Jeff Barkshire has had the opportunity to do a variety of things in life, but racing in NASCAR didn't appear to be one of them.

Sure he had lots of experience as a young boy racing Quarter Midgets and dreamed the proverbial I-want- to-be-a-racecar-driver dream. But at 15 years old, cars were in his rear-view mirror.

“

You only get so many years to try to make it in racing. I figured I can go to college anytime if racing doesn't work out.

”

JEFF BARKSHIRE

"We just didn't know where to go after Midgets. My family has never been a big racing family or anything," said the now 25-year-old Barkshire.

The Washington native went to college at Central Washington University to study mechanical engineering, although time in the classroom was short-lived as Barkshire's desire to get back behind the wheel of a car far outweighed his need to learn the principles of physics.

He convinced his father the two needed to revisit the subject of racing and Barkshire began working in the trenches at a well-known race shop in Wenatchee, Wash. The decision made four years ago progressively culminated into a family-run NASCAR Camping World Series West team where Barkshire is competing for rookie of the year, and after nine starts found Victory Lane for the first time at Evergreen Speedway last week.

"I know I didn't race for a long time, but I decided I just wouldn't be happy with myself if I didn't try it again," Barkshire said.

His earlier efforts started in the toilettes, literally.

In 2002, Barkshire began working at Evans Racing Enterprises, an accomplished NASCAR Elite Division Northwest Series team at that time.

"I got hired as the cleanup boy for minimum wage and the first thing I did was clean the bathrooms at the shop, but by two years they had taught me everything I needed to know in order to build a racecar," Barkshire said.

In the midst of his tutelage under team owner Garrett Evans, Barkshire secured a loan to buy one of the teams' Late Model cars for $15,000 and was able to go racing at various events around Washington. He raced when he wasn't traveling for the boss. He worked on Evans' equipment during the day and his own at night.

"You only get so many years to try to make it in racing," Barkshire said. "I figured I can go to college anytime if racing doesn't work out."

By the end of 2003, Barkshire had compiled two top-five and four top-10 finishes in six Late Model races.

"It was just me and my low-buck pickup truck going to races. I didn't even have a crew chief," he said.

In 2004, Barkshire started the family team, Barkshire Racing, with his father Bob Barkshire and was crowned champion of two premier Late Model shows -- the Miller 200 at South Sound Speedway and the Fall Classic hosted by Yakima Speedway.

Competing for the first time in a NASCAR series, Barkshire garnered rookie of the year honors in NASCAR's Elite Division Northwest Series and placed sixth in the final championship standings in 2005 and fourth in 2006.

Climbing the ladder to NASCAR's big leagues, Barkshire and his father made a handful of starts in the Camping World Series West in 2007 and are now full time in the series for 2008.

"Last year was a building year and this year we are getting a whole lot better," said Barkshire, who has eight top-10 and five top-five finishes this season. "We run up front and are third in points as a rookie,"

And his victory at Evergreen Speedway was in dominant fashion at the track closest to his home in Auburn, 20 miles south of Seattle. His No. 46 Dodge led 126 laps of the 150-lap event.

"We've gotten a lot of positive reactions from fellow competitors because they respect the fact that we are a low-budget team and are able to be pretty good at it still," said Barkshire, whose team can't even afford matching uniforms right now.

So Barkshire continues to work. There's no time to rest on his laurels.

He works in the family race shop during the day, and at night Barkshire is a truck driver for FedEx shipping company. He obtained his commercial license years ago so he could drive haulers for Evans Racing Enterprises.

Now the skill affords the young driver health benefits and money to put food on the table while he pursues his NASCAR career.

"FedEx has been really cool about taking time off for racing," he said. "I've been working for them for five years now."

Barkshire jokes with his friends and family that he would be a great spokesman for the company should they ever choose to sponsor him as they do Sprint Cup star Denny Hamlin.

"I drive my own hauler and the trucks for FedEx," Barkshire laughed. "I'd be a great ad campaign."