Rick Carelli

Rick Carelli (born November 9, 1954) is an American crew member for Stewart-Haas Racing and former race car driver from Arvada, Colorado.^[1] He was nicknamed the "High Plains Drifter".^[2] He won multiple times in the #6 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series truck. He is currently the spotter for Kurt Busch in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Racing career

Carelli's 1997 Chesrown Racing truck

Carelli won the NASCAR Southwest Tour championship in 1991 and won 21 times in the series during his career.^[2] He joined the NASCAR Winston West Series in 1992,^[1] and he was named the series Rookie of the Year. He returned to the series in 1993, capturing the series championship and Most Popular Driver award.^[1]^[2] He has won nine times in that series.^[2]

He was one of the original drivers in the Craftsman Truck Series, starting at the series' first race at Phoenix in 1995. Carelli raced every series race until he suffered near-fatal injuries when his truck hit the wall during a race at Memphis Motorsports Park in 1999. He suffered a basal skull fracture, damaged his carotid artery and sinus.^[3] He recovered and returned to race the entire 2000 season.^[3] He won another race at Richmond International Raceway in 2000 with an underfunded team that he was the crew chief for. He also made 9 Winston Cup starts from 1992 to 1994. He stopped driving in 2004 and moved into the administrative side of motorsport.^[3]

After retiring from driving, he later became the team manager for Kevin Harvick Incorporated – a position that he held when Ron Hornaday won the 2007 championship.^[2] He currently works with NTS Motorsports as the team general manager.^[4] Carelli is also the spotter for the Stewart-Haas Racing #41, driven by Kurt Busch.

Awards

Carelli was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2009 along with Wayne Spears, Doug George, and Chuck Bown.^[5]^[6]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts
1991	Chesrown Racing	37	Chevy	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO DNQ	ATL			NA	-
1992		37		DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON 37	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO 42	ATL			74th	89
1993		61		DAY	CAR	RCH DNQ	ATL DNQ	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL																				PHO 21	ATL 35		49th	258
1993		37											SON 21	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR				49th	258
1994		61		DAY DNQ	CAR DNQ	RCH DNQ	ATL DNQ	DAR DNQ	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	SON 41	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH DNQ	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	IND DNQ	GLN	MCH 27	BRI	DAR DNQ	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR 22	PHO 33	ATL DNQ	49th	283

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NBC	Pts
1990	Chesrown Racing	46	Pontiac	DAY	RCH	CAR	MAR	HCY	DAR	BRI	LAN	SBO	NZH	HCY	CLT	DOV DNQ	ROU	VOL	MYB	OXF	NHA	SBO	DUB	IRP	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NHA	CAR	MAR				NA	-
1998	Phoenix Racing	41	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	NSV	DAR	BRI	TEX	HCY	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	RCH	PPR 42	GLN	MLW	MYB	CAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	GTY	CAR	ATL	HOM				126th	0
2000	Ken Schrader Racing	86	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSV	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	MEM	PHO DNQ	HOM			NA	-
2003	Biagi Brothers Racing	4	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR 19	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM	119th	106

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	NCTC	Pts
1995	Chesrown Racing	6	Chevy	PHO 24	TUS 3	SGS 9	MMR 12	POR 8	EVG 8	I70 6	LVL 5	BRI 23	MLW 4	CNS 7	HPT 11	IRP 3	FLM 2	RCH 12	MAR 29	NWS 12	SON 15	MMR 11	PHO 11								6th	2683
1996				HOM 16	PHO 6	POR 6	EVG 13	TUS 23	CNS 19	HPT 24	BRI 1	NZH 16	MLW 11	LVL 7	I70 3	IRP 18	FLM 7	GLN 24	NSV 9	RCH 15	NHA 13	MAR 29	NWS 6	SON 9	MMR 34	PHO 16	LVS 14				10th	2953
1997				WDW 5	TUS 30	HOM 8	PHO 10	POR 28	EVG 19	I70 7	NHA 3	TEX 22	BRI 4	NZH 6	MLW 5	LVL 19	CNS 7	HPT 9	IRP 8	FLM 5	NSV 10	GLN 10	RCH 11	MAR 15	SON 7	MMR 12	CAL 15	PHO 5	LVS 6		7th	3461
1998				WDW 3	HOM 18	PHO 17	POR 3	EVG 7	I70 32	GLN 28	TEX 9	BRI 30	MLW 6	NZH 9	CAL 16	PPR 4	IRP 17	NHA 20	FLM 16	NSV 17	HPT 30	LVL 31	RCH 8	MEM 30	GTY 1^*	MAR 11	SON 11	MMR 6	PHO 11	LVS 35	11th	3195
1999				HOM 10	PHO 27	EVG 6	MMR 1	MAR 9	MEM 36	PPR	I70	BRI	TEX	PIR	GLN	MLW	NSV	NZH	MCH	NHA	IRP	GTY	HPT	RCH	LVS	LVL	TEX	CAL			33rd	739
2000	Phelon Motorsports	66	Ford	DAY 7	HOM 34	PHO 26	MMR 20	MAR 33	PIR 17	GTY 29	MEM 34	PPR 20	EVG 7	TEX 31	KEN 7	GLN 32	MLW 13	NHA 11	NZH 8	MCH 31	IRP 24	NSV 23	CIC 5	RCH 1	DOV 8	TEX 9	CAL 21				15th	2606
2001	Phelon Motorsports	66	Ford	DAY 13	HOM 30	MMR 4	MAR 12	GTY	DAR	PPR	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	NHA	IRP	NSH	CIC	NZH										40th	675
	Petty Brothers Racing	44	Dodge																			RCH 34	SBO	TEX	LVS
	Harvick Motorsports	6	Chevy																							PHO 11	CAL
2002	Harvick Motorsports	6	Chevy	DAY 5	DAR	MAR	GTY	PPR	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	NHA	MCH	IRP	NSH	RCH	TEX	SBO	LVS	CAL	PHO	HOM						72nd	160

24 Hours of Daytona

(key)

24 Hours of Daytona results
Year	Class	No	Team	Car	Co-drivers	Laps	Position	Class Pos.
2002	AGT	90	Flis Motorsports	Chevy Corvette	Kevin Harvick John Metcalf Davy Lee Liniger	123	69 ^DNF	8 ^DNF
2003	GTS	05	Team Re/MAX Racing	Chevy Corvette	Craig Conway John Metcalf Davy Lee Liniger	378	27 ^DNF	8 ^DNF

References

1 2 3 "Rick Carelli". Racing West. 1999. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
1 2 3 4 5 "West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame to induct 10 in July". NASCAR. April 8, 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
1 2 3 Wack, Craig (June 21, 2009). "Rick Carelli's seat safer than '99 Trucks Series ride". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
↑ "No. 14 California Clean Power Chevrolet to Feature Throwback Paint Scheme From Inaugural Truck Series Race". NTS Motorsports. September 21, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
↑ "HOF Modern Era Inductees". Racing West. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
↑ "West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame". West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 March 2012.

External links

Rick Carelli driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Achievements
Preceded by Bill Sedgwick	NASCAR Winston West Series champion 1993	Succeeded by Mike Chase
Preceded by Doug George	NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour champion 1991	Succeeded by Ron Hornaday

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