New graduate celebrates with team in Cup garage

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- When you're a college student and a NASCAR crewman traveling the circuit, schedules get a bit harried.

Just ask Billy Kuebler, who forewent his college graduation ceremony to crew the No. 25 car in Saturday's Dodge Avenger 500 Cup race.

His team threw together a last-minute graduation party inside the NASCAR garage amongst the loud engines and gasoline fumes -- a stark contrast from the pomp and circumstance to play out at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, now Kuebler's alma mater.

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Billy Kuebler celebrates his graduation with mother, Diane.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Kuebler, who paired a graduation cap with his traditional red, white and blue crew shirt for the occasion. "Back home, everyone was telling me, 'hey, you only graduate once' but I said, 'hey it's Darlington'."

Kuebler provides pit support for the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports team and also helps outs tire specialist Lisa Smokstad.

More than that, he is the poster boy for a growing trend in the NASCAR garage where college degrees are becoming more commonplace for young professionals looking to land jobs with the sport's top teams.

An intern at Hendrick Motorsports for three years, Kuebler has wanted to work for the dominant organization since he was 5 years old.

"He was a big Jeff Gordon fan after I took him to an IROC race in Michigan. He told me then he would work for Hendrick one day," said Kuebler's father, Steve Kuebler.

And in the midst of a major shortage of skilled workers in today's auto industry, Kuebler is a commodity.

So agrees 31-year-old Darian Grubb, crew chief for driver Casey Mears.

College degrees are changing the hiring process within the sport, Grubb said.

Several years ago, aspiring crew chiefs would start at ground zero sweeping floors, working in the parts room and would eventually become mechanics and then crew chiefs.

"But with a degree you don't have to be the type that had been in racing since you were 10 years old to get a good job. That's how the sport used to run," said Grubb, who has a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech.

The evolution comes from a technology shift within NASCAR, so much is driven by computers.

Computers in the classroom -- that's what Kuebler said has helped him excel in his internship with Hendrick Motorsports and vice versa.

"I went from a 2.0 sophomore year to making the chancellor's list four straight semesters," he said.

Now armed with the engineering degree and experience with the team in NASCAR that has won seven out of the first 10 races, it's time for Kuebler to start pounding the pavement.