Jason Keller is the Iron Man of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series with a record 465 starts, and he will attempt to add another record Friday night at Darlington Raceway.
The Greenville, S.C., driver will make his 27th start at the South Carolina track, hoping to become the first Nationwide driver to surpass 5,000 miles at Darlington and supplementing another mark he holds at the 1.366-mile oval — 3,598 laps completed.
He goes into the 200-mile event with a total of 4,914.8 miles.
In his first season with Baker Curb Racing, Keller is ranked seventh in the series standings and is aiming to finish in the top 10 in points for the first time since 2005, the last season he drove full-time in the second-tier series for the same owner.
“I think we’ve had some strong runs and can take a lot of positives so far,” Keller said. “The entire team is doing everything we can to continue to improve (each) week. If you look at where this team is now compared to the end of last year, we’ve done just that. Having said that, we’re not content with where we are and still need to improve as the season continues.”
Keller has three top-10 finishes this year, including a ninth-place run at Richmond on Friday. His other top-10s came at Daytona and Talladega.
At Darlington, Keller has posted three top-fives and 10 top-10s in his first 26 starts.
FAST GUY: Only 14 drivers have won at least 50 races across NASCAR’s three national series, with Kyle Busch joining the elite list with a pair of victories last weekend at Richmond.
Busch, who turned 24 on Saturday, made it to 50 wins in 365 starts.
As fast as that is, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is nowhere near the fastest to get to 50.
That honor belongs to Jeff Gordon, who did it in 275 races. Also making it to 50 wins quicker than Busch were Darrell Waltrip (278 races), David Pearson (293), Junior Johnson (303), Ned Jarrett (332), Richard Petty (338) and Cale Yarborough (247).
That puts Busch in pretty fast company, considering all of them are former series champions.
Others on the list include Lee Petty (392), Dale Earnhardt (400), Bobby Allison (432), Mark Martin (486), Rusty Wallace (533) and Greg Biffle (534).
FIRST-TIMER: After nine years of open-wheel racing, including 131 starts in CART and its successor, Champ Car, Alex Tagliani is finally going to have the opportunity to drive in the Indianapolis 500.
The 36-year-old from Lachenaie, Quebec, will be among six Indy rookies trying to make the field for the May 24 race.
“It’s every driver’s dream to be at the Indianapolis 500,” said Tagliani, who is driving for Panther Racing. “As a kid I never thought I would make it here, and even later on in my career, because of the split, so it has always remained a dream of mine. It’s the one race that has always sat atop my list.”
He finally gets his chance thanks to last year’s unification of the two American open-wheel series.
“Finally, more than nine years after my first start in a major open-wheel series race, I will get to experience all that surrounds the famous month of May,” Tagliani said.
Tagliani has made four starts in IndyCar Series points events, including at St. Petersburg and Long Beach this year. He earned his first Champ Car victory in 2004 at Road America and finished in the top 10 in series points every year from 2002-07.
EARNHARDT AND ELVIS: This year’s fan celebration at Dale Earnhardt Inc. will include a tribute to Elvis Presley.
The event in Mooresville, N.C., will kick off May 14 with a dinner and display of Elvis memorabilia in The Trophy Room, the private dining room used by the late Dale Earnhardt.
The free fan celebration will take place at DEI on May 16, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It will include an autograph session with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Almirola at 9 a.m., the North Carolina premiere of the Earnhardt Elvis No. 3 Chevrolet with DEI management and members of the Graceland organization at 10:30 a.m., and an autograph session with Kerry and Jeffrey Earnhardt, the late Dale Earnhardt’s son and grandson, at 2:30 p.m.
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