Jeremy Clements has raced since he was 7 years old. It’s all he knows.
At Darlington Raceway in late August, Clements set the all-time record for most consecutive Xfinity Series starts with 383, dating back to early in the 2013 season. Since 2011, he has spearheaded Jeremy Clements Racing alongside his father Tony Clements.
“I never tried to achieve that. It’s not anything I ever even looked at,” Clements told Jayski.com of being coined with the driver with having the most consecutive starts. “Racing is something I’ve always desired to do. I’ve chased it and have been successful. Doing it in this series with your own team is incredibly difficult. I have fun doing it, and then I would love to have a chance to do it another way.
“I’m still here, trying to do the best I can. On the days that we can show up and do the right thing, we’re fast. To be here with a small group of people week in and week out, it’s hard to continue making all this work and it’s only gotten harder with all of the competitive teams.”
The No. 51 team, containing only four full-time employees, continues plugging along. It’s hard to find a comparable team in the Xfinity garage that has been as successful as JCR. Clements has a pair of wins on his resume, passing Matt Tifft on the final lap at Road America in 2017, and outlasting the field in a chaotic summer race at Daytona International Speedway in 2022.
“A team our size that has won two races, there’s not any that I really know of,” Tony said. “The competitiveness of all of us and him doing such a good job of taking care of equipment. I know he could get in one of those big-team cars and win races. I continue to do this because I’ve always felt like he was good enough and deserved a chance.”
Despite Clements’ prior success, the No. 51 team has had a tumultuous 2024 season. Just about anything that could happen has happened, including being in the wrong spot at the wrong time in multiple instances this season, mechanical issues and self-inflicted wounds like at Iowa Speedway, when Clements ran out of fuel under caution after leading seven laps.
Four of the five DNFs Clements has had in 2024 has come virtue of a wreck. Earlier this month at Talladega Superspeedway, he experienced a brake failure and didn’t finish the race. Four of those DNFs have also come at superspeedways.
“It’s a dumpster fire,” Clements said when assessing his 2024 season. “It’s been the worst season ever, for sure. If it can happen, it’s took place and took us out. Even when we have speed, we get wrecked, things break. It’s either wreck, break, shoot yourself in the foot.”
Clements has continued chugging along, and notched his first stage win to his resume last month at Bristol Motor Speedway. The No. 51 team’s goal hasn’t changed over the years, wanting to be the best in class of teams that don’t have an alliance with a Cup Series organization. With three races remaining in the 2024 season, Clements is 13 points behind Leland Honeyman for 20th in the driver standings and the No. 51 team sits 25th in the owner standings, 48 points behind the No. 11 team for Kaulig Racing that sits 20th.
Cracking the top 20 is near mandatory for Clements. There is an end-of-year financial bonus attached, which is crucial for smaller race teams.
“We need to finish top 20 in points,” Clements said. “We’ve never not finished in the top 20 since we started full time. We need the money that comes out of it. It’s not good if we don’t, so I’m a little concerned about that.”
Another hindrance for the No. 51 team is its racing chassis that it purchased in 2019 from Chip Ganassi Racing. While those cars had speed out of the gate, the newness has worn off. Clements isn’t sure if the team is in a spot to purchase newer equipment ahead of the 2025 season, despite knowing how stiff the competition is.
No matter how the season ends, JCR will return to the 2025 season and go through the process of trying to overachieve yet again. Along with being the driver, he is also responsible for chasing sponsors and getting them the necessary credentials. He also needs to accommodate the No. 51 team’s apparel while also splitting time in Charlotte getting to drive on the Chevrolet simulator.
“Every part about this team, I’ve got my hands on,” Clements said. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I don’t think it is a good thing. It spreads you thin and it can wear on you a bit.”
This season has marked Clements’ 14th full year as an Xfinity Series driver. The No. 51, South Carolina-based team has become a staple of the division, and is among the longest tenured teams in the garage.
“I’m definitely proud of that and something we should hang our heads up high with,” Clements noted of the team’s persistence. “You see a lot of people come and go in this deal – a ton. Teams come in and blow through their funding and then they are out. We’ve been able to stay here. A lot of times, we hold our own selves back with a lot of things, trying to stay here.
“In racing, to do it the right way, you can’t be afraid to spend money. A lot of times, we have to put on the brakes with that because it can get out of control quickly.”
Clements’ next chance to eat into 20th in the drivers and owners standings is at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend, where he has one top-10 finish in 17 starts.