A year on the sidelines from NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Blake Koch will return to the tour with JD Motorsports with Gary Keller next season aboard the No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro.
“It’s hard for me to explain how excited I am to race again and to do it for JD Motorsports,” Koch said. “I have seen the progress of this team and have raced against them for many years. Coming off their best season with Ross (Chastain) making the playoffs, it’s a perfect time to join them.”
Koch, a native of West Palm Beach, Fla. replaces Ross Chastain who moves to Chip Ganassi Racing next season in a full-time Xfinity ride driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro.
The 32-year-old sat on the sidelines this season after being replaced at Kaulig Racing by Ryan Truex in January. Without sponsorship dollars to race, Koch remained active at the race track throughout the season as a driver coach to drivers Harrison Burton, Matt Tifft and Myatt Snider.
He also served as an Xfinity analyst on NASCAR Race Hub on FOX Sports 1 throughout 2018.
In late May, Koch founded FilterTime.com, an automatic filter service for HVAC systems delivered to your door automatically when they should be changed. The service offers the filters for the same price as retails with free shipping.
FilterTime.com, will serve as the primary marketing partner for Koch in the 2019 Xfinity Series season-opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Feb. 16, 2019 as well as select races.
“I have always known how important it was to change my air filters at least every three months, but I always forgot to actually go to the store and buy them, or what my size was and what quality I bought the time before,” Koch said. “So I figured there has to be a better way to do this. That’s when I started FilterTime.”
After competing full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West in 2009, Koch moved into the NASCAR Xfinity Series later that year competing in two races for MacDonald Motorsports.
The following year, he returned to K&N for a majority of the season while sprinkling in competition in the ARCA Racing Series and an Xfinity start at Iowa Speedway for Day Motorsports.
In 2011, he transitioned full-time to the series’ driving for MacDonald Motorsports before moving to Rick Ware Racing in 2012 for 23 races. While continuing to find his footing in 2013, Koch turned heads in a one-race deal with RAB Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway sitting on the outside pole and running inside the top-10 for a majority of the race before finishing 11th.
With support from Kaulig Racing owner Matt Kaulig’s LeafFilter.com in 2015, he ran the full Xfinity Series season with TriStar Motorsports before Kaulig formed his own team in 2016 forming an alliance with Richard Childress Racing along the way.
In two years driving the No. 11 Chevrolet, Koch produced one pole, 10 top-10 finishes and a career-high seventh in the championship standings in 2016.
Overall, he has 213 Xfinity starts over nine years. The Floridian also has six starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and 10 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
JD Motorsports is expected to have three cars with full-time drivers in 2019 with a fourth car (No. 15) projected to have a rotating list of drivers for the Gaffney, South Carolina-based team.
“We are excited to get Blake back in a race car,” team owner Johnny Davis said. “He is another overlooked talent that needs an opportunity to race, and we’re happy to have him at our organization.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
