Kevin Conway (racing driver)

Kevin Conway (born April 15, 1978) is an American NASCAR driver. He is the 2010 Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Conway has raced in motocross, legends, the World Karting Association, and the United States Automobile Club.

Racing career

2002-2005

Conway moved to major-league stock car racing in 2002, when he made his debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. His first race came in the #17 Eagle One/Valvoline Chevrolet for A. J. Henriksen at Atlanta Motor Speedway, starting fifth and finished thirteenth after running in the top three most of the race, only to have rear axle problem late in the race. In his next race that fall at Lowe's he finished seventh. The following year, he moved to the NASCAR Busch Series, qualifying 27th of 54 cars in his first career start ahead of many series veterans in his only start that year at Atlanta with Bost Racing. In 2004 he made his career debut in the Winston West Series race at Fontana, where he qualified and finished fifth in the #28 Ford owned by Ernie Irvan after leading much of the race. His lone start in the NASCAR Busch Series came at Darlington Raceway in the #43 Channellock/Supra Boats Dodge for the Curb Agajanian Performance Group, where he finished 29th.

2006-2007: Busch Series

2006

In 2006, he declared for Busch Series Rookie of the Year honors, driving the #58 Carver Racing Dodge, which was in the process of purchasing equipment from Glynn Motorsports. After the team switched to the #40, the team suspended operations, leaving Conway out of a ride. He competed in the West Series once again at Irwindale Speedway for James Pritchard, where he finished eighth.

2007

In 2007, Conway joined Joe Gibbs Racing's Busch program, signing on to the #18 Z-Line Designs Chevy with drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Brad Coleman and Aric Almirola. Conway had an average finish of 2.4 among Busch Series only drivers.

2009-2010: Nationwide Series, Camping World Trucks (2009), Sprint Cup Series

2009: Various Cup/Nationwide teams

After spending the 2008 season out of NASCAR, Conway returned in 2009 with sponsorship from his male enhancement product ExtenZe. He began racing midway through the season in the #87 for Braun Racing (using the #87 owners points from NEMCO Motorsports), and had a career-best fifteenth place finish at Kentucky Speedway.^[1] He also ran a race for R3 Motorsports and later K Automotive Racing to finish out the Nationwide season. He made his first Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix, finishing nineteenth in Rob Fuller's truck, as well as unsuccessfully attempting to qualify for a Sprint Cup race in the #70 TRG Motorsports Chevy.

2010

Front Row Motorsports

In the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Conway started season in the #37 Front Row Motorsports Ford as a teammate to Travis Kvapil. Conway's lack of superspeedway experience caused him to delay his Rookie of the Year campaign, as NASCAR would not give him approval to compete in the Daytona 500. Travis Kvapil drove the #37 car to a 29th place finish in his place. Conway got a career best finish of 14th at Daytona International Speedway in July, giving Front Row Motorsports their best finish in the five year history of the team. In 2010 Kevin went on to be the only driver in the history of NASCAR to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Race award (given to the highest finishing rookie) in every career start. Kevin was named the 54th driver in the history of NASCAR to win the prestigious Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year award.

Robby Gordon Motorsports

After evaluating their options for the rest of 2010 and the 2011 season, Conway and his ExtenZe sponsorship moved to Robby Gordon Motorsports' #7 car.

2011

It was announced that Conway would enter the Daytona 500 and possibly a few more races for Joe Nemechek and Nemco Motorsports in the #97 Toyota with sponsorship from ExtenZe. Kevin did not qualify for the Daytona 500 but did race at Talladega Superspeedway during the eighth race of the 2011 Sprint Cup season. Conway started in the 32nd position, but finished 43rd due to electrical problems and completed one lap. He also qualified for the Coke 400 at Daytona and finished 43rd after completing one lap.

Conway also raced in 5 Nationwide Series races in 2011. He finished 43rd due to overheating at Las Vegas, 22nd at Fontana, 24th at Nashville, 24th at Road America, and 25th at Daytona after a late race incident while running inside the top-10 for most of the race. All races have been ran with NEMCO Toyota and ExtenZe As the sponsor.^[2]

References

External links

• Kevin Conway's Official Site