NASCAR’s Joey Gase Races on Home Track Today

At the relatively young age of 26, Cedar Rapids NASCAR driver Joey Gase has probably learned a thing or two about patience.

He recently spoke to J.R. Ogden of the Gazette, and said that this race season has already been a bit of a challenge navigating various obstacles.

“This year, honestly, has been a struggle for sure,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of small mechanical issues and stuff like that.

“In racing, or in any business or sport, you can do all the big things right, but if you do the big things right it doesn’t matter if you don’t do the small things right.”

The 2011 Xavier graduate is racing in his seventh NASCAR season and will be seeking the checkered flag today in the NASCAR Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway in Newton.

The green flag will drop at 4:30 p.m. for today's race, with qualifying starting shortly after 1:00 p.m.

Gase started racing at Hawkeye Downs as a teenager, and told the Gazette he considers the Iowa Speedway his "home track" - and for good reason.

“I remember when I was a kid how excited I was that Rusty Wallace, who was my favorite driver, was building Iowa Speedway,” he told the Gazette. "I’ve been racing there since I was 15 years old and I’ve been racing there twice a year ever since.”

If you can't make it today, Gase will be home for another week and will race next Friday at Hawkeye Downs.