Owen Kelly has never turned a single lap at Road America, the site of this weekend's Nationwide Series debut event, but if Marcos Ambrose thinks he can manage then the fellow Australian might be alright.

"Owen is a good friend of mine, we grew up together in Tasmania," said Ambrose, who raced against Kelly during their respective go-kart days as young 12- and 13-year-old boys, and then both progressed to V8 Supercars.

“

It is a long shot, but it's my only opportunity. ...if we blow up on the second lap and no one notices me, I'll be back to square one knocking on doors. But my plan is to keep the car clean and someone will hire me for the other two road course races.

”

-- OWEN KELLY

"He's going to have a big challenge ahead of him for sure, but he's used to big, heavy stock cars on road courses," Ambrose said. "He's grown up doing that in Australia ... so he knows his stuff, he knows what he needs to do."

The 33-year-old Kelly has proven he can win in a Late Model. He won at Caraway Speedway in 2008 racing for JR Motorsports -- a ride Kelly landed after befriending Dale Earnhardt Jr., who happened to be vacationing in Australia. Kelly and Earnhardt spent time together at the V8 Super School co-owned by Ambrose.

Then JR Motorsports closed the door on its late model operations so Kelly returned to Australia to race, but he always kept close ties to the NASCAR garage -- ties that even led him to his future wife, who happens to be the daughter of an engine tuner at Baker Curb Racing.

The links led Kelly to team owner Gary Baker.

"Our president, Matt Crews, was aware of Kelly because he was a development driver for JR Motorsports. But our closer connection to him was through Greg Jacobs, who is going to be his father-in-law," said Baker, who is putting Kelly in the team's No. 27 at Road America this weekend. "Greg mentioned Kelly to me so we looked at his credentials and it's amazing how parallel his past is with Ambrose -- who raced in some of the same series all over Australia.

"At any rate, the more we looked at him on paper the more we thought, 'OK let's talk to him.' He came to shop and he's just a great kid that deserves a shot. So we are putting him in there and giving him a shot."

With no NASCAR experience to speak of, Kelly knows this very well could be his only opportunity, but he hopes he can do enough to grab the attention of other NASCAR teams and at least be added to the pool of road course specialists called on to race events at Road America, Montreal and Watkins Glen.

"It is a long shot, but it's my only opportunity," Kelly said. "I've got to make the most of it and it's a bit of a Hail Mary. If it doesn't work out, if we blow up on the second lap and no one notices me and don't get to do anything good I'll be back to square one knocking on doors. But my plan is to keep the car clean and someone will hire me for the other two road course races."

Kelly's permanent home will be Australia -- even his American fiancée has agreed to move there -- but he'd love for a team to take a chance on him full time.

However, less than a handful of road course racers that start out as ringers have landed a full time NASCAR ride. Some in the industry feel road course racers are a thing of the past. But many teams, mostly second- and third-tier, still rely on their expertise evident by the Cup Series entry list in Sonoma this weekend as well as the Nationwide entry list at Road America.

Kelly, led by Baker Curb crew chief John Reese, hopes to adapt quickly to the Nationwide Series machine when the weekend's first practice session is run Friday.

Kelly has a few tricks up his sleeve.

"Luckily I fit right into [former driver of the No. 27] Greg Biffle's seat so that has to be some good karma worth a couple tenths of a second a lap," Kelly laughed. "Boris Said and Marcos have given me some pointers as well."

Ambrose, who helped Kelly land his first racing experience in the United States in 2007 racing a late model with Robert Pressley, said the two spoke on the phone earlier this week.

"He's come forward and asked for a few tips and pointers on the way," Ambrose said. "But he's a big guy, big man, and he's going to take it by the throat, I think, and really get it done. I'm looking forward to seeing him have a go."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.