Kevin Thomas Jr.

Kevin Thomas Jr. (born June 14, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 22 Ford for Cunningham Motorsports.

Racing career
Kevin Thomas Jr. started racing at an early age, where he quickly realized he was a highly competitive person. He raced BMX bikes in the late 90’s, and was the State Champion by age 8. He began racing mini-sprints at the end of 2005 and quickly graduated to sprint cars in 2007. Kevin struggled early, but continued to gain as much seat time and experience as possible.

In 2013, the USAC National Sprint Car Series voted Kevin “Most Improved Driver”. He earned seven career USAC Sprint Car feature wins in 2013, catapulting him to well deserved notoriety with his peers. 2014 brought a new challenge, as he tried his hand at midget racing. Once again, Kevin proved he could excel in any type of auto racing and was named “USAC Honda National Midget Rookie of the Year”. He went on to team up with the legendary Keith Kunz Motorsports powerhouse, who produced drivers such as JJ Yeley, Tony Stewart, and Kyle Larson. In 2016 Kevin was the winninest non-wing driver in the country with a total of 13 wins in one season.

Kevin formed his own team mid-season in 2017 with the help of KT Construction Services, Abreu Vineyards, Jeff's Jam It In Storage, and many other. The newly formed KT Motorsports operates under the N0.9k and went on the win the USAC Indiana Sprint week title and the Budweiser Oval Nationals. Kevin went on to be names the Bell Athlete of the Year, the North American, Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll "Driver of the Year", and the winningest non-winged driver in the country for the second year in a row.

2018 brought a new opportunity for Kevin when he was named the driver for the legendary Hoffman Auto Racing No.69. The team brought home 7 USAC National wins, won the Budweiser Oval Nationals, broke the sprint car Quick Time record with 15 in a single season, and finished in the first ever tie for the USAC National Sprint Car Championship. Kevin was awards runner-up honors after the tiebreaker was determined by wins. For the third year in a row, Kevin was names the winningest non-winged driver in the country, and racked up a total of 21 wins across four divisions of competition.

2019 was a trying year with only 7 wins, and after much consideration Kevin made the decision to return to his family owned team, KT Motorsports for the 2020 season in hopes of pursuing a USAC National Sprint Car Championship. 2020 fell short of expectation, but the team has regrouped and is ready to contend for a title in 2021, with the support of Dr Pepper, McDonald's and all our loyal partners.

The 24-year-old driver has been racing since he was 13-years-old in a variety of series, including Mini Sprints, USAC Non-Wing 410 Sprint Cars, Midgets and Wing Sprint Cars. Some of his highlights have included his first win at Bloomington Speedway in 2012, winning three consecutive races during Indiana Sprint Week and his win in the 2013 Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State Speedway. In 2015, Thomas competed in more than 105 races, with 10 victories and top-five finishes in almost 50 percent of the races. Thomas also plans to run 40-50 sprint car shows in 2016.

ARCA Racing Series career
In addition to testing at Daytona, Thomas drove in the Zack Donatti Memorial Pro Late Model 100 race January 2 at New Smyrna Speedway, followed by the Pro Late Model World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing championships in February during Daytona Speedweeks.

“I want to thank Kerry (Scherer) and Briggs (Cunningham) for the opportunity to compete for the entire season in ARCA,” Thomas said. “It’s good to be a part of an organization that has the same will to win that I have.”

Thomas, who set off for Indiana to chase his racing dreams two days after high school graduation, recently signed a contract with Cunningham Motorsports to command the No. 22 car for the 2016 ARCA season. The deal was officially announced by the Mooreseville, North Carolina, outfit and marks Thomas' transition to asphalt and stock cars after spending the last six years tearing up dirt tracks from behind the wheel of sprint cars.

"We are thrilled to have someone of KTJ's talent and character racing with Cunningham Motorsports in 2016," said team co-owner Kerry Scherer in a press release. "We hope to be a stepping stone on his way to a successful NASCAR career."

Thomas was at Daytona International Speedway for his first ARCA testing session and return to the famed track Feb. 13 for his first ARCA race. In the meantime, he'll soak in as much pavement experience as possible in a Pro Late Model for Tim Russell.

Thomas took his first crack at the latter for testing at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida, where he competed in the Zack Donatti Memorial Pro Late Model 100.

Thomas had a laundry list of people to thank for his biggest break to date — his wife and family, including his father, Kevin Thomas Sr.; Tom Brigham with Bakken Concrete; Black Jack Oil Company owner Kevin Wilson; and mentors Lorin Ranier, a former spotter for Jamie McMurray, and Max Papis, a former Formula One and IndyCar driver; among others.

“If it wasn’t for all those people standing behind me through my open wheel ranks to get me to this point, I would not even be here,” Thomas said.

ARCA isn't affiliated with NASCAR but is widely considered a feeder series for its top three levels. Seeing as Cunningham Motorsports is the official driver development partner for Penske Motorsports, the next step for Thomas would be a full-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series gig for Brad Keselowski Racing in 2017 — so long as he lives up to his potential in ARCA, of course.

Thomas said he spoke to Keselowski himself at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show last weekend in Indianapolis.

"I've got a good connection with them over there, attitude-wise," Thomas said. "He’s a little fiery. I’m a little fiery. I think it’s a good personality fit. But at the end of the day, they want winners. If you don’t win, then you’re SOL."

Winning hasn't been an issue for Thomas up to this point. In addition to earlier accolades, the 24-year-old was the 2014 USAC Honda National Midget Rookie of the Year and claimed 10 victories in 2015. He finished third in the USAC National Midget Dirt standings and was sixth on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car circuit.

But that was all on dirt. Asphalt is certain to be an entirely different animal.

“Whatever I know in a sprint car, I have to almost throw out of the window and start over,” Thomas said. “But a sprint car has taught me car control and throttle control, and I think basically those are the two things that are going to help me out in the stock car. I’ve just got to gather all the experience and shorten my learning curve as quickly as possible.”

With his ultimate goal of reaching the NASCAR ranks closer than ever before, Thomas has understandably had to juggle his emotions. Keeping perspective of the big picture has been a massive help.

Other information
Thomas Jr. made two ARCA starts in 2016 with his best finish being a 7th place at Daytona. He transitioned back to non-wing sprint car racing and won 13 non-wing sprint car races in 2016. He was the winningest non-wing driver in the United States.

The Culman, Alabama native is coming off an impressive 2017 USAC Sprint Car season. He was able to capture the Indiana Sprint Week Championship and Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway. His streak of great finishes has transitioned to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes at the USAC Winter Dirt Games during February. Thomas Jr. will continue to receive support from Hinchman Racing Uniforms and Bell Helmets. In 2017, Thomas Jr. was the Bell Helmet athlete of the year.

Along with driving for Goacher Racing in the 70th Pay Less Little 500 presented by UAW-GM, he is also running a full season in a USAC Sprint Car with Hoffman Racing and a USAC Midget with Petry/Goff Motorsports.

ARCA Racing Series
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )