SALEM, Ind. – After a stellar rookie season with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance, Mason Keller has made his goal for this year very clear.
Keller wants the series championship and doesn’t want to settle for anything less.
“After our second-place finish last year in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Chase for the Championship, we decided it would only make sense to compete full time again in 2019 to try and achieve one spot better,” said Keller. “Last season was our opportunity to get our feet wet and see if we can compete at this particular level of racing, especially being underfunded and working with a completely new team.
“When we won a race and had some good finishes, that’s really what made up our minds on what we wanted to do this season.”
The 19-year-old Keller looked to become the first ever driver to win both rookie-of-the-year honors and the series championship in the same season, but came up one position short behind Jack Dossey III after mechanical issues left him with an 11th-place finish in the season finale at Winchester Speedway during Winchester 400 weekend.
Keller had an impressive season that saw him win the series’ DGR-Crosley Rookie of the Year Award. He won the Labor Day Weekend event at Winchester Speedway, making him the only driver in the final four with a win last year.
The accolades for Keller’s 2018 season don’t end there, either. Keller’s crew won the PitBoxes.com Pit Crew of the Year Award and Keller won the 2018 Racing Electronics Season Hard Charger Award, gaining a total of 33 positions through out the season.
In the series’ 10 events last year, Keller had seven top-10 finishes, including his win and a third-place finish at Salem Speedway.
“Our goal this year is the season championship of course, but we are also looking to get our name out in the media by running up front and winning races, no matter what track we are racing at, even if it means traveling outside of the CRA schedule when we have the opportunity,” noted Keller. “I have to thank my sponsors Dailey’s Used Car Sales, Gedek Trailer Sales, PGG and MEP, because without their support I wouldn’t be racing with this series. I also have to thank my dad for all his support and my whole crew for their continued hard work.”
Keller raced in 49 Van Hoy Oil CRA Street Stock events before moving up to compete in a late model. He scored a win with that series in a 200-lap event at Kentucky Motor Speedway during the 2015 season.
In all, Keller earned 15 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes, as well as three Fast Qualifier Awards as a competitor with the CRA Street Stocks.
Keller made his JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour debut at Winchester Speedway on Labor Day Weekend in 2017, where he made a big splash, getting a second-place finish behind race winner Carson Hocevar.
Additionally, Keller has gotten more experience behind the wheel of his late model by competing at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida during the World Series of Stock Car Racing the last two years, winning his first late model race there in 2017.