Kevin Swindell
| Kevin Swindell | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | February 21, 1989 Germantown, Tennessee | ||||||
| Achievements | 4 time Chili Bowl Nationals winner 2 time Tulsa Shootout Jr. II Champion 2002 World Karting Association Grand National Champion | ||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 6 races run over 4 years | |||||||
| Car no., team | No. 98 (Biagi-DenBeste Racing) | ||||||
| 2012 position | 58th | ||||||
| Best finish | 58th (2012) | ||||||
| First race | 2010 New England 200 (Loudon) | ||||||
| Last race | 2012 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead-Miami) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics current as of March 17, 2013. | |||||||
Kevin Swindell (born February 21, 1989) is a USAC and NASCAR driver. He has won 77 races in various dirt racing series including the Chili Bowl Nationals. Swindell is the son of multiple time World of Outlaws Sprint Car champion Sammy Swindell. He currently drives the No. 98 Carroll Shelby Motors Ford for Biagi-DenBeste Racing part time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series competing for 2013 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Honors.
Early Life
Swindell was born in Germantown, Tennessee on February 21, 1989. Swindell then moved to Concord, North Carolina.
Early Career
Swindell began his racing career at age 5 in go karts in Memphis, Tennessee, finishing an impressive 4th in his Junior Novice kart series debut in 1995. He moved up to Jr. I after winning 4 races in 6 starts. He had the same result in 1997 there, 4 wins in 6 starts. In 1998, he won a 30 lap Iron Man race at Memphis and won four of five races in Jr. I karting in 2000. Swindell was the 2001 Jr. II kart champion in indoor karting and won the first champ kart race ever held on dirt. He even won the first ever champ kart race ran on pavement in 2002 and won the World Karting Association Grand National Championship title as well as winning his 2nd consecutive Tulsa Shootout Jr. II championship.
Dirt career
Swindell made his impressive debut into dirt racing in 1999 when he won 4 quarter midget national victories. He won two more races in the Tulsa Quarter Midget series in 2000. He then leaped into the USAC and World of Outlaws world in 2002, the same series where his father, Sammy Swindell, made a name for himself. There, he got back to back victories in both series in the 600 Mini-Sprints at Granite City, Illinois in 2003, showing that he was going to make a name for himself as well. In 2004, he won 2 World of Outlaws sprint car races as a crew chief to his father Sammmy. He made World of Outlaws history in 2005 when he became the youngest driver to ever finish in the top 10 in a feature event at 15, finishing 6th at Paramatta. He even set two new track qualifying records in the USCS series as well and finish 20th in his first season in WoO Sprint Cars.
In 2006, Swindell won his first career WoO feature event at the Lowe's Dirt Track, becoming the youngest winner in World of Outlaws history at 17. In 2007, Swindell teamed with NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne to run the full USAC midget and sprint car schedule and finished 6th and 8th in points in both series respectively. He was the Western World champion in the USAC series at Manzanita in 2008. In 2009, Swindell won the USAC Knoxville Nationals and the Louis Vermeil Classic and was the Australian National Midget Champion. In 2010, Swindell won his first Chili Bowl Nationals victory and became the youngest driver to ever do so. He won it again in 2011 and won the All-Star sprint 140 feature at Knoxville. He finished 3rd in points and was crowned Rookie of the Year. In 2012, Swindell won his third consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals was runner up in the Knoxville 360 Sprint Car nationals. Swindell made USAC history in January of 2013 when he became the first driver to ever win four consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals.
Stock Car career
In 2006, Swindell made his debut in stock cars racing in the ARCA Racing Series event at Salem, finishing 14th. He ran 3 more races that year with a best of 11th at Toledo. In 2008, Swindell made his NASCAR debut running two K&N Pro East races at Mansfield and Stafford Springs, finishing 13th and 16th in those events. In 2009, he ran 3 more races in the series with a best of 3rd at Loudon, his first career NASCAR top five finish. In 2010, Swindell ran the full schedule scoring two poles, one top 5 and 4 top tens and finishing 7th in the points. He also ran an ARCA race at Rockingham where he won the pole and led the most laps but finished 2nd. He made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at New Hampshire driving for Baker Curb Racing, but started and parked and finished 42nd. Swindell also ran two more events that year but had DNF's in those as well.
In 2011, Swindell drove the No. 16 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide race at Dover filling in for the ill Trevor Bayne at the time, qualified an impressive 5th and ran very well until being taken out nearly halfway and finishing 31st. He also ran one ARCA race at Daytona, starting and finishing 12th.
In 2012, Swindell ran 8 ARCA Racing Series events and won his first career ARCA victory at Chicagoland, leading every single lap from the pole. He finished a career best 22nd in points that season. He also ran two NASCAR Nationwide Series events with Biagi-DenBeste Racing late in the season, finishing with a impressive top 10 finish at Texas in 9th, his first career top ten finish, and finishing 21st in the season finale at Homestead-Miami. For 2013, he has signed with Biagi-DenBeste Racing to run 15 races and go for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Nationwide Series while running several more WoO and USAC events.
References
1. http://www.swindellmotorsports.citymaker.com/page/page/1092658.htm 2. http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2013/1/13/3874126/kevin-swindell-wins-fourth-straight-chili-bowl-tony-stewart-finishes 3. http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2013/2/5/3955814/kevin-swindell-looks-to-build-on-family-heritage-and-find-success-in 4. http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/nns-kevin-swindell-to-race-for-biagi-denbeste-racing-nascar-nationwide/ 5. http://racing-reference.info/driver/swindke01