Kelly will make his first NASCAR start in the second-tier Nationwide Series at the impressive Road America circuit, a fast and undulating track regarded at the North American equivalent of Australia’s Mount Panorama circuit in the town of Bathurst, New South Wales.
The 33-year-old will drive the #27 Ford Fusion of Baker Curb Racing in the 50-lap event, with Sprint Cup star Greg Biffle having driven the car in 10 of the 13 Nationwide Series race held so far this season.
Kelly becomes the ninth Australian to race in a NASCAR championship division and follows in the footsteps of fellow Tasmanian Marcos Ambrose, who has used his similar background in karting, Formula Ford and V8 Supercars to great effect to claim two Nationwide Series wins at the Watkins Glen road course since moving to NASCAR in 2006.
Kelly has raced for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s JR Motorsports late model team in both 2008 and 2009, collecting race victories as he learned oval track racing after growing up in Australia on road course circuits.
Originally from the town of Devonport in Tasmania, Kelly will also race V8 Supercars later this year for Jack Daniel’s Racing in the endurance events at the Phillip Island and Bathurst circuits, where the longer races require two drivers per car.
Kelly has also raced in the second-tier Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series earlier this year, where he is third on the All-Time Race Wins list with 13 victories.
The Nationwide Series entry list for Road America will be a star-studded line-up, with former Formula One World Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve among the drivers that Kelly will be attempting to beat.
Other noted drivers competing in the race are NASCAR road course experts Boris Said and Ron Fellows, current Nationwide Series points leader Brad Keselowski and former series champion Carl Edwards.
The Road America race was added to 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule in December last year as a result of the cancellation of the race at the Milwaukee Mile, also in Wisconsin. This will be the first NASCAR championship division event at the classic Elkhart Lake circuit since 1956.
The Road America circuit is well known for US open-wheel competition with drivers such as Mario and Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Villenueve, Alex Zanardi, Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti all former winners at Road America.
QUOTES: Q&A with Australia’s Newest NASCAR driver Owen Kelly:
QUESTION: How did this deal come about?
OWEN KELLY: I’ve been trying get a ride in the Nationwide Series and obviously the road courses races are the races that I can slot straight into, so that made it attractive to the team given my road course experience.
They were looking to put a road course racer in for this race so that has worked out well for me and I’m very grateful that it has all come together.
QUESTION: It must be a big deal for you to make your debut at the championship level of NASCAR in the Nationwide Series?
OWEN KELLY: It’s something that I’ve been working on for a long, long time and I’ve been a huge NASCAR fan since I was probably 10 years old.
So it’s certainly going to be a pretty cool day to be able to start my first NASCAR race and it will be even better if we can get a good result.
QUESTION: Do you think racing on a road course will give you a chance to run well despite it being your debut race?
OWEN KELLY: That’s been my plan. The place where I can make the biggest impact in the category is on a road course. As a rookie, it’s the most sensible place for me to try and make a big impact straight up.
So I definitely think that I’ll have a decent shot. If I went into an oval race I’d be at something of a disadvantage compared to the experienced guys, but I think on a road course it puts me on a more level playing field with the others, not having driven these cars.
QUESTION: Road America is a very long, challenging and undulating circuit and arguably the Bathurst of the United States. Are you looking forward to racing there?
OWEN KELLY: I’ve done a million laps around there on iRacing and other than that I’ve watched plenty of IndyCar races from there. I know which way the track goes but I haven’t actually driven around it myself.
I don’t think learning the track will be a huge deal. Bathurst has got to be one of the toughest tracks in the world to get your head around and I can get around there OK, so I should be alright.
QUESTION: It’s the first Nationwide Series race at Road America so not many drivers have prior experience there. Do you think that will help you given it will be something of a very level playing field?
OWEN KELLY: That’s definitely going to work in my favour and I think that realistically if we can come out of there with a top 10 and a straight car that will be a great result.
QUESTION: Now that have got your first break into NASCAR, where do you want this to lead? You still have commitments with Jack Daniel’s Racing back in V8 Supercars in the endurance events in Australia in September and October.
OWEN KELLY: The first aim is to try and do the other couple of road course races in August (at Watkins Glen and Montreal), but obviously I’m talking to the team about doing some of the oval track stuff as well. So I’d like to turn this opportunity into some more races.
The first thing is to get this first race out of the way and get it done nice and clean and tidy and then start working on trying to do more races.
OWEN KELLY – DRIVER BIO:
Name: Owen Kelly
Hometown: Devonport, Tasmania, Australia
Lives: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Age: 33 years old
Date of Birth: 12 March 1977
Owen Kelly is the son of former Australian speedway champion Chas Kelly, himself a front-runner in Sprintcar and Late Model sedan races in his day in Australia.
Owen Kelly began his racing career at the age of nine years old, racing karts in his home state of Tasmania, an island state of Australia.
Kelly progressed up the ranks into Formula Ford open-wheel race cars in 1998, then moved into two-litre touring car racing and soon after, V8 Supercars, the pinnacle of motorsport in Australia, in 2001.
Kelly is the third on the all-time Race Wins tally for the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, the second-tier series for V8 Supercars, just as the Nationwide Series is to NASCAR, with 13 race victories.
The 33-year-old has also raced many times in the top-tier V8 Supercar Championship Series, with a best result of third place in the 2005 Sandown 500.
Kelly will race for Jack Daniel’s Racing in the V8 Supercar endurance events at Phillip Island and Bathurst later this season, with those two events long distance races that require two drivers per car.
Kelly is also a race winner in Late Model competition in the United States, racing for NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr’s JR Motorsports team in pavement short track events in 2008 and 2009.
Kelly also has experience in Sportscar racing in both Porsche racing in Australia and the Daytona 24 Hour in Florida, where he partnered Boris Said, Tom Nastasi and fellow Australian Paul Morris in a Ford Mustang FR500 in 2009.
BAKER CURB RACING – TEAM BIO:
Baker Curb Racing is based in Nashville, Tennessee and is owned by businessman Gary Baker and Mike Curb, who both boast a vast history in NASCAR.
Baker is the former owner of Bristol Motor Speedway and Nashville Speedway, while Curb is a legend of the music industry as the founder of Curb Records, sponsor of numerous NASCAR and IndyCar teams for decades including the car of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr in his first championship season in 1980
Curb, who boasts a star on Hollywood’s ‘Walk of Fame’, was also the team owner for the Richard Petty in 1984, when ‘The King’ won his 200th win at Daytona International Speedway, who as at the track at the invitation of Curb.
Baker Curb Racing was formed in 2007 as currently fields the #27 and #43 Ford Fusions in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
FAST FACTS – OWEN KELLY AT ROAD AMERICA:
- Owen Kelly becomes the ninth Australian to compete in a NASCAR championship division (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck) race, joining Frank Gardner, Terry Byers, Tony Spanos, Allan Grice, Dick Johnson, Geoff Brabham, Adam Clarke and Marcos Ambrose.
- The #27 entry has been driven by three drivers so far this season, with Sprint Cup Series star Greg Biffle doing the bulk of the driving
- Biffle has raced the #27 in 10 of the 13 races held so far this season, with a best finish of second place at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California and a best qualifying of fourth place at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona
- Other drivers to race the #27 are Johnny Sauter, who made one appearance for Baker Curb Racing, and Scott Wimmer, who has so far raced the entry three times and will make a fourth start this weekend at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky
- The #27 has been to Victory Lane at Road America before, but not in NASCAR competition. Jacques Villeneuve won the CART race at Elkhart Lake using the #27 in 1995 and Dario Franchitti also drove the #27 to victory in CART open-wheel competition in 1998
- The last NASCAR championship division race at Road America was way back in 1956, when the Sprint Cup Series made its only appearance at the Elkhart Lake circuit in a race won by Tim Flock. The last NASCAR-style race held at Road America was when the NASCAR RE/MAX Challenge Series raced there in 2001
- The other two road course events on the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule are the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International in New York on August 6-7 and the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada on August 28-29
- The #27 entry of Baker Curb Racing is locked into the field for the Bucyrus 200 at Road America as it currently sits eighth in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner’s Points standings, comfortably inside the cut-off point where cars must qualify into the race
- BAM Media Press Release