For the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on 9 April, Kaulig Racing will enlist the services of Jonathan Davenport in his maiden NASCAR start. He will drive the #13 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Davenport competes in dirt late models, winning twenty-four races in 2022 and the inaugural XR Super Series championship. The series raced on Bristol’s dirt layout that year, where Davenport held off then-reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson.
“This is literally a dream come true for me,” said Davenport. “I’ll get to race against the best race car drivers in the world and will get to do it at one of my favorite tracks. I have a lot to learn but have two great teammates in A.J. (Allmendinger) and Justin (Haley) to learn from. We started working on this last October during the Roval weekend in Charlotte and to see it come to fruition is absolutely amazing.”
Kaulig’s #13 was opened for the team’s Xfinity Series driver Chandler Smith to run in five races starting at the Daytona 500, though he missed the show. The team also fields the #16 for Allmendinger and #31 for Haley on full-time bases.
“Jonathan Davenport is an all-time favourite of mine because of how well he has done in his dirt racing career,” commented Kaulig president Chris Rice. “I’m super excited to have his side of dirt racing intermix with NASCAR and see what he can do in one of our Kaulig Racing Chevrolets.”
Since NASCAR began adding dirt tracks to its calendars in 2013, with Bristol’s dirt configuration being introduced in 2021, various teams have opted to bring in “ringers” with experience on dirt. While this was not necessarily the case for the 2022 Bristol Dirt Race (though J.J. Yeley, a NASCAR veteran who was one of the top dirt racers prior to stock cars, made his 2022 Cup début in the event), the 2021 edition saw Stewart Friesen, Shane Golobic, Mike Marlar, and Chris Windom all race in NASCAR’s top level for the first time after decorated careers on dirt.