A week like no other leads to Kansas Speedway for Gase

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - There was no hesitation from Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase when asked about how unique this week has been for the 22-year-old NASCAR driver.

Never has he experienced the attention, acclaim and thrill that has come with his fifth-place finish in the Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. It's been a blur of text messages, tweets, Facebook posts, phone calls and interviews in the six days since he piloted his No. 52 Jimmy Means Racing Chevy to the team's first top five finish.

'It's been a crazy week. A lot of interviews - radio interviews, newspaper interviews and things like that,” Gase said outside his Sprint Cup hauler at Kansas Speedway on Friday. 'Between that and trying to find sponsors (for Kansas), it's been a hectic week, but a good week.

'I've definitely never had a week like this. No way. Everything's been so crammed and last-minute. But being back home, it's been good.”

Gase flew back to Cedar Rapids from Talladega both to spend time with family while celebrating the great finish, but also to search for sponsors.

He got sponsorship from TriState Tower, Inc. out of Marion, Performance Concepts in Marion and Construction Materials, Inc., which has a connection to Gase's alma mater, Cedar Rapids Xavier. The Saints' softball logo is on the rear quarter panel thanks to a CMI executive's work with the team. The car even has a Hawkeye Downs Speedway logo on the rear bumper.

Finding and securing sponsorship for the Cup race this weekend may not relate performance-wise, given the stark differences in competition and car-type, but companies wanting to ride the wave of positive attention on Gase jumped at the chance. Gase being able to show potential sponsors that he'll be able to get them, at minimum, some TV time was enough to seal the deal on the group he got together for Kansas.

'It was all about being able to show how much media coverage we were getting and how our social media pages have been exploding,” Gase said. 'They knew they'd get a lot of coverage after a highlight like that. Numbers don't lie, looking at the number of likes and shares and stuff like that on our Facebook page.”

Social media can obviously be a powerful tool, and Gase said congratulations and shouts-out from people like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip, Iowa native, Northern Iowa grad and Fox Sports 1 personality Krista Voda and fellow Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill all certainly helped boost that attention.

Cassill said he can relate to Gase in the attention a good run brings, and really enjoyed watching the younger Iowan get to experience it all.

He also heaped a ton of praise on Gase's driving throughout the race and what he was able to do with the car he had under him.

'It's a great feeling, and that's why I congratulated him on Twitter,” Cassill said. 'Those guys don't have anything; that team has nothing. They don't have tires, they don't have a pit crew. I was next to him for a lot of that race and he was racing like it was his last race on Earth. He made some daring moves to put him in that position. He earned it.

'That was all driver. We all know the car wasn't what sucked him up through the field. He just did a hell of a job. I can appreciate how Joey probably felt this week because he knows he made the moves to get his car up there and it worked out for him. Hopefully it gives him an opportunity to help his team a little bit.”

As for Friday, Gase's Go Green Racing car saw improvements, however minor, between two practice sessions and into qualifying.

Gase eagerly awaits Saturday's SpongeBob Square Pants 400, and said every time out he gets more acquainted with what it takes to make a Cup car fast.

'I'm more comfortable in these cars now than I was last year,” Gase said. 'Getting used to everything, the speeds and stuff like that, and the horsepower change (in Cup engines) has helped, too.

'You've got to give good feedback and stuff like that. … I would say I would be happy with a top-35 finish (Saturday).”

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