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Kevin Grubb

Kevin Grubb passed away from an alleged self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the coroner, on May 6th at the Alpine Motel, near his hometown of Mechanicsville, Va.

Kevin Grubb was a talented driver making his way through the NASCAR ranks. He started a few races in the Camping World Truck Series back in 1996 and eventually moved up to the Nationwide Series, where he would spend a majority of his career. Kevin even made an attempt to get into a cup race, but did not qualify.

For all the good things Kevin had, it seemed as though he may have had some problems after NASCAR suspended him in 2004. He was suspended for drug use and was out of NASCAR for two years. He was given a second chance in 2006 and tried to make the most of it.

He signed on to drive the #15 truck for Billy Ballew. He raced in four consecutive starts for the team with a best finish of 14th at Memphis. He qualified 8th in the race and stayed on the lead lap the whole race, his only lead lap finish for Ballew. After a two-year lay off, not much should have been expected, but all things considered, he performed well. His other finished were 21st, 24th, and 33rd. After the Truck race at Nashville, Kevin got another ride in the Nationwide series and went on to drive for John McNelly.

John McNelly has been known to give the lesser know drivers a chance. Since NcNelly started his team in 2002, he has had 15 different drivers in his car, including Grubb. His team has run 72 races in that time period, with Tim Sauter running the most races at 27. In those 72 races, his team had only one top ten, and the driver who got it was, none other than Kevin Grubb. Also, Grubb did something only one other driver had previously done for McNelly Motorsports, and that was leading a lap. Sauter led four laps back in 2003. Grubb did five times better than that and led 20 laps at Martinsville. Not bad for a driver in only his third race back in the series after a few years off.

Grubb drove five races for McNelly in 2006, and it would have been more had drugs not sneaked back into the picture. Grubb was making the most of the opportunity and it seemed things might have finally been going his way.

On September 5th, 1996, Kevin Grubb made his truck series debut for his family team at Richmond International Raceway in the Truck series. He finished 18th in the race after starting 8th, both of which were higher than his brother Wayne, who was also in the race. On September 8th, 2006, Grubb made his last start in NASCAR in the Nationwide series at Richmond International Raceway. He started 28th and finished last after crashing out on lap one. No one knew at the time, but that would be his last lap on a NASCAR track. It came full circle for him; he started his career at his home track and ended it there. It would have been a fairy tale ending had his circumstances for leaving the track had been different. After the lap one accident, Grubb was asked to take a drug test, which was part of the agreement NASCAR had with him when they allowed him back, but he refused to take the test. NASCAR came back to him a few minutes later and asked again for a test and he refused again, and NASCAR had no other choice but to suspend him again. Later he said he would take the test, according to reports, but it was too late. Grubb would never be seen in a NASCAR garage again.

For a star that once glared so bright with possibilities and future success to a ghost of the unknown. He came into NASCAR at the age of 18 and left at 28.

His best finish in the Nationwide points was 13th in 2000. He also had three other seasons where he finished in the top 20 in points. He ran 174 races in the Busch/Nationwide series from 1997-2006 and posted 10 top-fives and 32 top-10 tens. He drove for six teams in that time. His best finish was 2nd in the 52 Link-Belt Construction Grubb Motorsports car at Dover in 1998. Grubb won the pole (his only of his career) for the race, but lost the race to future NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Matt Kenseth. These stats show what could have been, unfortunately we will never get to see how bright his star could have truly burned.