Jimmy Kitchens (born April 26, 1962) is an American former NASCAR driver. He participated in both the Busch Series as well as the Craftsman Truck Series. In 1998, he became part of the famed Alabama Gang.[1] He was employed at Stewart Haas Racing as Ryan Newman's spotter.[2]
| Jimmy Kitchens | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | April 26, 1962 Hueytown, Alabama, United States | ||||||
| NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
| 47 races run over 8 years | |||||||
| 2005 position | 104th | ||||||
| Best finish | 43rd (2002, 2004) | ||||||
| First race | 1994 Kroger 200 (IRP) | ||||||
| Last race | 2005 Aaron's 312 (Talladega) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 97th (2000) | ||||||
| First race | 2000 Daytona 250 (Daytona) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics current as of February 25, 2012. | |||||||
Racing career
Craftsman Truck Series
In 2000, Kitchens made his first and only career start in the Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona International Speedway. After qualifying his No. 42 Dodge Motorsports Chevrolet 25th on the grid, Kitchens led three laps, but was later involved in an accident, prompting him to finish 28th.[3]
Busch Series
Kitchens made his series debut in 1994, driving the No. 82 Sports World Ford at IRP. Kitchens started 26th, but an early accident sidetracked his run to a 27th-place finish. Kitchens next run at Rockingham in 1996, where he drove the No. 50 UAW Ford. He started 38th, but once again he got caught up in an early crash and finished 41st.
Kitchens made another start in 1998, when he piloted the No. 50 Washington-Erving Motorsports Chevy at Pikes Peak. Kitchens finished the race 32nd after his carburetor broke.
In 1999, Kitchens was hired to drive the No. 22 Air Jamaica Vacations Chevy in a limited schedule for Carroll Racing. Kitchens made six starts for the team. In the third race, at Nashville Speedway USA, Kitchens finished the race in 32nd, his first career race completed. Then, in the next start at Bristol, Kitchens scored a 29th, which ended up being his best finish of the season. After two more races, Kitchens was released, as the team cited that Kitchens had crashed out of half the races.[citation needed]
Kitchens disappeared from the Busch Series for three years, before resurfacing in 2002. Splitting his time between Moy Racing and Means Racing, Kitchens ran the most races of his career up to that point, as he made fourteen races. At Talladega, he avoided a big crash and then finished the race in 7th position, his first and only career top-10. At the next restrictor place race at Daytona, he came home with a 17th-place finish. He finished 43rd in points at the end of the season.
Kitchens added seven of starts in 2003, but only finished one race at Chicagoland, where he finished 24th. He start and parked for the other six races, and failed to qualify for four others.[4]
Kitchens made the most starts of his career in 2004 NASCAR Busch Series, sixteen. He began the year running for Davis Motorsports. In four starts for that team, his best finish was a 33rd at Daytona. Then, Kitchens made several starts Jay Robinson Racing where he was 32nd at Talladega and 43rd at Nazareth Speedway. The other ten starts came for Moy Racing. Kitchens finished 27th three times, with the best run coming at Michigan, where he finished on the lead lap, and finished 43rd again.
Kitchens only made one start in 2005 at Talladega. Driving for Jay Robinson, Kitchens qualified the No. 28 Ford in 42nd place, but finished fifteenth.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Craftsman Truck Series
| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | NCTC | Pts | |||||||||||||||
| 2000 | McCray Racing | 42 | Dodge | DAY 28 |
HOM | PHO | MMR | MAR | PIR | GTY | MEM | PPR | EVG | TEX | KEN | GLN | MLW | NHA | NZH | MCH | IRP | NSV | CIC | RCH | DOV | TEX | CAL | 97th | 84 | |||||||||||||||
References
- ^ Akers, Shawn A. (December 8, 1998). "BUSCH:Billy Kitchens To Drive for Bobby Allison, Dave Carroll". Motorsport.com. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ "Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Newman lands Jimmy Kitchens as spotter". SceneDaily.com. January 18, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ "2000 Official Race Results : Daytona 250". NASCAR. February 18, 2000. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ "Jimmy Kitchens 2003 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
External links
- Jimmy Kitchens driver statistics at Racing-Reference