Australian Owen Kelly is scheduled to make his NASCAR debut when he races for Baker Curb Racing in the Bucyrus 200 at the Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin in the United States on June 17-19 next week. Kelly will make his first NASCAR start in the second-tier Nationwide Series at the impressive Road America circuit, a fast and undulating track regarded at the North American equivalent of Australias Mount Panorama circuit in the town of Bathurst, New South Wales. The 33-year-old will drive the #27 Ford Fusion of Baker Curb Racing in the 50-lap event. Kelly becomes the ninth Australian to race in a NASCAR championship division and follows in the footsteps of fellow Tasmanian Marcos Ambrose, who has used his similar background in karting, Formula Ford and V8 Supercars to great effect to claim two Nationwide Series wins at the Watkins Glen road course since moving to NASCAR in 2006. Kelly has raced for Dale Earnhardt Jrs JR Motorsports late model team in both 2008 and 2009, collecting race victories as he learned oval track racing after growing up in Australia on road course circuits. Originally from the town of Devonport in Tasmania, Kelly will also race V8 Supercars later this year for Jack Daniels Racing in the endurance events at the Phillip Island and Bathurst circuits, where the longer races require two drivers per car.(BAM Media)(6-11-2010)
