Jason Keller

For the American writer, see Jason Keller (playwright).

Jason Keller (born April 23, 1970) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Previously, he was a mainstay in NASCAR's second-tier series, competing in 519 Nationwide Series races between 1991 and 2010. On May 15, 2010, Keller made his 500th career start, the first driver in series history to do so.

Jason Keller
Keller in 2008
Born	(1970-04-23) April 23, 1970 Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.
NASCAR Cup Series career
2 races run over 1 year
Best finish	58th (2003)
First race	2003 Pontiac Excitement 400 (Richmond)
Last race	2003 EA Sports 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
519 races run over 20 years
2010 position	22nd
Best finish	2nd (2000, 2002)
First race	1991 Nestle 200 (Lanier)
Last race	2010 Ford 300 (Homestead)
First win	1995 Kroger 200 (IRP)
Last win	2003 GNC Live Well 300 (Milwaukee)
Wins Top tens Poles 10 175 11
Statistics current as of December 4, 2011.

Racing career

Early career

Keller was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and began his racing career on kart tracks, moving up to Late-Model Sportsman dirt-track racing at the age of 16. He drove the #57 Chevy owned by Jack Finley of Easley, South Carolina.

Keller made his Busch series debut in the 1991 May race at Lanier Speedway. He piloted the #54 Air Products Buick home in 29th after starting 8th.

Air Products would sponsor his family-owned team from 1991 to 1994, during that time using the numbers 54 and 45, before finally settling on the #57, a number Jason would use until the end of the 2003 season. Keller grabbed his first top-10 finish in his 7th start at the North Carolina Speedway in February 1993.

His first top-5 would come one year later in the fall race of 1994 at Dover Downs. 1994 would be his first full season, and he finished 17th that year in the points. He did miss a race that season, but up to December 1, 2005, Keller has not missed one since. He won three poles in 1994, his first career coming at Rougemont.

In 1995, Keller received backing from Budget Gourmet, and rewarded them by finishing 4th place in the standings. His first career win occurred in August, as he outpaced the field at Indianapolis Raceway Park. In addition, Keller had 6 top-5s and 12 top-10s that season.

Slim Jim came on board for the 1996 season. Keller secured another top-10 finish in points (6th) with a 10 top-10s season.

Keller would also appear on the October 7, 1996 episode of WCW Nitro in a promo with "Macho Man" Randy Savage, where the two made fun of fellow driver Kyle Petty, who was sponsored by the nWo, for wrecking and gloated about Keller finishing in the top 10 in the same race.

Keller struggled through 1997 and 1998, finishing 13th and 16th in the points respective years. He only had 4 top 5s and 17 top 10s in those two years. In 1998, Keller's family owned team had no decals on the car, and that forced the team to sell to the newly formed ppc Racing team.

Breakout

In 1999, with sponsorship from IGA, Keller won 3 poles (Spring Bristol, IRP, Richmond spring) and 2 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway (spring) and IRP. With 5 top 5s and 12 top 10s, Keller came home 8th in the standings.

In 2000, Keller's ppc team received funding from Excedrin. This began to this date, Keller's best streak in his career. In four years (2000–2003), Keller wrapped up 7 wins (one at Dover, two at Nazareth, one at Rockingham, one at Richmond, one at Milwaukee, and one at Talladega.) He won 4 poles, and finished 2nd twice in the standings (2000 and 2002), 3rd (2001), and 5th (2003).

Keller has run 2 races in the Cup Series. In 2003, he drove the No. 01 U.S. Army for MB2/MBV Motorsports Pontiac home 32nd in the spring Richmond race, subbing for the Jerry Nadeau, whose suffered a career-ending injury, and 26th in the fall Talladega race in the No. 1 for DEI.

The No. 57 team lost Albertsons sponsorship at the end of 2003, and Miller High Life came on board, changing the team's number to 22. Keller had 6 top-5s and 12 top-10s in the year, finishing 6th in 2004.

Later career

In 2005, again without sponsorship, Keller left ppc Racing, and headed towards Team Rensi Motorsports's second operation sponsored by McDonald's. They struggled all year. Despite a 9th-place finish in points, Keller was never competitive. He only had 1 top-5 all year (Talladega) and 6 top-10s. Keller signed with Phoenix Racing for 2006, but was released after just eight races.

Keller's 2009 No. 27 Nationwide car

Keller was consistent in the first eight races. He ran the No. 1 Miccosukee Dodge to a best finish of 11th at Daytona, but he was running 12th in points after the eighth race of the year. However, on April 18, 2006, Keller was released from the team in what many viewed as a "cheap shot" from Finch. He was replaced by Mike Wallace. Keller would then try to race the No. 34 Frank Cicci Racing Chevy at Richmond, but he did not qualify and declined further rides with the team. Instead, Brewco Motorsports hired Keller to qualify and practice Greg Biffle's No. 66 Ford for select races when Biffle was working on his Nextel Cup Series team. Keller did a good job, and Brewco rewarded Keller with a race at ORP. Keller ran in the top-five for the first half of his 400th career start, but a mid race spin dropped Keller to 15th in the rundown. Keller will drive part-time for Brewco Motorsports, sharing their No. 27 with NEXTEL Cup driver Ward Burton, as well as a part-time schedule for CJM Racing. On October 12, 2007, Keller broke Tommy Houston's record for most career starts in the Busch Series with his 418th appearance. He also holds the record for most Busch Series earnings with over $11M (USD).

In 2008, Keller drove for CJM Racing in their No. 11 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series full-time with sponsorship from America's Incredible Pizza Company. Keller tested the No. 98 for then-Evernham Motorsports at Daytona Preseason Thunder Testing. Keller was released from CJM Racing in September during the off week after the fall Richmond race and replaced by Scott Lagasse Jr., with AIPC citing that they wanted to take the company in a new direction. He then signed with Baker Curb Racing to drive the No. 27 Ford Fusion through the rest of 2008 and 2009. For 2010, Keller drove for TriStar Motorsports in the No. 35, though the team had to get by with little to no sponsorship. Although he did not qualify for several races early in the season, by mid-year he had raced his way into the top-30 in owner's points, locking him into the remainder of the races. His best finish in 2010 was 4th at Talladega. Keller did not return to the team in 2011, and Mike Bliss took this place in the renumbered No. 19. His 2010 teammate Tony Raines was also replaced by Eric McClure, who brought sponsorship to the team. Keller has not raced in NASCAR since. In November 2011, Kenny Wallace surpassed Keller in the record books when he made his 520th Nationwide Series start, most all-time.

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.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1996	David Blair Motorsports	27	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	SON	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	IND DNQ	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL						NA	-
2003	MB2 Motorsports	01	Pontiac	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	MAR	CAL	RCH 32	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY																				58th	152
	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	81	Chevy																		CHI DNQ	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV
		1																														TAL 26	KAN	CLT	MAR	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts	Ref
1991	KEL Racing	54	Buick	DAY	RCH	CAR	MAR	VOL	HCY	DAR	BRI	LAN 29	SBO	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU	HCY	MYB	GLN	OXF	NHA	SBO	DUB	IRP	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	NHA	CAR	MAR					104th	76
1992				DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR	DAR	BRI	HCY	LAN 28	DUB	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU																						54th	398
	Laughlin Racing	45	Chevy															MYB 27	GLN	VOL
			Olds																		NHA 13	TAL	IRP	ROU	MCH	NHA 32	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	MAR	CAR 39	HCY
1993	KEL Racing	57	Olds	DAY	CAR 8	RCH DNQ	DAR 17	BRI 20	HCY 22	ROU	MAR	NZH	CLT 27	DOV	MYB 21	GLN	MLW 13					BRI 34	DAR 16	RCH DNQ	DOV	ROU	CLT 38	MAR	CAR DNQ	HCY	ATL 21								33rd	1137
			Chevy															TAL 37	IRP	MCH	NHA
1994			Ford	DAY DNQ																																			17th	2767
			Chevy		CAR 29	RCH 10	ATL 28	MAR 31	DAR 36	HCY 29	BRI 13	ROU 12	NHA 27	NZH 19	CLT 12	DOV 8	MYB 11	GLN 28	MLW 20	SBO 14	TAL 37	HCY 19	IRP 9	MCH 10	BRI 6	DAR 15	RCH 36	DOV 4	CLT 43	MAR 10	CAR 36
1995				DAY 18	CAR 29	RCH 5	ATL 11	NSV 21	DAR 10	BRI 10	HCY 4	NHA 26	NZH 7	CLT 6	DOV 4	MYB 2*	GLN 35	MLW 6	TAL 33	SBO 20	IRP 1	MCH 20	BRI 16	DAR 7	RCH 22	DOV 15	CLT 21	CAR 20	HOM 3										4th	3211
1996				DAY 44	CAR 8	RCH 7	ATL 26	NSV 35	DAR 16	BRI 29	HCY 4	NZH 5	CLT 25	DOV 30	SBO 21	MYB 3	GLN 10	MLW 10	NHA 8	TAL 22	IRP 25	MCH 17	BRI 9	DAR 27	RCH 15	DOV 25	CLT 10	CAR 13	HOM 16										6th	2900
1997				DAY 37	CAR 39	RCH 5	ATL 24	LVS 32	DAR 18	HCY 7	TEX 12	BRI 9	NSV 16	TAL 11	NHA 31	NZH 7	CLT 8	DOV 13	SBO 7	GLN 14	MLW 17	MYB 29	GTY 2	IRP 10	MCH 21	BRI 29	DAR 37	RCH 7	DOV 13	CLT 21	CAL 17	CAR 18	HOM 35						13th	3242
1998	Progressive Motorsports			DAY 16	CAR 10	LVS 33	NSV 5	DAR 33	BRI 5	TEX 26	HCY 10	TAL 11	NHA 12	NZH 7	CLT 38	DOV 9	RCH 6	PPR 33	GLN 10	MLW 36	MYB 33	CAL 27	SBO 33	IRP 16	MCH 28	BRI 38	DAR 41	RCH 20	DOV 20	CLT 33	GTY 37	CAR 22	ATL 22	HOM 35					16th	2971
1999				DAY 22	CAR 33	LVS 10	ATL 15	DAR 12	TEX 6	NSV 3	BRI 1*	TAL 40	CAL 29	NHA 6	RCH 30	NZH 16	CLT 11	DOV 10	SBO 28	GLN 5	MLW 36	MYB 8	PPR 33	GTY 5	IRP 1*	MCH 27	BRI 21	DAR 23	RCH 10	DOV 28	CLT 29	CAR 8	MEM 29	PHO 40	HOM 26				8th	3537
2000	ppc Racing			DAY 12	CAR 4	LVS 34	ATL 43	DAR 14	BRI 9	TEX 11	NSV 22	TAL 22	CAL 7	RCH 5	NHA 3	CLT 19	DOV 1	SBO 7	MYB 4	GLN 11	MLW 5	NZH 3	PPR 12	GTY 4	IRP 5	MCH 23	BRI 2	DAR 6	RCH 11	DOV 2	CLT 6	CAR 3	MEM 15	PHO 8	HOM 4				2nd	4389
2001			Ford	DAY 7	CAR 10	LVS 3	ATL 7	DAR 3	BRI 11	TEX 24	NSH 2	TAL 25	CAL 15	RCH 18	NHA 1	NZH 4	CLT 3	DOV 13	KEN 14	MLW 5	GLN 9	CHI 5	GTY 2	PPR 4	IRP 5	MCH 8	BRI 29	DAR 6	RCH 13	DOV 25	KAN 5	CLT 2	MEM 7	PHO 6	CAR 4	HOM 19			3rd	4642
2002				DAY 4	CAR 1	LVS 22	DAR 4	BRI 29	TEX 13	NSH 5*	TAL 1*	CAL 5	RCH 1	NHA 32	NZH 1*	CLT 13	DOV 28	NSH 5	KEN 34	MLW 2	DAY 4	CHI 10	GTY 6	PPR 3	IRP 2	MCH 35	BRI 9	DAR 2	RCH 5	DOV 5	KAN 30	CLT 18	MEM 10	ATL 7	CAR 27	PHO 4	HOM 15*		2nd	4644
2003				DAY 27	CAR 5	LVS 5	DAR 10	BRI 3	TEX 18	TAL 28	NSH 27	CAL 7	RCH 21	GTY 3	NZH 11	CLT 17	DOV 11	NSH 14	KEN 2	MLW 1	DAY 14	CHI 6	NHA 7	PPR 2	IRP 2	MCH 23	BRI 11	DAR 7	RCH 21	DOV 8	KAN 4	CLT 10	MEM 2	ATL 15	PHO 17	CAR 13	HOM 24		5th	4528
2004		22		DAY 9	CAR 12	LVS 8	DAR 13	BRI 8	TEX 12	NSH 13	TAL 12	CAL 19	GTY 3	RCH 5	NZH 4	CLT 31	DOV 13	NSH 33	KEN 5	MLW 3	DAY 18	CHI 2	NHA 26	PPR 13	IRP 19	MCH 16	BRI 8	CAL 22	RCH 39	DOV 12	KAN 7	CLT 30	MEM 6	ATL 35	PHO 29	DAR 16	HOM 13		6th	4088
2005	Team Rensi Motorsports	35	Ford	DAY 35	CAL 17	MXC 13	LVS 43	ATL 17	NSH 8	BRI 19	TEX 13	PHO 21	TAL 8	DAR 13	RCH 11	CLT 23	DOV 7	NSH 11	KEN 31	MLW 13	DAY 17	CHI 22	NHA 21	PPR 36	GTY 33	IRP 4	GLN 18	MCH 15	BRI 12	CAL 6	RCH 38	DOV 13	KAN 18	CLT 18	MEM 10	TEX 13	PHO 16	HOM 15	9th	3866
2006	Phoenix Racing	1	Dodge	DAY 11	CAL 15	MXC 22	LVS 16	ATL 23	BRI 15	TEX 28	NSH 16	PHO	TAL																										41st	1116
	Frank Cicci Racing	34	Chevy											RCH DNQ	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	MAR	GTY
	Brewco Motorsports	66	Ford																							IRP 15	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM 12	TEX	PHO	HOM
2007		27		DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH 33	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH					KEN 20	MLW 5				GTY 30	IRP 11	CGV	GLN												26th	2206
	CJM Racing	11	Chevy												DAR 14	CLT	DOV 13	NSH 6			NHA 26	DAY	CHI 35					MCH 22	BRI 24		RCH 10	DOV 8	KAN 16	CLT 34	MEM 8	TEX 22	PHO 35	HOM 28
	Baker Curb Racing	27	Ford																											CAL 17
2008	CJM Racing	11	Chevy	DAY 36	CAL 14	LVS 18	ATL 14	BRI 15	NSH 18	TEX 12	PHO 32	MXC 17	TAL 21	RCH 19	DAR 7	CLT 17	DOV 16	NSH 15	KEN 10	MLW 9	NHA 11	DAY 18	CHI 14	GTY 3	IRP 24	CGV 23	GLN 32	MCH 17	BRI 12	CAL 14	RCH 16								12th	3873
	Baker Curb Racing	27	Ford																													DOV 19	KAN 19	CLT 29	MEM 25	TEX 19	PHO 13	HOM 22
2009				DAY 9	CAL 17	LVS 25	BRI 28	TEX 15	NSH 12	PHO 17	TAL 7	RCH 9	DAR 15	CLT 16	DOV 9	NSH 26	KEN 23	MLW 20	NHA 23	DAY 22	CHI 19	GTY 9	IRP 25	IOW 6	GLN 16	MCH 20	BRI 16	CGV 23	ATL 37	RCH 15	DOV 10	KAN 13	CAL 10	CLT 17	MEM 28	TEX 12	PHO 11	HOM 13	8th	3960
2010	Tri-Star Motorsports	35	Chevy	DAY DNQ	CAL 20	LVS DNQ	BRI 27	NSH 38	PHO 22	TEX DNQ	TAL 4	RCH 14	DAR 21	DOV 33	CLT 19	NSH 20	KEN 23	ROA	NHA 15	DAY 20	CHI 30	GTY 34	IRP 32	IOW 26	GLN	MCH 23	BRI 12	CGV	ATL 18	RCH 23	DOV 27	KAN 27	CAL 16	CLT 32	GTY	TEX 29	PHO	HOM 27	22nd	2514

External links

• Jason Keller driver statistics at Racing-Reference