By every definition, Derek Kneeland is a racer.<\/p>\n
He is a racer when he climbs the ladder each week to serve as spotter for Kyle Busch and Austin Hill at Richard Childress Racing. He is a racer when he gets behind the wheel of a Pro Late Model several times a year as his schedule permits.<\/p>\n
And to wit, the 39-year-old will be a racer\u00a0on Saturday, March 28 when he makes his ARCA East debut at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28.<\/p>\n
For several years now, Kneeland has been an important part of the PRG driver development program while working with the likes of Connor Mosack, Connor Zilisch and Brenden Queen. To work with Kneeland is to swear by his credibility and that is how team owners Mark and Jerry Webb came around to the idea of giving him a start as well.<\/p>\n
Kneeland just never thought the logistics would align with their interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it starts with Shane Huffman, and he was the crew chief when I first started working with them, and has been there from the start of the organization,\u201d Kneeland told Motorsport.com before the announcement. \u201cWe came out of the gate and were winning races with all those guys we just talked about and we were in the hauler one day talking about my last Late Model race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (the Webbs and Huffman) were like, \u2018man, you just need more laps,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018yeah, we\u2019re just so limited with the NASCAR schedule,\u2019 but Mark was convinced we needed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kneeland says the idea came up every couple of races over the past two years but didn\u2019t take it too seriously until Huffman called after Daytona and told him the seat was available for the race at Hickory.<\/p>\n
Do you want to do it?<\/p>\n
First came the immediate shock, Kneeland expecting a practical joke, like the old Ashton Kutcher reality show Punk\u2019d but the offer was real and so was the question.<\/p>\n
Do you want to do it?<\/p>\n
The answer, of course, was \u2018yes\u2019 but it was also way more nuanced than that. NASCAR is at Martinsville that weekend and it would mean missing Cup Series practice with Busch and the O\u2019Reilly Series race with Hill. He also needed his bosses at Richard Childress Racing to give their blessings.<\/p>\n
And to their credit, everyone within the RCR ecosystem basically told Kneeland he would be an idiot if he didn\u2019t run this race. Hill and Busch signed off immediately while Jesse Love, Corey Heim and Queen all offered very helpful advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m the 16-year-old sponge that these kids are, coming in and\u00a0trying to learn these cars and get all that information,\u201d Kneeland said. \u201cConnor Mosack, who is a big part of that team, has a sim rig and is going to let me come over and get some laps and that can’t hurt.<\/p>\n
Kneeland says he\u2019s already started doing homework, which includes the 2011 Pro Cup race at Hickory, just because that was a closer platform than the Pro Late Models he\u2019s driven at Hickory before in the Pro All Stars Series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the other slight hesitation, beyond getting approval from everyone at Richard Childress Racing, was just needing to acknowledge all the drivers in his native New England that he strongly believes deserves this opportunity too.<\/p>\n
That is not lost on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a short track gut from Maine, and I haven\u2019t won a Late Model race up here, and people always say \u2018Derek, you just don\u2019t race enough\u2019 and \u2018you do good for as little as you get to run,\u2019 yada, yada, yada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to look at it like, I don\u2019t want to use the excuse, because it\u2019s just me. And I know there are so many deserving racers \u2026 I could rattle off 50 names right now that deserve a shot like this to go out there and showcase their talents. But at the same time, this team really values the job I\u2019ve done for them, and they want to give something back to me for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kneeland said he would be \u2018stupid\u2019 and \u2018foolish\u2019 if he didn\u2019t go out there and honor that commitment. It\u2019s an ARCA start at a track in which the platform has never visited before with one of the three championship caliber teams in the division.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an equalizer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a legit shot in top notch equipment and it just goes back to just being thankful,\u201d Kneeland said. \u201cI hadn\u2019t thought about the experience thing but it is nice and I have probably turned more laps there than a lot of drivers in the field but at the same time, there is a lot of tremendous talent in that field.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cited Max Reaves in the Joe Gibbs Racing car and teammate Tristan McKee.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo going into it, I feel like my back is already against the wall but I will get the same amount of practice as they do,\u201d Kneeland said. \u201cI\u2019m going to lean on Tristan where I can and lean on the guys I rattled off earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
All told, Kneeland is very happy with his lot in life. He races on Sundays at the highest level. He\u2019s got his wife and parents, all coming to Hickory that night, and he\u2019s getting a chance to race at a national level with a championship caliber team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just couldn’t be more excited and fortunate for this opportunity because it\u2019s once in a lifetime\u201d Kneeland said. \u201cI think a lot people watch on TV and they think anyone can go and do it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like, \u2018no, this costs a lot of money and tremendous personnel to get to the track and do all of these things.\u2019 I\u2019m just going to put my best foot forward and I\u2019m going to soak it all in because this is probably going to be my one and done shot. I want to capture all the memories and get everything I can out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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