Kelley King Earnhardt Miller (née Earnhardt; formerly Earnhardt-Elledge; born August 28, 1972) is an American businesswoman. She is the Chief Executive Officer of

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Par ...

which she co-owns with her brother,

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

and she is the daughter of

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...

. The team's driver

Chase Elliott William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the 2014 NAS ...

won the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series title. In 2018,

Tyler Reddick Tyler George Reddick (born January 11, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry for 23XI Racing, and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...

, another driver for JR Motorsports, won the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.

Racing career

Driving career

She learned how to drive from her father and she would drive a car around the family farm since she was about 12 or 13 years old. Earnhardt Miller raced stock cars at local tracks. Her father

reportedly said that she might be the next great driver from the Earnhardt family because of what

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

described as her "aggression, mental toughness, a willingness to push the car to its limit". Her cousin

Tony Eury Jr. Anthony Eury Jr. (born January 3, 1973) is an American professional stock car racing crew chief who works for The Money Team Racing as the crew chief of their No. 50 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in the NASCAR Cup Series, driven by Conor Daly. He is ...

said, "She was very good at what she did. I raced her several times over at Tri-County acetrack in Brasstown, N.C. We thought she probably had as much or more talent than any of them." She raced more frequently at

Hickory Motor Speedway Hickory Motor Speedway is a short track located in Hickory, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is often referred to as the "World's Most Famous Short Track" and the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars". The tr ...

and

Myrtle Beach Speedway Myrtle Beach Speedway (originally named Rambi Raceway), was built in 1958 and was located on U.S. Route 501 near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The speedway was a semi-banked asphalt oval track that spans .The NASCAR Cup Series competed at the Sp ...

. Her father hired Dale Jr. to work on her race cars, including building one from scratch, while the two were local race car drivers. She raced after graduating from

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...

and ended her racing career in 1996 until leaving on Friday's at 2 o'clock conflicted with working full-time at Action Performance.

Team owner career

Earnhardt Miller co-owns

with her brother

, her cousin

, and

Rick Hendrick Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick III (born July 12, 1949), nicknamed "Mr. H", is an American businessman. He is best known as the owner of the NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports. He is also a co-owner of JR Motorsports and founder of the Hendrick Au ...

. She is credited with bringing

Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman ...

to the team's

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

car.

Other business interests

On July 29, 2019, agricultural company Brandt appointed Earnhardt Miller into the Board of Directors. Brandt is currently one of JR Motorsports' partners, sponsoring the No. 7 team.

Personal life

William byron, earnhardts, hendricks (32796779940)

Kelley Earnhardt Miller was born to Dale Earnhardt and his second wife Brenda Lorraine Jackson (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Gee). She has a younger brother, Dale Jr.; an elder half-brother,

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

, from her father's first marriage; and a younger half-sister, Taylor Earnhardt-Putnam, from her father's third marriage. Kelley's parents divorced shortly after Dale Jr. was born, and they lived with Brenda until their house was destroyed in a fire when she was eight years old. As Brenda had no financial support after the fire, she gave up custody of the two children to Earnhardt Sr. prior to his marriage to Teresa Houston. During her childhood, Kelley took care of Dale Jr. while their father and Teresa were busy with the race seasons. Three weeks after 12-year-old Dale Jr. was sent by his father and Teresa to a

military school A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

for delinquency, Kelley left high school to join him. Kelley attended

University of North Carolina Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

until transferring to

to be closer to home.

As soon as Dale Jr. started earning money in his racing career, Kelley offered to handle his finances. She married Raymond Walter Holm Jr. on June 29, 2001 in

Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Mecklenburg County is a county located in the southwestern region of the state of North Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,115,482, making it the second-most populous county in North Carolina (after Wak ...

. They were divorced by 2004 in

Iredell County, North Carolina Iredell County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 186,693. Its county seat is Statesville, and its largest town is Mooresville. The county was formed in 1788, subtracted from Ro ...

. She was formerly married to Jimmy Elledge, by whom she has two daughters. After divorcing Elledge, she married former NASCAR driver L. W. Miller III on January 22, 2011. The couple has one child. Kelley's daughter Karsyn Elledge participates in

midget car racing Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...

. She scored her first win at Millbridge Speedway on April 19, 2018. Karsyn made her first Chili Bowl start in January 2019. On April 22, 2019, Brenda Jackson, Earnhardt's biological mother, died at the age of 65 after years of battling cancer. She had served as an accounting specialist for JR Motorsports since 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Kelley Earnhardt Living people 1972 births People from Kannapolis, North Carolina NASCAR team owners University of North Carolina at Charlotte alumni Earnhardt family Racing drivers from North Carolina American female racing drivers Racing drivers' wives and girlfriends