Joey Gase will drive the #23 Best Home Furnishings Toyota Camry for BK Racing on a part-time schedule in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, starting with the season-opening Daytona 500. The team made the announcement Tuesday morning.
“We’re thrilled to have Joey and Best Home Furnishings, one of the largest furniture manufacturers, join us for the Daytona 500 in February,” team owner Ron Devine stated. “It is the largest race of our series and a wonderful event for Joey to debut his BK Racing relationship. We’ve been watching Joey’s growth for quite some time and looking forward to seeing what he can do behind the wheel of a BK race car.”
Gase is also slated to compete in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. “Racing in the Daytona 500 and the Bristol night race has been a dream of mine since I can remember,” he said. “It’s very exciting to share this experience with everyone at Best Home Furnishings and those who have helped me get to this point in my career.”
Gase currently races for Jimmy Means Racing in the Xfinity Series, where he finished 21st in points in 2016. He has also competed part-time in the Cup Series since 2014, driving the #32 for Go FAS Racing. He recorded his best Cup finish of 32nd at the spring Phoenix race in 2016. In the Xfinity Series, his best finish of the year was 19th at the summer Daytona race. In nine career starts at the superspeedway, Gase has an average finish of 31.56; his best finish in NASCAR’s national series also came at a superspeedway, a 4th-place run at Talladega in 2015.
The #23 was driven by David Ragan in 2016 until his contract expired after the season ended. It has not been announced as to who will also drive the car in 2017. Gase’s teammate for the Daytona 500 has also not been revealed.
Best Home Furnishings, based in Indiana and founded in 1962, is a family-operated business with over a million square feet of manufacturing at five locations in the state. The company will sponsor a blue-and-white car for the 500.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with BK Racing and Joey Gase,” Best Home CEO Glenn Lange stated. “Joey is a young, energetic and up-and-coming driver who has shown to be competitive from an early age. To have our company’s name as a primary sponsor on a NASCAR Monster Energy premier series car is a dream come true.”
The 59th Daytona 500 will be held on February 26.
