Blake Feese (born February 8, 1982, in Saybrook,
Illinois
), is a second generation American
racecar
driver. Previously he had won races in
ARCA and
USAC, before running the
NASCAR Busch
Series on a part-time schedule with
Hendrick Motorsports in 2005 as part of
their
driver development
program, before he was released.
Feese began racing at the age of ten in
quarter midgets, where he won his
first two starts, moving up to Mini-sprints two years later. He won
the 600cc track championship at
Jacksonville Raceway in the mini-sprint
division in 1998, before moving up to main Sprint Cars, where he
won once, and was named Rookie of the Year.
In 2000, he drove in the
International Racing
Association, winning three races.
In 2001, he competed
in his first World of Outlaws race
at Bristol Motor
Speedway
, finishing ninth. Later, he won a WoO
sanctioned event at Knoxville Raceway
, then won again at the All-Star sprint at Eldora Speedway
the following season.
Late in the season, he met NASCAR winner
Jimmy Spencer, who would help Feese get a
NASCAR driving contract.
After going through 2003 without a major ride, Feese met
Rick Hendrick and signed to drive two races
for him that season in the ARCA series.
In his second start at
Nashville
Superspeedway
, Feese qualified 3rd and won the race.
After
posting two more top-tens that season, he won his second career
ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway
. He made his Busch
Series debut at Kentucky Speedway
in the #87 ditech Chevrolet Monte Carlo for NEMCO Motorsports, starting sixteenth but
finishing 41st after an early crash. After running two more
races for NEMCO, he finished the year running the #00 Chevy for
Haas CNC Racing, posting his best
finish of the year, a 25th at the
Aaron's 312.
In 2005, Feese moved up to the Busch Series to share the #5
Lowe's Chevy with fellow Hendrick development
driver
Boston Reid.
Feese struggled during
the season however, his best finish being a 23rd at Atlanta
out of six starts. He also made his
Craftsman Truck Series debut at
Kentucky for
Billy Ballew
Motorsports, starting 30th and finishing 15th.
At the end of 2005, Feese was released from his contract at
Hendrick. He currently races sprint cars in Indiana and will return
to stock cars in 2007, running a limited ARCA and Busch Series
schedule with
Sadler Brothers
Racing.
Blake Feese made his competitive return to Nascar racing on August
1st 2009 in the #15 Truck for Billy Ballew Motorsports. He started
18th and finished 12th in the Phoenix Construction Toyota
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