Kenny Irwin Jr.

Kenny Irwin Jr. was an American Professional stock car driver from 1998-2015 in the Pepsi Cup Series.

## Career (Pepsi Cup)

In 1997 Kenny made his Cup Series debut for David Blair Motorsports at Richmond. He also ran three more races that season and won rookie of the year honors.

In 1998 & 1999 Kenny did not race any races and was in the Mountain Dew National Series.

In 2000 Kenny raced for Team SABCO. He overall did decent in the number 42 car.

In 2001 Chip Gannasi bought Team SABCO and kept Irwin as the number 42 driver with Cingular as the primary sponsor. They chose Jason Leffler to be the driver for the 01 car as Kenny's teammate. Kenny got 5 top 5s and 10 top 10s and placed 20th in the standings while his teammate Leffler placed 34th with 1 top 10 and 1 top 5 in the Daytona 500.

In 2002 Kenny signed a 1 year contract with the team to race the whole 2002 season with BellSouth sponsoring majority of the races again. Kenny got 9 top 5s and 15 top 10s placing 11th in the season standings. Kenny's new teammate Jimmy Spencer in the number 41 got the team 2 top 5s and 7 top 10s. Scott Pruett also drove all the road courses in the 41.

In 2003 Kenny got resigned for the 2003 & 2004 seasons and Cingular signed to be the sponsor for majority of the races in both of those seasons. He got a new teammate of Casey Mears replacing Jimmy Spencer in the 41. Kenny did get his first career win at Talladega in 2003. He got 17 top 10s and 15 top 5s placing 9th in the season standings. His teammate Casey Mears did very bad and didn't get any and placed 34th in the standings.

In 2004 Kenny won once again at Talladega and got 10 top 5s and 20 top 10s. He got 9th again in the season standings. His teammate Casey Mears did better and got 8 top 10s and 1 top 5 placing 22nd in the standings this time.

In 2005 Kenny got resigned until 2008 and Cingular will sponsor every single race for Kenny until 2008. Kenny got 18 top 5s and had every race in the top 10. He didn't win a race but came close to winning the Daytona 500 and had 4 second place finishes at Daytona, Charlotte, Chicagoland, and Homestead. His teammate Casey Mears got 6 top 10s and 3 top 5s and placed once again 22nd in the standings.

In 2006 Kenny had his SECOND best season with 3 wins at Talladega, Charlotte, and Richmond. He got 15 top 5s and 22 top 10s and placed 6th in the standings. His NEW teammate Reed Sorenson got 1 top 5 and 4 top 10s and got 24th in the standings.

In 2007 Kenny got 1 win at Dover and had 6 DNFS the most he would ever have in a single season and got 5 top 5s and 10 top 10s which had him get his lowest full-time season points position in 28th. His teammate Reed Sorenson got 3 top 5s and 3 top 10s. He placed 22nd in the standings which is the third time the 41 car has done so.

In 2008 Kenny won twice at Pocono and Dover. He got 15 top 5s and 15 top 10s. He finished 11th in the standings. His old teammate Scott Pruett returned with 1 top 5 and 1 top 10 and placed 32nd in the standings.

In 2009 this was another contract year for Kenny Irwin Jr. and he got a win at Talladega and Chicagoland. He got 10 top 5s and 21 top 10s. He placed 8th in the standings. The 41 car got retired and Martin Truex Jr. drove the 1 car and got 1 top 5 and 5 top 10s. He placed 23rd in the standings.

In 2010 Cingular signed until 2015 for the 42 car. Kenny's contract also was until 2015 which would be his last year and season of racing before retirement. Kenny won 2 times at Atlanta and Bristol. He got 11 top 5s and 12 top 10s. He placed 15th in the standings. His teammate which was now Jamie McMurray got the Daytona 500 win, the first Chip Gannasi win that Kenny did not get and he got 2 top 5s and 11 top 10s. He won 2 other races at Indianapolis and Charlotte. Jamie would be the best ever teammate Kenny would ever have.

In 2011 Kenny won no races and had 8 top 5s but did get 18 top 10s which had him sneak in 10th for the season standings. His teammate Jamie McMurray got 2 top 5s and 2 top 10s. He placed 27th in the standings.

In 2012 Kenny won no races once again and had 10 top 5s and 12 top 10s. He got 18th in the standings. His teammate McMurray got no top 5s and 3 top 10s. He finished 21st in the standings.

In 2013 Kenny won once at Talladega and got 19 top 5s and 19 top 10s. He finished 7th in the standings. His teammate Jamie McMurray got 4 top 5s and 5 top 10s. He won once at the next Talladega race as Gannasi swept the Talladega races. He finished 15th in the standings.

In 2014 Kenny went winless and got 5 top 5s and 20 top 10s. He finished 20th in the standings. His teammate Jamie McMurray got 7 top 5s and 5 top 10s. He placed 18th in the season standings.

In 2015 Kenny set out to finish his full-time racing career. He did his best getting 29 top 5s and 31 top 10s. He won only once at Bristol. He made it to the championship 4 for the first time in his career along with fellow driver Jeff Gordon who also was retiring at the end of the season. Kenny got third behind Gordon and Kyle Busch and finished ahead of Martin Truex Jr.

He retired and was replaced by Kyle Larson. Target joined the team in 2016 and Cingular went with Kenny to start his own NASCAR team called Irwin Jr. Racing.

## Career (Team Owner)

In 2016 Kenny started an Xfinity Series team called Irwin Jr. Racing. He signed Erik Jones to drive in the number 42 car which he bought from Chip Gannasi as they converted with Brennan Poole the rookie to the 48 DC Solar car. Cingular was the full season sponsor for all the races. Jones won the Bristol and Homestead races but failed to get to the championship four. He scored 15 top 5s and 20 top 10s. He placed 5th in the season standings.

In 2017 Kenny signed Erik for 1 more season in the Xfinity Series. Sure enough Erik did win the championship with 4 wins and top 10s in 20 races and 19 for top 5s.

In 2018 Kenny started his own Cup team with Jones as the driver in the number 29 car. Kenny kept the Xfinity team with new rookie Kaz Grala in the 42 with Nettts as sponsor for all races. Jones also had Cingular as the full-time sponsor and all race sponsor until 2022 which is also when Jones contract runs out. In the Xfinity Series Kaz won at Talladega and only got 1 top 5 but 10 top 10s and got 12th in the standings. In the Cup Series Jones won 2 times in his debut season at the first Talladega race and second Daytona race and finished 14th in the standings after 4 top 5s and 10 top 10s.

In 2019 Kaz was signed back on the Xfinity Series with Nettts as the sponsor again for all races. Jones returned to the cup series. Kaz didn't win any races and got 5 top 5s and 20 top 10s. He finished 12th in the standings. Jones went on to win twice at Atlanta and the second Talladega race in the Cup Series and got 8th in the standings.

In 2020 everything was the same again. Kaz got 15 top 5s and 20 top 10s with a win at Bristol in the summer. The pandemic did effect a lot of things as Jones won Atlanta again but got 16th in the season standings with 20 top 5s and 30 top 10s.

In 2021 Eric Jones had his best current season with winning 4 times at Las Vegas, Talladega, Bristol, and Phoenix. He went to the championship 4 and finished second to Kyle Larson the champion. He had 29 top 5s and 34 top 10s. He would have won the championship with no playoffs or chase. Kaz Grala won the Xfinity Series championship with winning the last two races of the season at Martinsville and Phoenix. He got 10 top 5s and 19 top 10s. He had a penalty with 20 points off of his regular season standings and got second in that though to Austin Cindric.

2022 had Kaz Grala go to a second car in the Cup Series with the team in the #28. 2022 was the best year the team had with wins at least. Jones won 4 times and Grala won once. Jones finished 5th in the standings while Grala finished 12th.