Kevin Lepage
{{NASCAR current driver|Name = Kevin Lepage|Birthdate =
June 26,
1962 | Birthplace =
Shelburne,
Vermont|Car_Team = 49 -
BAM Racing |Previous_Year = 2005 |Prev_Cup_Pos = 39th | Best_Cup_Pos = 25th -
1999 (Winston Cup) |Wins = 0 |Top_Tens = 9 |Poles = 1 |First_Race =
1997 UAW-GM Quality 500 (
Charolette) |First_Win = None |Last_Win = None |Awards = None Updated_On =
July 27,
2005 |
Kevin Lepage (born
June 26,
1962) is a
NASCAR driver from
Shelburne, Vermont. He is currently the driver of the #49
State Water Heaters Dodge Charger for
BAM Racing.
Lepage, one of the few NASCAR drivers from
New England, spent the 1980s driving in both the
Busch North series and the
Vermont-based
American-Canadian Tour series. He drove with occasional success in these series for the better part of 14 years.
Lepage made his
Busch Series debut in 1986 at
Oxford Plains Speedway, starting 41st and finishing 15th in the #09
Buick. He became a Busch Series regular in 1994, serving as an owner/driver in the #71
Vermont Teddy Bear Company car. He bad a best finish of 9th at
New Hampshire International Speedway, and finished 24th in points. The next season, he had five wins and finished 18th in points. At the end of the season, he sold his race team to
David Ridling, with the team switching to #88 with sponsorship from
Farmer's Choice Fertilizer. He won his first career race at the
Jiffy Lube Miami 300. He finished eighth in points. The next season, he finished 12th in points, posting three top-fives.
Lepage made the move to
Winston Cup Series in
1998, driving for the now-defunct
LJ Racing team. Despite the team's lack of sponsorship, Lepage posted two fourteenth-place finishes, catching the eye of
Jack Roush of
Roush Racing. Lepage announced his decision to depart LJ Racing in late
June 1998 and sat out 6 races to work out the details of the new contract with Roush. He would drive the #16
Primestar Ford Taurus in place of
Ted Musgrave, who was released after Lepage's hiring. He earned a pair of top-10 finishes in 13 races for Roush, his best finish being a sixth place at
Charlotte. Despite missing several races, he nearly won the
Rookie of the Year title.
Lepage returned in
1999 with sponsorship from
TV Guide. He had two top-tens and won the pole at the season-ending
NAPA 500, earning him a 25th-place points finish. He began
2000 unsponsored, before picking up backing from
Familyclick.com. Surprisingly, he failed to qualify twice and ended up 28th in points. At the end of the year, Familyclick ended its backing and Roush closed the 16 team.
Lepage returned to the Busch Series to restart his own team,
Matrix Motorsports, driving the #71
State Fair Corn Dogs Ford. Running 15 races, he had four top-tens and a pole at
Kansas Speedway. He also returned to the Cup series, running the #4
Kodak Chevrolet for
Morgan-McClure Motorsports, replacing
Robby Gordon after five races. Late in the season, he switched to the #7
Ultra Motorsports Ford, posting a tenth-place finish at
Talladega Superspeedway.
Early in
2002, Lepage's team shut down due to a lack of sponsorship, but we soon joined
Brewco Motorsports, driving their #37
Timber Wolf Chevy. In 24 starts, he had six top-tens and two poles, finishing 25th in points. He also ran three Cup races, two in the #38
Quest Motor Racing, and another for BAM Racing at Talladega in a car sponsored by
Billy Ray Cyrus. His best finish that year was a 40th at Loudon.
In
2003, Lepage ran his own team at the Cup level for one race, finishing 32nd at the
Coca-Cola 600. He ran two races that year for
CLR Racing, where he had a fourth place start at
Michigan, before returning to Morgan-McClure to finish the year, his best finish a fourteenth at
Atlanta. He teamed with Morgan-McClure again in
2004, but after six races, Lepage departed due to a lack of sponsorship. He then signed with
Competitive Edge Motorsports, posting a best finish of 41st twice, before leaving the team. He ended the season with
R&J Racing, where he had a best finish of 27th at
Phoenix International Raceway. He also ran eleven races in the Busch Series for
MacDonald Motorsports, where he had two top-fifteen finishes.
In
2005, Lepage returned to R&J, and started the season off with a ninth-place finish at the
Daytona 500. Unfortunately, he was unable to match that finish as the season went on, and was soon released from the ride. He signed with
Peak Fitness Racing for the balance of the year, and had a sixth-place qualifying effort at Kansas. He also ran six races with MacDonald in the Busch Series as well, posting a ninth-place finish at Lowe's.
In
2006, Lepage returned to Peak for another year, but due to a lack of funding, the team was sold to
Front Row Motorsports. Lepage ran a couple of races for FRM before leaving for BAM. He will also run a limited schedule in the Busch Series for
Mac Hill Motorsports.
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