Luke Ramsey collects second NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship

The first championship is always the hardest, but a second title is never easy, either. Luke Ramsey won the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division V national championship in 2018, a title he said “eluded me for a few years before I finally got it.” When Ramsey, who raced this season at Iowa’s Adams County Speedway and Nebraska's I-80 Speedway, realized he had a chance at a second national title, he knew he had to go for it. “We all just kind of stepped back and said we’ve got to do this, because it’s not very often we get a chance to win two division titles in two different divisions,” Ramsey said in a recent phone interview. “So it was a pretty overwhelming feeling knowing we’ve pulled off two division wins.” Ramsey had 12 wins and 17 top-five finishes in 19 races this season to take home the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division IV national championship. He won the title by 10 points, besting Salina Highbanks Speedway's Jaylen Hardbarger. “This season was a good season,” he said. “We rattled off a pretty good winning streak in a row. We kind of had a national title in our sights, but we knew that it depended on nights and weather and car count. We ended up having the car count, we always had maximum points every night, and then we got down to the last of the season and were running out of nights. The guy that got second, I was watching his results, and the last three nights were kind of nerve-wracking because I told the guys, ‘I think I have it but I don’t think I have it by much.’ “He was knocking off a lot of wins and I was knocking off a lot of wins. It was an intense battle there towards the end, and that’s kind of what I like about the NASCAR national title is you’re not necessarily racing the people you’re competing against, but you’re racing against finishes between the two of you. I think that makes it kind of cool, especially when you’ve never even met the person.” Ramsey also took home the Division IV Midwest region title, and won the Hobby Stock division title at Adams County by 209 points. Ramsey said it was about halfway through the season when he knew he needed to change his focus to a national title, looking at where he was starting races and how many positions he needed to get for the finish. He got the confirmation that his hard work paid off around late September. “It was a good call to have. It made me feel good,” he said of the call telling him he won the national championship. “We’ve been to Charlotte a lot to the national banquet, but this year where they’re going to Indianapolis for the PRI banquet, that’s going to be a good change. “I’ve got a good support system and people that help me. That’s just a way to pay them back.” Ramsey’s whole team will go to the championship banquet. His team this season included his brother-in-law, Buddy, friends Scott, Jesse, Daniel, Lewis, J.D., Andrew, and Colton, and his family. The team also included Buddy's dog, Duke, who was there for every victory lane photo this season. Ramsey said there was no way he could have won the title this season without the help of everyone who was by his side this summer. “It takes a lot of time away from my family and kids to be able to race like we do, and I’m just glad they’re a part of it and they’re there with me the whole time,” he said. “There is no way I could have ever won a championship if it wasn’t for each person that helps me out. Whether I mentioned them or not, they have a special spot on this race team. It all has to click together to make it work. Every one of them has their certain thing that they do that makes us as successful as we are.” Ramsey began racing 10 years ago, and now has nine track titles and 150 wins in that span. It’s the thrill of the chase that has kept him going and helped him find his biggest success. “My life is just like everybody’s. It’s stressful, I work a lot,” he said. “We spent a lot of time working, and this is like a second job. But when I get in that car, that’s 20 minutes that I get to decide what I want to do. So my outcome is that. Just like Ralph Earnhardt said, sometimes it’s not the fastest car that wins the race, sometimes it’s the one that refuses to lose. And I don’t like losing so I try to win.”