Bayley Currey will return to his home state of Texas this weekend. And he isn’t coming alone.
Fort Worth Screen Printing will be featured on the No. 15 JD Motorsports Chevrolet, which Currey will drive for the fourth time this season. In his first three starts with the team, he has a best outing of 13th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“It’s really special to have a Texas driver with a Texas sponsor at Texas Motor Speedway,” Currey, who’s from Austin, said. “It almost feels like short track racing, being able to have local people come together and do something. I think having local sponsors is always cool, no matter where you go.”
The relationship began with a Facebook message to Jon Garrett, vice president of operation at Fort Worth Screen Printing, a few years back. Since then, the company has become one of the driver’s biggest sponsors.
“They’ve definitely been [my] top primary sponsor,” Currey added. “If we need help with tires or things like that, [Garrett] is usually always willing to help and make sure the team is doing well.”
This is the first time the sponsor will be on one of JDM’s cars, as it’s worked with Currey in the past at Mike Harmon Racing and Rick Ware Racing.
“It has been a pleasure working with Bayley for the past two years, and we are looking for exciting things to happen in the future,” Garrett said in a team release.
Currey is hoping to build on his “rocky” season. Back in March at Phoenix Raceway, he drove the No. 74 Chevrolet to a seventh-place finish, a personal best for himself and Mike Harmon Racing. But since then, it has indeed been rocky.
After running the first 10 races of the season, the No. 74 car failed to qualify at Circuit of The Americas and Charlotte Motor Speedway. At COTA, the team blew two engines.
“We had an issue with the engine plate on the [No.] 74 and we didn’t realize it,” Mike Harmon told Jayski.com in August. “It was flexing and kicking the oil belt off, so we had to change the engine. We put a new engine in and it did the same thing as the other one.”
Because the No. 74 car was mired down in the championship standings, Harmon needed to rent the car out, putting a driver with sponsorship in the car. Drivers like Jesse Iwuji, CJ McLaughlin and Tim Viens benefitted from this move and raced for the team.
During that time, Currey still worked at the MHR race shop, though not full time as he was previously.
Insert Johnny Davis. Leading up to the Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway last month, Colby Howard was pulled from the No. 15 car. Who did the team owner call on? Currey.
Quite possibly, this is Currey’s best chance to shine, with a team that realistically can finish inside of the top 15 on any given weekend.
“It’s definitely a step up and the best Xfinity car I’ve driven,” Currey said. “We’ve had speed when we’ve gone and raced together. I’m really excited to continue working with them and try to get better.”
As for what’s next, Currey isn’t sure. Having built recent momentum with a solid run in Sin City, he’s hoping he can remain a driver at JDM.
“I’m still trying to work with marketing partners, current and future potential ones to try to figure out what the best option is for next year,” Currey added. “I would really love to continue working with Johnny, so hopefully, we can get something worked out or do something like that. If not, we’ll figure something else out.”
Currey finished 12th at Texas last fall.