DAYTONA BEACH, FL. (February 24, 2014) – Chad Boat showed tremendous poise and patience in his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. The 21-year old rookie safely qualified the No. 84 Billy Boat Motorsports Chevrolet into the 40 car field and would go on to survive a few different obstacles during the course of the DRIVE4COPD 300 to safely come home with a 24th-place finish in the season opening event.
“Well there was a lot of good and bad to take away from today,” stated Chad. “I am disappointed with the overall finish but feel I learned a lot that will help me to be better the next time I strap into the No. 84. I want to give a big thanks to Keen Parts and Front Row Tailgating for coming on board and sponsoring us in this debut race. And I can’t thank the guys on this Billy Boat Motorsports team and my family enough. Today was a true blessing.”
Boat would start the 120-lap event from the 40th position and would quickly move his way through the field. A minor encounter with a fellow competitor on pit road during an early pit stop didn’t seem to deter the young driver as he would return to the track and push his No. 84 Chevrolet inside the top-10. A long green flag run would string the field out and present various drafting strategies over the course of the second half of the race. A late race tangle on the track again tested the poise of the rookie driver but that too didn’t seem to faze Chad as he brought it home safely for a lead lap finish in his NASCAR debut.
“Our No. 84 Chevrolet was pretty solid out there today and it was just so tough to get through the field at times,” added Boat. “We ran in the top-10 there in the early part of the race but got shuffled back a little there and it just seemed like we couldn’t get it back. I am sure a lot of it was the learning process for me and I sure did learn a lot today.”
While the NASCAR Nationwide Series moves onto Phoenix next week, Boat and his Billy Boat Motorsports team will next see the track on April 4th when the series visits the Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.
About Keen Parts: Keen Parts Inc. is a Corvette Restoration Parts company based out of Cleves, Ohio. The company boasts an inventory of more than 18,000 parts and accessories for Corvette models ranging from 1953 to today. To learn more about the company, visit www.KeenParts.com. Interact with the company by following @KeenParts on Twitter and liking Keen Parts on Facebook.
About Billy Boat Motorsports: With over 40 years in the motorsports industry, either behind the wheel, in the pits or behind the desk, Billy Boat has left his mark in the history books. After setting USAC records and racing in seven Indianapolis 500 events (including winning the pole in 1998), he has now turned his attention to NASCAR team ownership. Founded in 2001, Boat partnered with Mike Curb and Cary Agajanian to field an Indy car in the Indy Racing league from 2001 to 2003 which transitioned into fielding cars for Boat’s son – Chad – finding victory lane over 125 times in cars from quarter midgets to sprint cars, and now in the NASCAR ranks. Billy Boat Motorsports is a top-tier, championship-winning team looking to grow in the NASCAR industry.
