Blake Koch has been a driver in the NASCAR XFINITY series since 2011 but his career began on dirt bikes when he was nine years old and lasted until the age of 18. Due to injuries at a young age, the driver of the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet decided to attend college for a business management and marketing degree. At the age of 20, Koch began racing a local short-track racing truck that his stepdad bought in Florida. Two years later, Koch was signed on as a development driver at Richard Childress Racing.
Coming into 2016, Koch didn’t know what to expect. “It’s been kind of surreal,” he told Speedway Digest. “We set goals that were big, like consistently running in the top 15 and making the Chase. Those goals were reachable but we knew we still had to work for them.”
Koch entered this year’s season without scoring a single top-10 finish in the XFINITY Series. A ninth-place finish at the first race of the season in Daytona, the Powershares QQQ 300, was a good start to the year and the shot in the arm he needed.
“That was amazing,” Koch said. “A top 10 had been haunting me for six years now and we were able to do that the first race of the year. I was hoping we’d get one top 10 all year and to be able to take that pressure of myself that first race helped a lot.”
Koch also had a goal of bettering his qualifying position, one he finally reached back in March at Phoenix. “I was never able to do that until this year and it happened during the third race of the year! We’ve just been getting better ever since. I feel like we belong here and we’ve improved.”
The Kaulig Racing team was really excited to be in championship contention and follow it up with a berth into the XFINITY Chase ‘Round of Eight’. “We knew we could advance to the next round but didn’t expect to,” Koch explained. “It’s pretty incredible for a first-year team to be in the top eight. If you talked to me before Chicago (the final regular-season race), I would have said there was not a great chance at making the ‘Round of Eight.”
Once the Chase began at Kentucky, Koch and his team let the other 11 ‘Chasers’ know they were there. “When we went to Kentucky, we were racing in front of a lot of people in that (Chase) top 12,” Koch said. “Halfway through the race, I felt like we could make the next round. Some people took themselves out of that race and we were in a really good spot in the points.”
Dover was a mixture of up’s and downs. “We had a top-10 car there and outran a lot of the ‘Chase’ drivers,” Koch said. “We definitely didn’t luck into any points. If anything, we lost a bunch because I ran out of gas while leading the race. We still rallied back to a 14th-place finish.”
This half of the season can be an intense one for some teams. However, Koch’s team is still staying loose and relaxed. He attributes it to the close relationship that they all have.
“We have a lot of people on this race team that work really hard,” Koch explained. “It’s still small that you know everybody on a personal level and we’ve all became friends over this past year.”
Koch also has a tight relationship with his crew chief, Chris Rice. “Chris and I started working in 2013,” Koch explained. “I drove one race for him and we’ve stayed in touch since then. I’ve had a good friendship with him.”
Making the Chase also helped the team in a positive way. “At Chicago, all the pressure was off,” Koch said. “We had zero pressure. We’ve been able to have fun and take advantage of that. Matt Kaulig (team owner) told everyone to ‘just go have fun’.”
While there are five weeks left in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the XFINITY Series takes two weekends off before resuming at Texas.
“I love the hole in the schedule,” Koch said. “One thing that hasn’t been on our side at Kaulig Racing is time. It gives us a chance to get caught up and improve our race cars and it gives me time to study for Texas and spend some time with my family.”
When the 2017 season begins, Koch’s goal is to just finish in the top 10 every weekend. He finished ninth in the Kansas Lottery 300 and sits third in the Chase standings with 3032 points. During this season, he has accumulated four top-10 finishes.
Coming off the ranch, I didn’t have a motorsports background but my passion was and still is very strong. My first taste of NASCAR came at the age of seven while waiting for music videos to come on the old TNN network. As I grew up, I pursued other interest but eventually rediscovered cars going left when I found the SPEED channel during the 2011-2012 offseason.
I didn’t decide I wanted to pursue a career in NASCAR until the summer of 2012. I’m not a wrench head or strong enough for a pit crew so media was the next best thing. At the beginning of 2013, I started going to races and making connections within the sport. I also studied Motorsports Management at Sports Management Worldwide. Although I love what happens on the track, I’ve always been interested in what goes on behind the scenes and I’ve gotten to know many people throughout the radio, TV and digital media world.
While I’m a long time writer, 2015 was my first year actually covering the sport with www.nascarfemale.com . I also became a media correspondent for Raceline. I’ve been able to help the TV show gain recognition on social media. My current goal is to acquire more experience in covering NASCAR and move up the media ladder. Outside of motorsports, I have been an equine-sports statistician for 16 years.
I currently reside in Gillette, WY where I’m still involved with horses. I enjoy riding them, rodeo, swimming, traveling and meeting people.
Email Me
I didn’t decide I wanted to pursue a career in NASCAR until the summer of 2012. I’m not a wrench head or strong enough for a pit crew so media was the next best thing. At the beginning of 2013, I started going to races and making connections within the sport. I also studied Motorsports Management at Sports Management Worldwide. Although I love what happens on the track, I’ve always been interested in what goes on behind the scenes and I’ve gotten to know many people throughout the radio, TV and digital media world.
While I’m a long time writer, 2015 was my first year actually covering the sport with www.nascarfemale.com . I also became a media correspondent for Raceline. I’ve been able to help the TV show gain recognition on social media. My current goal is to acquire more experience in covering NASCAR and move up the media ladder. Outside of motorsports, I have been an equine-sports statistician for 16 years.
I currently reside in Gillette, WY where I’m still involved with horses. I enjoy riding them, rodeo, swimming, traveling and meeting people.
Email Me
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