DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ahead of his third full NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season on the horizon, Daytona Beach, Fla. native Ben Kennedy has a lot to look forward to.
Not only will Kennedy return to the potent Red Horse Racing team this season, but the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East owner also unveiled a new marketing partner Wednesday afternoon with Jacob Companies that will adorn his No. 11 Toyota Tundra in Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250.
“Real excited about it,” said Kennedy. “We had the opportunity to get in touch with them last year and just kinda developed a relationship from there. It’s been great, we’ve become friends and obviously business partners. It’s been a very budding relationship. I can’t wait to see what this year brings and hopefully have a lot of success both on and off the track.”
Carrying the Kennedy name is a huge responsibility in NASCAR and while the 24-year-old could easily have any job that he wanted in the industry, the son of International Speedway Cooperation president Lesa France Kennedy and great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. is focused on making a career behind the wheel.
“I love it. I enjoy it. I enjoy the competitive nature of it,” Kennedy explained. “At the end of the day I’m learning something about the business. Having my own K&N Series team, I’m learning something about partnerships, building relationships. Whether I end up in the business or not, I’ll have all that in my back pocket.”
Just how long will he carry the name on the racetrack? For however long the journey can keep going.
“As long as I can make it work,” Kennedy mentioned. “I’m taking it one step at a time right now. I don’t want to get ahead of myself or anything. “I really enjoy all aspects of it. The sport is really diverse and there are so many things going on. It’s about making the best of all of them that you possibly can.”
Kennedy hinted he may have some additional driving opportunities this season, but was reluctant to release any more details.
“We’re going to have some more announcements here in the next couple of weeks that I’m really excited about but I can’t really talk about that much now,” he said. “I’m going to give this racing stuff a valiant effort.”
But, without reading too much into his future, Kennedy said Red Horse Racing is home and he expects bigger and better things in his second year with truck owner Tom DeLoach.
“I feel like they’ve been really competitive,” Kennedy sounded. “I’m so excited about getting out here on the track at Daytona. I’ve had a lot of success on the superspeedways. I’ve had a lot of success at Atlanta last year, I’m planning on two wins out of the box. It might be a far goal, it might be a far reach, but we’re going for it. We’re not here to mess around.
“It’s a great bond we’ve built over there (at Red Horse).”
With a thriving NASCAR career still ahead of him, Kennedy may someday join his influential mother in the executives offices of ISC and NASCAR, but for now, Kennedy is enjoying the grind of both the owner and driving aspects of the industry with no retirement in sight.
“I get to see both sides of the spectrum – the owner side and the driver side. They’re really completely different. I love still being a part of the K&N series (as an owner) – it was like home for me for a while. It’s also good to have the driving experience. You kind of get your hands dirty with the team a little.”
Kennedy will make his 51st truck start on Friday night at Daytona. Still looking for his breakout win, the two-time K&N Pro Series East winner has a best finish of third four times, most recently at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway last fall.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
