Making his first start of 2025, say hello to Joey Kennealy, younger brother of full-time ARCA Menards Series West competitor Robbie Kennealy. The 16-year-old from Madera, California, will be piloting the #9 Ford Fusion for Jan’s Racing, based in Glendora, California, and owned by Jan Qualkenbush. Sponsorship will also come from Qualkenbush’s very own Jan’s Towing Inc., based in nearby Azuca, Calif. For the first time, Joey will also get a chance to race against his brother Robbie in ARCA competition. This will also be the first time Jan’s Racing will field three cars in a points-paying race in the ARCA Menards Series West. Robbie’s twin sister, Harley Kennealy, will serve as an assistant crew chief for Joey’s effort.
Joey Kennealy has competed in late models at various tracks out west, such as his home track of Madera Speedway and the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he’s won features at both tracks. At his home track of Madera, he has also competed in the MAVTV series. In addition, Kennealy also made his CARS Tour West debut at All American Speedway this year in April as part of the Limited Pro Late Model division. He would start in seventh and also finish in seventh on the lead lap.
For Kennealy, this will be his third career start in the ARCA Menards Series West after competing in two events late last season for Kennealy Keller Motorsports, which his family co-owns as the name implies. Kennealy would debut in the #12 Chevrolet at All American Speedway, where he’d qualify in 11th and finish 11th two laps down. He would then return to Kern County, where he qualified 19th and finished 14th, four laps down. Kennealy is very excited for this opportunity in his second trip in the west series to Kern County and could have a shot at his first top ten finish in the series as well.
Jan’s Racing first ran in ARCA West in the final four events in 2023 with veteran driver Nick Joanides behind the wheel of the #71 Ford. The team then ran its first full season in 2024 with a best finish of fourth at Irwindale, in which Joanides also won the team its first career pole. Unfortunately, health issues would sideline Joanides after eight races, and Rip Michels would take over the #71 for the rest of the season. The team would also field a second car part-time for six races, with Mikey Killen Jr competing in four races and Kyle Keller finishing the season in the last two races. For 2025, the team hired Kyle Keller and Robbie Kennealy as their two full-time drivers for the ARCA Menards Series West season. In fact, in the season opener at Kern County, Keller came very close to scoring his first career win, but finished second in a tight battle with Trevor Huddleston. Keller would also lead eight laps at Tucson. The near victory from Keller in January should give a boost in confidence to Joey Kennealy and the rest of the Jan’s Racing operation this coming weekend. The ARCA Menards Series West will compete at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway for the fifth race of the season, being the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame. The race will air on FloRacing and will start at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT.
Image Credit: Joey Kennealy Facebook