“After completing two of my best years as a NASCAR driver, I decided to take something that was just an idea at the time and turn it into a reality. I wanted to offer people an air-filter subscription service, FilterTime™.” Blake Koch stated
Blake started FilterTime®, a subscription service via the web that allows you to choose your air filter and how often you want it delivered – without ever having to go through the hassle again.
“It was a super-simple idea and I decided to keep it a super-simple process.” Koch added.
The Partnership
Blake’s next step was finding a partner that could get FilterTime™ in front of as many people as possible and thereby help with the marketing and branding.
“There was only one person I had in mind that could help take FilterTime™ where I wanted it to go. I have always thought Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the best at branding and marketing. The resources he has with Dirty Mo Media and JR Motorsports, and his desire to win at everything he does, made him the partner I wanted.” Blake elucidated.
After sitting down with Dale, explaining FilterTime™ and the vision and passion he had for it, Blake and Dale Jr. became partners.
“I am more than just a personal service agreement here. This is not a sponsorship. This is a true partnership where I am invested in the company and believe in your idea and in your passion. Dale Jr. detailed. This is going to be exciting . . . . . it is going to be a real convenient for a lot of people.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to be partners with Dale and provide America’s homeowners a way to check air filters off their to-do list for good.” Blake Koch.
In the midst of off-season expansion, Kaulig Racing announced today that Ryan Truex will drive the #11 Chevrolet for the full 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) season. Truex is coming off a ninth-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) driver standings. The younger brother of current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) champion Martin Truex Jr. also has two back-to-back NASCAR K&N East Series Championships as well as multiple years of experience in NASCAR's premiere series.
"I'm extremely excited to be making the move back into the Xfinity Series," said Truex. "In just two years Kaulig Racing has proved to be a highly competitive team each race and it should be a great fit. Last season I saw a lot of improvements in my racing and hopefully this year I can continue the success Kaulig Racing has built and compete for the championship at the end of the year."
Hey @NASCAR fans we have some news to share with you guys today! A new face will be stepping into the No. 11 for the 2018 @NASCAR_Xfinity Series season. #NASCAR#GoRyan#RT11
Two years after breaking into the NXS, team owner Matt Kaulig is excited about his team's fast-paced growth in the sport. With back-to-back playoff runs as well as two stage wins and one pole award in the team's short history, Kaulig sees promising opportunities for this season with Truex behind the wheel.
"When we started this team two years ago I knew we had the potential to be one of the strongest teams in the Xfinity Series and I think we're within reach of that goal. Ryan is going to be a great addition to the team and I have some high hopes for this season. Each year we keep improving as a team and I think this season we'll be able to get some wins and make another run in the playoffs. Everyone at Kaulig Racing is excited to have Ryan on board and it should be a great, fun year."
Truex will make his debut for Kaulig Racing at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday February 17 th , 2018. A sponsor announcement regarding Truex will be made shortly.
Blake Koch at Bristol Motor Speedway… Blake Koch has 12 previous starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS). He earned a track-best start of 16th in April of 2016 and tied that earlier this season when the NXS visited BMS in April. He earned a track-best finish of eighth in this race last year (August 2016) after starting 17th. The last time Koch visited BMS in April, he finished ninth, earning his first top-10 of the 2017 season. Koch has recorded a total of two top-10 finishes at BMS.
Sounding Off – Blake Koch… “Statistically, Bristol seems like it’s our best racetrack after finishing eighth and ninth in the last two races there. We have good notes to go off of and I really like the PJ1 substance that Bristol put down on the track last race and plan to put down again. I love short tracks and think this weekend is a good opportunity for us to secure some more points and our position in the playoffs.”
2017 Season… Koch is currently tied for ninth in the NXS Championship standings after 21 races. He has recorded one pole position, six top-10 starts, two top-10 finishes and nine top-15 finishes. The Kaulig Racing driver has led 32 laps so far in 2017. Last week at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Koch scored a track-best start of third and finish of 11th after winning Stage 1, finishing 10th in Stage 2 and suffering major damage in the final stage before battling back to capture a top-15 finish. The stage win was his second of the 2017 season, earning him an additional playoff point.
Meet Blake…Koch and crew chief Chris Rice will serve as grand marshals for Thursday night’s Speedway Children’s Charities Night Race 5K presented by Bojangles at BMS. Koch will address the crowd, take photos and meet with fans at 8:15 p.m. ET before joining Chris Rice to give the command for the 8:30 p.m. ET start time. Registration is $25 with all proceeds benefitting local children through Speedway Children’s Charities.
Koch will visit the NXS XFINITY Zone presented by Comcast at BMS on Friday, August 28th at 2:30 p.m. ET for a Q&A and autographs.
Koch will meet with fans and sign autographs at the LeafFilter Gutter Protection display in the BMS FanZone on Saturday, August 18th at 5:45 p.m. ET.
Blake Koch NXS Career… Koch makes his 202nd NXS start this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. To date, Koch has a career-best NXS starting position of first at Talladega Superspeedway (May 2017), and a career-best NXS finish of eighth at RIR (April 2016), Bristol Motor Speedway (August 2016), Phoenix International Raceway (November 2016) and Iowa Speedway (July 2017).
Tune-In… The 300-lap Food City 300 from BMS will be televised live Friday, August 18th, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and will be broadcasted live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel 90.
Keeping up with Kaulig Racing… To receive up-to-date information on the No. 11 NXS team, follow @KauligRacing on Twitter as well as on the Kaulig Racing™ Facebook page, www.facebook.com/kauligracing, and the team’s website, www.kauligracing.com.
Koch earned a track-best starting position of 14th in 2016, but finished 35th after a multi-car pileup on Lap 17 ended the team’s day. Koch’s best finish of 18th at the track came in 2015 after starting 29th.
Milestone Weekend… Koch makes his 200th career NXS start this weekend at WGI. The West Palm Beach, Fla. native grew up racing dirt bikes, but did not drive a stock car until the age of 21. Koch joined NXS competition in 2011 and ran his first full NXS season in 2015. He also has six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts and 10 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts under his belt.
Sounding Off – Blake Koch… “I really do enjoy road course racing. This weekend at Watkins Glen will be different with the new downforce package for the XFINITY cars. The most difficult part of the track for me is typically the esses so we will make the most of practice and put all of the moving pieces together. We have great engines, brakes and people so we have all of the right ingredients for our No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy to run well at road courses.”
Watkins Glen will be different with the new downforce package for the XFINITY cars. The most difficult part of the track for me is typically the esses so we will make the most of practice and put all of the moving pieces together. We have great engines, brakes and people so we have all of the right ingredients for our No. 11
2017 Season… Koch is currently 10th in the NXS Championship standings after 19 races. He has recorded one pole position, five top-10 starts, two top-10 finishes and eight top-15 finishes. The Kaulig Racing driver has led 29 laps so far in 2017. Last week at Iowa Speedway, Koch qualified a track-best seventh en route to a track-best finish and career-tying best finish of eighth.
Blake Koch NXS Career… Koch makes his 200th NXS start this weekend at WGI. To date, Koch has a career-best NXS starting position of first at Talladega Superspeedway (May 2017), and a career-best NXS finish of eighth at RIR (April 2016), Bristol Motor Speedway (August 2016), Phoenix International Raceway (November 2016) and Iowa Speedway (July 2017).
Tune-In… The 82-lap Zippo 200 at The Glen from WGI will be televised live Saturday, August 5th, 2017 at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN and will be broadcasted live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel 90.
McDowell, Koch, and Stenhouse Jr. Flex Their Muscles
Who Came in Fourth in the Monster Energy #NASCAR Cup Series (#MENCS) for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway (DIS)?
Fresh off capturing their sixth Top-25 finish in a row and third Top-15 of the season, Leavine Family Racing (LFR) and Michael McDowell was ready to take on the superspeedway that has brought both of them success, as well as McDowell’s best finish.
Out of twelve total starts at DIS, McDowell has earned three Top-10 finishes, two of which have been with LFR. Together, the team has also earned two Top-15 finishes, with the last coming from the 2017 MENCS season opener at Daytona this year.
"We had a great car during the Daytona 500 back in February," said McDowell before this weekend’s event. "We ran out of gas with a lap to go and didn't get the finish that we thought we had going, but my career best finish has come from Daytona. The Fourth of July race is hot, slick, and there's a lot of sliding around, so it should be a lot of fun."
Their expectations were met and exceeded! Michael McDowell recorded his first career top-five in the Monster Energy Cup Series. McDowell, who ran in the top 15 for 93 of the 163 laps, avoided the major trouble in the race that featured fourteen cautions for 51 laps and charged to a fourth-place finish. Additionally, he completed the most green flag passes among all drivers with 412.
"It was a great run for us," said McDowell after making his 230th start. "Really building off the Daytona 500 where we were in the top-five and ran out of gas. We really had a fast car. The boys did a great job. It wasn't without trouble. We were around a lot of the carnage out there. There was just a lot of hard racing out there tonight. Three-wide, bumper-to-bumper all night long. It is great to have a top five."
Koch Wins First Stage, Leads 28 Laps at Daytona
Kaulig Racing driver Blake Koch experienced the highs and lows of racing over the two-day NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway (DIS), culminating in a 38th-place finish. Koch earned a career-best start, won the first stage and led 28 laps in the event before being collected in a multi-car wreck on Lap 50.
“We had such a fast LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy and I feel like we really had a chance to win today,” said Koch. “I’m so thankful for my team and hate that we keep experiencing bad luck. We had some really positive things come out of this weekend, so we will focus on that as we move on to Kentucky.
Koch and the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection team leave DIS 12th in the NXS championship standings and with one playoff point. The team returns to racing action on Friday, July 7th at Kentucky Speedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’S Becomes the Fifth Cup Series Driver with Multiple Wins In 2017.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who turns thirty in October, has proven to be an integral part of the Roush Fenway Racing turnaround. Stenhouse Jr., who won consecutive Xfinity Series championships, is in his fifth full cup season.
Ricky stormed to the front on the final restart, leading a line of drafting cars that swept past leader David Ragan. After years of frustration, Stenhouse finally scored his first Cup victory May 7 at Talladega Superspeedway, then he struck again in the next restrictor-plate race Saturday night. It will be fun to watch his progress in the 2017 Chase. NASCAR Race Mom loved his enthusiasm.
"I kept my Talladega car and told them to build a new one. And they built another Ford that was really fast. We won the (Coke Zero 400); I can't believe it! We put it in victory lane and got our second win. ...
"I had a Fourth of July party planned. It just got a little bigger."
They Knew Blake and the Kaulig Racing Team were at Talladega
We race with Blake Koch when he began in the K&N Pro Series West in 2009. He was a very friendly and sweet young man then. It appears his rise thought the NASCAR ranks have not changed that.
Blake started participating in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) in 2011. He did not obtain his first top-ten finish until last year. He ended his season with five of them and was a revelation when he became the last (twelfth) driver to qualify for the inaugural Xfinity Chase. He finished seventh in the point standing; however no win, no pole, and no top-five finish in his resume.
Blake can mark one of those three milestones off his list. The Kaulig Racing driver earned his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series pole on Saturday for the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway with a time of 52.188 seconds. (NASCAR Race Mom has to believe that all the yelling at the television she did assisted in some way.)
Unfortunately, the West Palm Beach, Florida native was running twelth with five laps to go in Stage 2 when a multi-car incident collected the No. 11 Chevy. The crash resulted in a broken transmission and he was not able to re-fire the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro relegating Koch to a disappointing 31st-place finish.
“It felt so good to get my first-career pole after being so close in the past,” said Koch. “We had such a fast LeafFilter Chevy today and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t finish the race. I think we definitely leave Talladega with our heads held high. They know we were there and really turned some heads with how fast we were all weekend. I can’t thank my team enough and look forward to a hometown race at Charlotte in a few weeks.”
Koch is scored ninth in the NXS Championship standings after Saturday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway. Koch and the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection team will be back on track Saturday, May 27th at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Don't forget the K&N Pro Series East is also racing today. After several years away, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East returns to South Boston Speedway Saturday for the WhosYourDriver.org Twin 100s. Below is their schedule.
Byron on Xfinity Pole at PIRWilliam Byron on XFINITY pole at Phoenix: #9-William Btyron won the Coors Light pole for the DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway with a speed of 133.487mph. It is his first career XFINITY pole.
#20-Erik Jones will start second. The rest of the top 10: #2-Austin Dillon, #11-Blake Koch, #7-Justin Allgaier, #1-Elliott Sadler, #6-Darrell Wallace, Jr., #19-Matt Tifft, #00-Cole Custer, and #62-Brendan Gaughan.
Did Not Qualify: None. The #77 team withdrew on Friday so only 40 teams were entered.
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Joey Gase, Olympic gold medalist and UFC flyweight, Henry Cejudo, will join Donor Network of Arizona (DNA) and other jujitsu competitors to honor Dante Pérez, a jujitsu instructor who saved four lives and healed dozens more through his gifts of organ and tissue donation.
Dante Pérez, 24, became a jujitsu instructor to help at-risk youth stay out of trouble. Known for his kind spirit, Dante always looked for ways to make a positive impact in his hometown of Sierra Vista, Arizona. Beloved by his students, he was their role model. However, Dante was taken too soon from his loved ones when he succumbed to injuries he suffered in a car accident in November 2016.
Blake Koch – Las Vegas Motor Speedway PreviewBlake Koch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway… Blake Koch has five previous starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS). His best finish at LVMS of 18th came in 2012 after starting 32nd. In this race last year, Koch started the race 17th, but encountered a fuel-pressure issue during a pit stop, causing him to lose ground and eventually finish 26th.
Sounding Off- Blake Koch… “We learned a lot about our new downforce package at Atlanta last week that will translate to Vegas this weekend. We made a lot of adjustments to our Vegas car after getting a feel for our Atlanta setup, so I think we will be much better off when we unload on Friday. After a tough weekend at Atlanta, I’m just excited to get back in the car and look forward to a better weekend.”
2017 Season… Koch is currently 19th in the NXS Championship standings after a rough weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Koch was involved in a Lap-2 incident, which crushed the radiator of the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro, relegating Koch to a 40th-place finish.
Experience on the Box… Veteran Crew Chief and Kaulig Racing General Manager Chris Rice has served as crew chief during 10 previous NXS races at LVMS. He has recorded two top-10 finishes in the NXS and an additional top-15 in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the track.
Blake Koch NXS Career… Koch makes his 183rd NXS start this weekend at LVMS. To date, Koch has a career-best starting position of second at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 2013), and a career-best finish of eighth at Richmond International Raceway (April 2016), Bristol Motor Speedway (August 2016) and Phoenix International Raceway (November 2016).
On the Car… Koch will carry the traditional LeafFilter Gutter Protection livery at LVMS with the addition of associate sponsor, Lifting Gear Hire. Lifting Gear Hire is the single largest organization in North America devoted exclusively to the provision of lifting and moving equipment for rent.
Keeping up with Kaulig Racing… To receive up-to-date information on the No. 11 NXS team, follow @KauligRacing on Twitter as well as on the Kaulig Racing™ Facebook page, and the team’s website, www.kauligracing.com.
Born in 1957 in Belgium, it was after a trip at the age of seven that my love for NASCAR caught hold of me! It was the 1964 World 600 in Charlotte. Since NASCAR it's my life! A large collection of objects and papers make up my personal little NASCAR museum.
Passionate about the history and statistics of NASCAR, I have contributed to numerous magazines and websites mainly in French language (Europe and Canada). One of my greatest pride is my full-time collaboration at racing-reference.info from 2003 to 2021.
Today I continue to write for fun and it's with joy that I join nascarracemom.com as contributor. .
