Owen Kelly (born 12 March 1977) is an Australian professional racing driver. Son of

Chas Kelly Chas is a Municipal Corporation in the Chas subdivision of the Bokaro district in the state of Jharkhand, India. It is often referred to as a suburb of Bokaro Steel City, though it predates the steel plant. Chas is one of the fastest-growing u ...

, he has competed over the course of his career in

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

among other series.

Racing career

Road America 2013 Nationwide 54 Owen Kelly

Kelly started his circuit racing career in

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

for three seasons, progressing to V8 Supercars in 2000. From there he has raced in Super Touring, V8 Supercars and NASCAR Late models. Late in the

2007 V8 Supercar season The 2007 V8 Supercar season was the 48th year of touring car racing in Australia since the first runnings of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the fore-runner of the present day Bathurst 1000, the Armstrong 500. There were 15 touring ca ...

he was picked up as a full-time driver for

Paul Morris Motorsport Paul Morris Motorsport, also known as its business name of Nemo Racing, is an Australian motor racing team that competed in V8 Supercars between 2000 and 2012. The team also won the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 and four Australian Super Touring Cha ...

replacing

Fabian Coulthard Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a British-born New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving as an endurance co-driver for Chaz Mostert with Walkinshaw Andretti United. ...

. In 2008 Kelly raced an asphalt

late model A late model car is a car which has been recently designed or manufactured, often the latest model. (An early model car or classic car is a car old enough to be of historical interest; there is no usual intermediate term.) The precise definition ...

, for

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 ...

, at Motormile Speedway in Radford, VA. He wanted to pursue a career in

and hoped to move up the ladder to get the necessary experience (Kelly started at the weekly track championship level). In June 2010, Kelly made his NASCAR debut in the

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 ...

, driving for

Baker Curb Racing Curb Racing is a former NASCAR team competing mainly in the Sprint Cup Series and Xfinity Series from 1984–2011. The team was owned by Mike Curb, CEO of Curb Records and 45th Lieutenant Governor of California. Curb also had numerous business ...

at the Road America road course. He started ninth and finished fifth. K1 Speed sponsored the car. For 2011, Owen Kelly made no official start in the series but relief drove for

Marcos Ambrose Marcos Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian former racing driver and current Garry Rogers Motorsport competition director. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, Ambrose relocated to the Un ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

who was in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

for the

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

race. He practiced and qualified the car while Kelly turned the wheel to Ambrose for the race. It turned up that Ambrose actually won the race in that car. In 2012 he practiced and qualified a car again, this time for

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-time ...

who ran his first race at Montreal since 2009. Busch finished tenth in the race after starting from the back of the field due to the driver change. It ended up that Kelly did not end up making any other attempts in 2012 and Ambrose did not run the Montreal race that year. After a strong performance for

Kyle Busch Motorsports Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. They formerly competed in the CARS Tour, ARCA/CRA Super Series, Southern Super Series, and the ARCA Mena ...

at Road America in the Nationwide Series in 2013, it was announced that Kelly would make his debut in the NASCAR

, driving the No. 51 for Phoenix Racing, at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

in August of that year. Kelly finished 24th. Kelly is of no relation to

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

Rick Kelly Rick Kelly (born 17 January 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver who previously competed in the Supercars Championship. He last drove the No. 15 Ford Mustang GT for Kelly Racing. Previously, he drove for the HSV Dealer Team with w ...

, the latter he co-drove with at the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rece ...

Motorsports career results

V8 Supercar results

Complete Rolex Sports Car Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

NASCAR

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Xfinity Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

* Events highlighted in green denote designated co-driver role ‡Kelly practiced but did not start due to illness.

References

External links

*
Owen Kelly
at Driver Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Owen 1977 births 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Formula Ford drivers Living people NASCAR drivers Racing drivers from Tasmania Supercars Championship drivers V8SuperTourer drivers Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Kelly Racing drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers