Kennedy makes Red Horse Racing debut in NextEra Energy Resources 250
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ben Kennedy’s balancing act of full-time driver with full-time team owner entered its next chapter Friday morning with the unveiling of its 2015 plans.
Kennedy, 23, took the wraps off his team’s entry in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, debuting the No. 3 Toyota that will be driven by 16-year-old driver Kaz Grala, fresh from his rookie season in the series. Sponsorship will be provided by Kiklos Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Though Kennedy still qualifies as a young adult as a recent graduate of the University of Florida, fielding a car for Grala — who only has his learner’s permit to drive on the streets of his home state of Massachusetts — has given him some perspective on the relative attributes of age.
“He makes me feel old,” Kennedy said with a laugh. “He’s 16 years old, but he doesn’t seem like it, though, because he handles himself so well. But Kaz is really a great driver and I’m looking forward to having him on board. He really impressed everyone last year.”
There’s also an element of mutual admiration from Grala, as well as a shared background. Kennedy and Grala both drove for Turner Scott Motorsports last season before that team disbanded, leaving both to seek new opportunities this season. Kennedy found his opening last December by joining Red Horse Racing full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series; Grala found his with Kennedy.
“I think he’s a really good driver and a really great team owner,” Grala said. “He’s hired some great people for this team. I think this is a top-notch group and I really think that’s going to show in the results. Haven’t turned a lap in the car, so it’s all still a little bit of mystery, but I am really confident in them. After seeing the way they’ve prepared this car in the offseason, if our results are anything like the preparation of this car, I think it’ll be top-level.”
At his tidy Daytona Beach race shop, just a stone’s throw from the shores of the Halifax River, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. proudly wears the role of team ownership. Banners heralding the accomplishments of Kennedy’s team sway from the ceiling, all part of a friendly competition for rafter space with his great-uncle, Jim France, and the partnered IMSA VisitFlorida.com Racing team, which shares space in the same city block.
Maintaining dual interests in driving duties and the business side of things bear the risk of spreading Kennedy thin, but it’s more a matter of keeping his options open — if one career arc falters, it never hurts to be invested in a backup plan.
“Ben is a racer and he’s totally passionate about it. When you talk to him about the business, he’s totally focused on racing right now,” said Lesa France Kennedy, Ben’s mother and the CEO of International Speedway Corporation. “That’s all I’ve heard from him. He’s got ambitions in that area and having said that, he’s learning an awful lot about the business through this whole effort and the background here. I think regardless of what he gets involved in down the road, whether it’s the business of NASCAR, maybe he takes it and does something different. I’m open to that; he’s open to that. He’ll have a really deep background.”
Both prongs to Kennedy’s 2015 plans set sail in the coming days, both in proximity to his modest shop. Grala will be competing in Sunday night’s K&N East opener at New Smyrna Speedway, and Kennedy will make his Red Horse Racing debut when the Camping World Truck Series lifts the curtain on the season in next Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1) at Daytona International Speedway.
Both sides have kept Kennedy busy, but it’s a rush the driver/owner welcomes.
“I think just all of it together is a great experience,” Kennedy said. “I’m the type of person that I can never stay still — I always want to be doing something, so having this on the side, too, just adds that much more excitement to it. At one point, I had college going on, I was racing, and then I had this team, too. It’s just all this stuff going on. I was really just kind of hitting it off and enjoying it. It came together again this year and it worked out.”