When Kenny Wallace set the record as the driver to compete in the most O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races, he knew it would eventually be broken. Never did he think it would be Jeremy Clements.
“I didn’t think that the Clements family was going to have enough money to keep going because the sport was getting so expensive,” Wallace told Jayski last week. “That’s why I admire the Clements family, because they are still going. Most people would have given up by now. I had Justin Allgaier penciled in to pass me.”
For more than two decades, Clements and his family-operated No. 51 team have hauled his race car from track to track, chasing a dream that outlasted injuries, sponsorship woes and countless long nights in the shop. This weekend at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, that persistence will carry him into the record book as he surpasses Wallace for the most starts in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series history with 548.
“It will be a hell of a milestone,” Clements said. “To beat Kenny Wallace, he’s had that record for [11] years now, so it’s a hard record to beat. [Eleven] years is a long time to hold something. I raced with Kenny and all the guys that we’ve passed with the starts. Just to be able to keep going at this point – I’m only 41 – Kenny was 51 when he broke it.
“I’ve raced my whole life, and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. The hardest part about all of this is keeping it funded. The racing part is the easiest for me. I love it, so that’s why I keep doing it. The money is the hard part.”
Clements has been around the NASCAR scene since 2003, making his O’Reilly debut as an 18-year old at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Reflecting back on that day – a race won by Scott Wimmer – Clements knew he wasn’t ready. It was a family effort to get out West, with “an old car, just ill-prepared.” But as the saying goes, Clements didn’t know what he didn’t know.
It was another four years until Clements returned to NASCAR. While racing a Late Model at 311 Speedway on July 24, 2004, he heard an explosion inside the car. Ultimately, a torque arm failure went through his car’s driveshaft and entered the cockpit, severely injuring his right hand as it was hanging in a different direction from his arm.
Clements thought his career might be over before it even began, though he refused to give up.
After dabbling for three partial seasons in the ARCA Menards Series, Clements returned to the national scene in 2007 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to run the final handful of races for McGill Motorsports. In 2008, Jeremy Clements Racing was introduced to the O’Reilly division, while he was also making starts for JD Motorsports with his family working on the car.
It wasn’t until 2011 when Clements started racing full time, remaining a staple of the series for the last 16 years.
“Pretty sure that was when that new car came out then and you could run the same car at most tracks,” Clements said of jumping to the opportunity of going full time. “I think we ended up with two cars and really ran the whole season with those two cars. We could do it that way and make it work. We could race this series and come out ahead.”
Adjusting to the series, Clements was a lone ranger. He can’t single out a particular mentor, though he has asked some of the sport’s greats – Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer – for tips at certain layouts.
Clements stated: “I just try to do the best I can with what I’m given and just figure it out.”
Perseverance has led to a pair of upset victories for Clements at Road America in 2017 and Daytona International Speedway exactly five years later. He can’t recall another low-funded team having multiple wins on their resume during that time, making him proud to stand above the rest.
“It’s a hell of an accomplishment because I’ve driven for myself this whole time,” he said. “I’ve never been with a big team, which is unfortunate, but it’s the way it’s worked out with funding.
“It just never worked out, so to do it by ourselves is a hell of an achievement. There are not many single-car family teams that have won in this series. I think when David Gilliland won in 2007 at Kentucky. I don’t know of any smaller teams that have won since then. That was a long time, damn near 20 years.”
Clements has made three postseason appearances in the last nine seasons. He has seven top-five and 44 top-10 finishes through his first 547 starts. Two of those top 10s have come in 2026, as the team made a two-year commitment to align with Haas Factory Team, relocating from a 5,000-square-foot shop as the pride of Spartanburg, South Carolina to Haas’ Kannapolis, North Carolina headquarters.
That in of itself has been an adjustment for Clements, though the No. 51 bunch saw an immediate performance uptick, as the team was previously running nearly decade-old chassis from Chip Ganassi Racing.
“I’m not there every day like I was at my shop. I don’t have to babysit it, so that’s nice,” Clements said of the team moving North. “When you wreck a car, they fix it immediately – it just costs more. We’re all working closely together. The crew chiefs bounce setup ideas off each other. It’s certainly a better dynamic to have all that information now.”
Naturally, Clements wants to be contending more regularly at the front of the field. He is a competitor at heart and is not looking to just ride around and make laps. And 2026 is the most prepared he’s felt behind the wheel, mainly due to the alliance.
“I want to win more,” Clements said bluntly. “This is the first year where I’ve felt like I’ve had an opportunity to run up front and compete. It’s extremely tough. There are so many good cars. You have to have everything right.”
Wallace describes Clements and the No. 51 team as being a sole survivor. He is reminded of the original Busch Grand National days with the way Clements has typically operated.
The nine-time O’Reilly winner is proud to have held onto the record for 11 years. Wallace was hoping to be in attendance at San Diego to pass the torch over to Clements, similar to how Jason Keller did for him at Iowa Speedway, but he had a family vacation to Cabo planned well in advance.
“I’m extremely proud because it’s longevity,” Wallace said of holding the record for an extended period. “The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series was there for me when I did not make it in the Cup Series. It was there for Justin Allgaier when he did not make it in the Cup Series. It’s there for Elliott Sadler. It’s a wonderful series to make a modest living and fulfill your dream of racing in NASCAR.
“When Cup gets difficult, we all go to O’Reilly.”
Clements has no plans of leaving the series anytime soon. He hopes to race for at least another 10 years before calling it quits. At that point, he would be approaching 900 career starts with the big 1,000 looming the distance.
But to be in the series for 547 starts already holds significant weight on Clements.
“I guess we’re crazy lovers of racing,” Clements stated. “We love racing. I love racing and have been a student and racer at heart since I was a kid. It’s all I know and all I want to do. It’s in my blood and I’ve never wanted to stop.”