When NASCAR ushered in the Next Gen era in 2022, it gave Joey Gase the confidence to chase a different dream. Content with stepping away from full-time Cup competition, Gase turned his attention to building his own operation, determined to carve out a lasting place in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Since jumping on to the NASCAR scene in 2011, Gase has prominently been with smaller organizations. He grinded for each opportunity, highlighted by a fifth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in 2015 with Jimmy Means Racing.
It was lessons learned from Means, along with SS-GreenLight Racing team owner Bobby Dotter and MBM Motorsports’ owner Carl Long – all team owners that Gase competed for – that prepped Gase for the task he was about to face.
“As a small team, no matter what small team, it’s hard to do everything perfectly from a budget standpoint and staff,” Gase told Jayski.com at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We decided to come back to the O’Reilly Series and I had supporters who wanted us to [form] our own team, so we geared up and that’s what we did.”
Originally partnering with Patrick Emerling to form Emerling-Gase Motorsports for two seasons, Gase purchased the bulk of the former H2 Motorsports equipment. That gave him a foundation to work with while getting his feet wet in ownership.
Following the 2024 campaign, Gase partnered with entrepreneur Scott Osteen, owner of Floridian Motorsports, in the Craftsman Truck Series. The team, nine full-time people deep, prepares two full-time entries each week. The Nos. 53 and 55 cars are a hodgepodge of chassis from Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and even GMS Racing. With no alliance to a specific manufacturer, Gase is open to running all three – Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota – depending on the race weekend.
“People are like, ‘Why don’t you just choose one manufacturer and get support,’” Gase said, rhetorically. “Unfortunately, you’re not going to get support from a manufacturer that amounts to anything unless you’re paying for an alliance from a top team. That is disappointing to say the least.”
Since aligning with Osteen, the Gase-ran operation has used 26 different drivers in 55 races. It’s a group where drivers with less funding can get a chance to perform, sometimes outrunning organizations with a seismic monetary advantage. And Gase, who has competed in 17 of the 22 events in 2026, has yet to let off the gas pedal, though he has no problem being sidelined if it makes business sense.
“We’re not somebody who is a Roger Penske – maybe some day – that has other businesses and can rely on that,” Gase stated. “We are truly a race team and a business, doing everything we can to survive and operate. If that means I don’t get to drive – I want to drive – but if that’s what we have to do, we have to do it.”
For Gase, the work doesn’t stop when he climbs out of the driver’s seat. Whether he’s diagnosing suspension issues after practice, helping turn the car around in the garage or serving as crew chief for one of the team’s two full-time cars, he’ll fill whatever role is needed.
That hands-on, old-school mentality has become the foundation of an operation determined to hold its own in a series increasingly dominated by organizations with deeper resources.
“We work our tails off each and every day,” Gase noted. “I’m really proud of the group that we have right now. We definitely need more people, but the guys that we do have work our tails off and believe in us and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
“I truly believe there’s nobody in the garage that works as hard as we do and do what we do with the little that we do have. Where we are now as a team from where I was 10 years ago when I started driving for Jimmy – 10 years ago, we would be a 15th-place team every week. No one realizes how much the O’Reilly Series has grown all around from the competition level. I tell people now, it’s the Cup Series with the old-style car. I truly feel that way and believe that.”
That blue-collar mentality shows up in every aspect of the operation. Gase shares fuel expenses with another team to transport a backup car to the track, while staffing each race by piecing together a crew from across the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast based on the schedule. Getting people to buy into that mindset can be challenging, though even the drivers are accommodating.
“I’ve always loved owner-drivers and Joey crew chiefed for me at Dover,” Blake Lothian, part-time O’Reilly driver, who makes the voyage from Massachusetts to the track. “Having someone that has been in the car and when I tell him what I’m feeling, he just did it last week or maybe that same day. It’s nice to balance information off somebody like that. It eases the learning curve when I go to my team and be like, ‘this is what I’m feeling in the car’ and he can tell me what he thinks or what changes need to be made.”
Gase refuses to take survival for granted. With three teams already shutting down this season, he understands how fragile the lifespan can be for an independent operation in a sponsorship-driven sport.
Still, he isn’t content with simply making it to the next race. Gase believes the foundation he’s building today can evolve into something much bigger tomorrow.
“You have to say no sometimes to things and keep on digging and believing,” Gase stated. “To be a team in the series for a long time and hopefully at some point be contending for wins and a championship.”