Kevin Conway (racing driver)

Kevin Conway
Born April 15, 1979
Cornelius, North Carolina, U.S.
Awards 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
31 races run over 2 years
Best finish 35th (2010)
First race 2010 Auto Club 500 (Fontana)
Last race 2011 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
34 races run over 6 years
Best finish 36th (2011)
First race 2003 Aaron's 312 (Atlanta)
Last race 2011 Ford 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish 86th (2009)
First race 2009 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of November 29, 2012.

Kevin Conway (born April 15, 1979) is an American stock car racing driver. He is the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year and the 2013 North American Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Series Champion. Conway has raced in motocross, legends, the World Karting Association, United States Automobile Club (USAC) ASA, NASCAR Pro Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

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

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 struggled in this ride, having an average finish of 29.4, 9 positions worse than his teammates in the same ride, and was released at the end of the 2007 season.

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. Conway got a career best finish of 14th at Daytona International Speedway in July, one of only 3 finishes better than 30th in 2010. As the only fully sponsored driver in the Front Row stable, he rotated among the team's #34, #37, and #38 cars in order to remain in the Top 35. Conway and his sponsor ExtenZe would go on to be sued by Front Row Motorsports for lack of payment, which they site as the reason Conway was removed from the car.

Robby Gordon Motorsports

Conway returned to competition with Robby Gordon Motorsports at Bristol, and ran 7 races in the #7 car, as well as attempting one in the teams #07 car, missing the race at Charlotte. Owner Robby Gordon would also get into a sponsorship dispute with Conway and Extenze, which turned violent the next season.

Conway won the NASCAR Rookie of the Year award for 2010 by default, as his only competitor, Terry Cook, ran only 3 of the first 10 races during the year. It was the least competitive rookie of the year battle in modern NASCAR history up to that point. Conway ran 28 races in 2010.

2011

Conway at Road America 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. Conway attempted 4 races, qualifying for 3 of them, in which he finished 43rd in each.

Conway also ran 9 races in the Nationwide Series for NEMCO, with an average finish of 28.1.

2013

In 2013 Conway competed in the North American Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Series. Over the course of the season he drove a race prepared, lightweight, four-wheel-drive, 570 horsepower version of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4[2] to win the series championship in the Pro-Am division. The final Super Trofeo Series race weekend was held in conjunction with the IndyCar season finale race weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.[3]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500 results
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
2011 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota DNQ

Nationwide Series

Camping World Truck Series

ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

  1. ↑ Stats "Driver's statistics". Racing Reference. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo 2013 Technical Specifications". squadracorse.lamborghini.com. Retrieved Dec 3, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Series Champion, Conway Takes the Final Checkered Flag of the Season". squadracorse.lamborghini.com. Retrieved Dec 3, 2013.

External links

Achievements
Preceded by
Joey Logano		 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
2010 		Succeeded by
Andy Lally