot to do with his early success.

    Mike and Lisa Fowler, Kyle’s parents, have supported him since he began pursuing a racing career.

    “Well, ever since I started racing they’ve been my team. We’ve always been a low budget deal ourselves. Me and my dad have always worked on the cars at the track. Them seeing me race at this level is great. To have them there for support and everything , it’s hard to put into words the chance that I’m getting to do. I would have never thought when I first strapped behind a racecar that I would be able to race against some of these great guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, and some of those guys,” Fowler said.

    Fowler’s father goes to each race with him. When the motor expired during practice for the O’Reily Auto Parts 300 in April, he was one of the lone pit crew members putting the backup engine in the car in time for qualifying, even though the team was locked in on owner points.

    The elder Fowler is a perfect fit to help in at Randy Hill Racing. Though the team partnered with Go-Green Racing during the off-season, the team is still underfunded with a limited amount of resources.

    “Well, whenever I’m racing the car, my father is at the shop. We have our Car Chief and about two-three other guys working on the cars and with the partnership with Go-Green Racing, they have a few guys as well and we all kind of work together on that. But, we’re not the Penske, the Roush, and the Gibbs guys with hundreds of people back at the shop, so it’s great to be able to do what we’re able to accomplish with a limited budget, limited man power, and limited horse power,” said Fowler who shows a great knowledge for what his competition bears.

    Along the way, Fowler has seen hundreds of driver’s race. But, while racing legends cars at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he and his father met David and Ken Ragan.

    “I wasn’t really as close to him until I started asking him about some of the tracks when we were both racing. It’s great to ask him what the cars will do on the long run or what to expect when racing with different track conditions. It’s great to have that as far as that. “

    Ragan, whom of which drives for an underfunded team himself, has helped Fowler’s learning curve in a modest way. Besides Ragan, Fowler credits his knowledge of knowing how to get around new tracks to his IRacing simulator which has proven to help the 19 year old make his way around some of the toughest tracks the series has to offer.

    Fowler’s future remains a mystery. He, nor Randy Hill, nor anyone in the garage area is sure what he will be doing throughout the remainder of the season.

    “At this point but I’m taking it week by week and waiting to see what might come up,” said Fowler.

    Indubitably, something came up as Fowler returns behind the wheel with RHR at the Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend in the History 300.