Johnny Davis at 9:30 pm ET on Thursday, November 19, 2015 Photo – Phil Cavali Photography

Johnny Davis is our guest on Fan4Racing with Catchfence NASCAR Weekend Preview on Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 9 pm ET.  Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @beberly18 with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast. 

There’s some NASCAR history behind JD Motorsports with Gary Keller and as happens so often, that history is an interesting part of their NASCAR inter-woven fabric that has led them to what the organization is today.

This season, the organization has fielded three cars, the No. 01 with Landon Cassill, the No. 4 with Ross Chastain and the No. 0 with Harrison Rhodes. Other drivers behind the wheel of their cars this season include, ARCA Racing Series veteran Bobby Gerhart, a former K&N West winning driver, Michael Self, and GTS Champion Lawson Aschenbach.

However, it is co-owner and founder Johnny Davis, as in the ‘JD’ in JD Motorsports with Gary Keller with an interesting story behind their organization as they head into the last race of their 2015 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Even recent history has a way of becoming faded and forgotten, so this quick trip down memory lane will refresh an interesting journey behind the organization. 

With more than 27 years of experience in the racing industry, Davis brings a wide perspective to his XFINITY Series team. Serving as a crew member, fabricator, and then crew chief for several Sprint (Winston) Cup and XFINITY (Busch) Series teams, Davis, won the (XFINITY) Busch Series Championship with Larry Pearson in 1987.

Davis’ first started team ownership with Go-Karts in the 1990s while also building NASCAR Show Cars. Another fun fact, that some may not know, includes Davis building the largest stock car in the United States, aka ‘Carzilla,’ which is on display at the NASCAR Cafe in Las Vegas.

The ‘JD’ racing journey also includes that of crew chief in USAR Pro Cup competition, followed by launching his own NASCAR Busch (XFINITY) Series Team in 2002 in Blacksburg, South Carolina. Now based in Gaffney, South Carolina, the organization’s home since 2007 is a 40,000 square foot facility, where Davis has made some NASCAR history.

In 2008, JD Motorsports made news with the first female crew chief in NASCAR National Series history and with their support in building the first Nationwide (XFINITY) Series Car of Tomorrow. Cindy Woolsey, worked as a sheet metal fabricator as well as a skilled home builder, when she became the first female crew chief within NASCAR. Woolsey led the No. 01 for JD Motorsports with Kertus Davis as the driver at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after a six-race suspension of their crew chief. She then remained with the organization for two seasons.

The many fans of JD Motorsports know they have run extremely well at restrictor plate tracks with Mike Wallace behind the wheel of the No. 01 that Landon Cassill now drives and has also run at the front.

The JD Motorsports with Gary Keller story continues as they head into the last race of the XFINITY Series season with Landon Cassill, Ross Chastain and Harrison Rhodes. They say their 2015 season has been a good one they want to finish with strong runs.

“It’s been a pretty good year for us,” said Cassill, who also races in the Sprint Cup Series. “We want to end the year with a really good run at Homestead. It’s a track I really like, and we usually have good cars there. I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m feeling good about this final week,” Chastain said. “It’s been a long year, but a very good one. We’re optimistic about closing out the year with another good run.”

“I’m looking forward to getting on the track and seeing what we can do,” Rhodes said. “Homestead is one of those places where you can race almost anywhere from the bottom of the track to the top, so that will help me adjust quickly, I hope. We’re looking for a good run to finish out the year strong.”

Although JD Motorsports with Gary Keller is not a top-tier team in the XFINITY Series, their many fans enjoy following their interesting journey while they continue making great progress, but Johnny Davis reminds us, their our utmost goal is…

 “Winning while Enjoying the Sport.”

Watch the XFINITY Series teams race the Ford Ecoboost 300 at 2:45 pm ET with coverage beginning at 2:30 pm ET on NBC.