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K Automotive Racing
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K Automotive Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team is owned and operated by Bob and Ron Keselowski. They currently field a full-time entry, the #26 Schweitzer Title/Dusty’s Collision Dodge in the Nationwide driven by Brian Keselowski, the #96 Dodge driven by Dennis Setzer, and recently fielded the #29 Ford F-150 in the Truck Series driven by Brad Keselowski.
team began racing in ARCA and USAC Series in the 1969 with Ron driving and Bob serving as the team’s crew chief.
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Encyclopedia
K Automotive Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team is owned and operated by Bob and Ron Keselowski. They currently field a full-time entry, the #26 Schweitzer Title/Dusty’s Collision Dodge in the Nationwide driven by Brian Keselowski, the #96 Dodge driven by Dennis Setzer, and recently fielded the #29 Ford F-150 in the Truck Series driven by Brad Keselowski.
ARCA
The team began racing in ARCA and USAC Series in the 1969 with Ron driving and Bob serving as the team’s crew chief. Eventually, the two switched roles and Bob won the ARCA championship in 1989.
Grand National/Winston Cup
K Automotive made its debut in the NASCAR Grand National Series in 1969, the team being owned by John Keselowski. Fielding the #62 Kaye Engineering Dodge, Homer Newland finished 36th in the teams debut at Michigan International Speedway. Newland also ran K Automotive’s car at the inaugural event at Alabama International Motor Speedway, starting eighth, but dropping to twenty-seventh due to an engine failure.
In 1970, Ron began running most of the races for the team. He ran seventeen races, finishing eighth at the West Virginia 300, and finished 39th in the final points standings. They also fielded a car for Dave Marcis at the Southern 500, finishing 29th. In 1971, K fielded entries for a variety of drivers, including Ron, Dick Polling, and Bill Shirley. After taking the following year off, K returned in 1973, fielding a car for Ron in two races. He finished fifth at Michigan International Speedway. They made one start in 1974 with Bob Whitlow before making their final Cup start at the 1975 Daytona 500 when Jim Vandiver finished 35th after a wreck.
Craftsman Truck Series
K returned to NASCAR in 1995 with the formation of the Craftsman Truck Series. Bob began driving the team’s #29 Winnebago Dodge Ram, starting sixteen races and finishing in the top-ten four times, earning him a fourteenth-place points finish. He dropped to sixteenth in the standings the next year when he posted just one top-ten. In 1997, he finished a career-best fourteenth in the standings and won his only truck race at Richmond International Raceway in the Mopar Dodge. During the 1998 season, Keselowski was injured and was replaced by Dennis Setzer. Over a span of five races, Setzer had two eighth-place finishes. Keselowski returned and finished tenth at Heartland Park Topeka before handing the driving chores back to Setzer for the rest of the season. Setzer then won his first career race at Mesa Marin Raceway. In 1999, K created a second truck, the #1, for Setzer to drive while Keselowski drove the #29 part-time, doing research and development for Dodge. Keselowski ran five races and had a top-ten finish at Texas Motor Speedway before he retired. Setzer won three times and lost the championship by 108 points.
In 2000, Setzer won one race at Nazareth Speedway and fell to seventh in the standings. Terry Cook drove the #29 in a one-race deal at the season finale at California Speedway and finished seventh. When Setzer left and the team switched to the #29 and Ford Motor Company, Cook joined the team full-time with sponsorship from Power Stroke Diesel. In his first year with the team, Cook won the pole at Nazareth and finished tenth in the standings. In 2002, he won four races and two poles but dropped to ninth in the final points. After he did not win again in 2003, he and PSD left the team.
The team began 2004 with Frank Kimmel driving. He finished eighth at Daytona before Brad Keselowski began driving. He made eight races, his best finish sixteenth at Mansfield before Deborah Renshaw finished out the season. Her best finish came at Martinsville Speedway, where she finished fifteenth. Brad became the team’s full-time driver in 2005 with /Samson Stone as primary sponsors. He had a seventh-place finish at Daytona and finished 21st in points. Due to a lack of sponsorship, the team only ran the first two races of the season before disappearing. While they have not attempted a race since, they partnered with MB Motorsports to run the O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 that season with Brad driving. He finished 34th after an engine failure.
Nationwide Series
Beginning in the 2007 season, the team partnered with Holloway Motorsports to field entries in the Nationwide Series. They ran one race as the #19 and then as the #49 for three more races with Brian Keselowski driving, with a top-ten finish at Memphis Motorsports Park. After he drove briefly for Jay Robinson Racing, Keselowski moved to the team's #92 Dodge to drive on a part-time schedule.
In 2009, the team changed numbers from #92 to #26, and began to run full-time. The team also began running a second car with Dennis Setzer.
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