NASCAR Cup Series
Jonathan Davenport Joins Kaulig Racing for Bristol Dirt Race
Mar 9, 2023
This weekend, one of the best Dirt Late Model racers in the country joins the fold when the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Jonathan Davenport will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut Sunday with Kaulig Racing in their No. 13 entry, while also competing in Saturday's Truck Series event with Spire Motorsports. Davenport joined Racing America's "The Bullring" to discuss the upcoming weekend at Bristol.
The opportunity with Kaulig Racing came in part due to a common partnership between Davenport and Kaulig, Nutrient Ag Solutions.
“Through Nutrien Ag Solutions, they’ve been a supporter of mine for five or six years now," said Davenport. "I’ve got a great guy there, Steve Martin, who loves dirt track racing, short track racing, all kinds of racing. We have a great friendship and partnership.
“He had this great idea to try to get me in a Cup car or something. They went to work on it last October, and it’s seemed to work out pretty good so far.”
Davenport is unquestionably one of the favorites any time he goes to a dirt track in his No. 49 Late Model, coming off a 24-win season in 2022 where he took home more than $2 million in prize money.
However, he doesn't expect to be one of the favorites this weekend at The Last Great Colosseum.
“I’d say I’m still an underdog, for sure. If my dirt experience was that far superior than everyone in their own cars in the Cup cars, then Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell would lap the field. My experience on dirt, I don’t think, trumps the experience everyone has in the Cup cars, but I’m excited to learn. Hopefully, my learning curve won’t be too long, and we’ll have a good showing.”
It's more important to Davenport to relish this opportunity to compete on NASCAR's biggest stage. The Georgia native once attempted a Truck Series event at Martinsville Speedway in 2013, but he is poised to make his first starts in both series this weekend.
“I’m excited for my family, really. How much they’ve sacrificed for years and years and years watching me run the short tracks all across America. What my mom and dad have given up for me to live my dream, it’s finally come full-circle and I’m finally getting to do what I wanted to do since I was a teenager.
What my mom and dad have given up for me to live my dream, it’s finally come full-circle and I’m finally getting to do what I wanted to do since I was a teenager.
— Jonathan Davenport
“That’s the main focus, is to have fun and make the most of this opportunity that I’ve got. I’m not going to say this one dirt race is going to make or break my career or put a stamp on how good of a dirt racer I am. I’m going to be learning two different deals in one weekend. That’s like taking an asphalt driver to Eldora and having them run the Late Model and the Sprint Car in the same weekend, going back and forth.”
-Photo credit: Kaulig Racing
