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[NASCAR] Owen Kelly gaining momentum
by Stefan Bartholomaeus
Former V8Supercar driver Owen Kelly could be driving in the NASCAR Nationwide Series as soon as next season.
Driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s JR Motorsports squad, Kelly took his first Late Model victory last month when he won the final Mid-Atlantic Championship race of the season.
The Tasmanian native has reportedly struck up a solid relationship with Earnhardt, which began when NASCAR’s most popular driver visited the V8Supercar Series round at Phillip Island last December.
After being introduced to Earnhardt at Phillip Island, Kelly acted as a ‘tour guide’ for Earnhardt and his friends as they holidayed in Australia.
Having driven a handful of Late Model races for Robert Pressley in 2007, Kelly relocated to the US in March of this year to continue his NASCAR dream, now living on Earnhardt’s sizeable North Carolina estate, and racing with Earnhardt’s team.
In a front page story, Kelly told nascar.com of the importance of his first victory.
"I knew I could do it,” he said. “You wouldn't do it if you didn't think you could win, but every week you have to put yourself in a position to win and then you have to get the breaks. The win was a huge relief and also it was one of the biggest races of the year. It definitely justified Junior's decision. I'm sure at first people were like, 'who is this dude Junior brought back from Australia?'"
He also spoke of the difficulty of moving to the US.
"Finding the supermarket was a bit of a mission and the worst part was trying to get a phone. They wouldn't give me a phone. I was on a visa and had no credit, which is actually worse than having bad credit. Little things like that, you take for granted."
Not surprisingly, Kelly also played down speculation about a possible Nationwide Series debut.
“I'm not trying to speed that up,” he said of a ‘promotion’ to NASCAR’s second tier series. “We are learning a bunch with the Late Models and Dale Jr. is the best person to tell you when you're ready to step it up, so I'm going to wait until he's happy to present that opportunity."
JR Motorsports currently run two cars in the Nationwide Series, driven by youngsters Landon Cassilll (#5) and Brad Keselowski (#88). The latter, who currently runs third in the Nationwide points, is expected to move up to the Sprint Cup Series next season.
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