Jeremy Clements scored the second victory of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career this season at Daytona International Speedway, and his latest victory has spawned a new signature line of beard oil in a partnership with Gahlay!
According to the product listing on Gahlay’s website, the oil sells for $19.00 and each purchase comes with free shipping, free stickers, free Topps sports cards, and more. The oil itself is handcrafted in Upstate South Carolina, where Clements is from and resides.
If you want your beard to look as majestic as Clements’, it appears Jeremy Clements 500 Beard Oil is the way to go.
While his win at Daytona sealed the name of the beard oil, Clements says his longtime friendship with MattMan of The Rise Guy Show is where the idea all began.
“I’ve been friends with the MattMan from The Rise Guys at the radio station here in Greenville, SC for probably 12 years and then he started his own beard oil company probably just say 2-3 years ago,” Clements said. “I don’t know exactly.
“Then we’ve just been back and forth and finally made it happen. We were like, ‘man, we need to make our own beard oil together and come up with a scent. You know brand it and all that stuff, so I don’t know. Just went out drinking one night together and just kind of came up with it like that.”
How did Clements come up with the mix of essential oils and fragrance of the beard oil? Well, he left it to the professionals to create the mix, he just picked out his favorite scent — with some help from his wife, of course.
“I smelled a few and then I narrowed it down to two,” Clements chuckled. “Then, I got my wife to smell them ’cause you gotta make sure the ladies like them too now. That’s kind of how we did it. It didn’t take too long to narrow it down, really.”
Clements has become a favorite among fans that root for the underdogs in NASCAR and he has given those folks plenty of things to cheer for over the last few seasons.
But the interesting thing with Clements is that he’s always had speed behind the wheel, but he is now starting to secure sponsorship and brand partnerships as a result of his on-track success.
In addition to the beard oil deal, Clements also has his own beer, 51 Racing Fuel, courtesy of Spartanburg, South Carolina-based RJ Rockers Brewing Company.
“RJ Rockers has got a great beer that they make themselves,” Clements explained. “And that’s a pretty cool thing about that place, and we go on the Fox Sports Radio show there every week on location, so they’re a big partner and I’m a friend of theirs. And then Fox Sports sponsors us as well so it all goes around.”
It’s incredible to see how far Clements has come on the sponsorship side of things over the last few years, and a lot of the boom for the No. 51 team has come from their partnership with Steve Carnes and First Pacific Funding, who began his partnership with the driver and team at Kentucky Speedway in 2020.
“Steve Carnes has been a big help to me and he helps me with finding other sponsors and obviously they give a good bit to us to help us to try to go faster and keep this all going,” Clements stated. “I actually met him on Twitter. He was giving away some tickets to two Marines at the start of 2020 and I said man, I’ll join you. I don’t even know you, but I’ll join you. I’ll give you pit passes for whoever wins them to make it even better.
“That was, that was how we met through Twitter and it’s crazy how that works, but dude is a good guy and he wants to help and he loves racing. He’s been a race fan his whole life. And that’s really cool to me because I’m the same way and I. Grew up in racing and. His dad grew up taking him races. And that’s cool to me.”
While this new wave of financial momentum would have helped raise Clements’ star a decade ago, the now 37-year-old is just happy to have this level of support in 2022.
“I wish this could have happened 10 years ago I guess, but better late than never,” Clements quipped. “But yeah, just finally getting our team to where we’re running more competitively, and obviously till we’re competing to win every week I’m not going to be satisfied, but really happy that we’ve been able to step it up. And we want to continue to step it up, but man, the Xfinity series is tougher and tougher every year.”
As far as 2023 goes, Clements says his team, which will once again have Mark Setzer back as crew chief, only has a handful of races left to sell primary sponsorship for.
“Right now we’ve only got a handful of races left primary sponsorship-wise, I’m talking about maybe five races roughly left and the rest are mostly the same partners from last year and years prior. It’s really nice that they want to continue working with us and we want to keep doing the best job we can for them.”
While Clements and the No. 51 team will appear to be mostly unchanged for next season, Clements will have a new voice in his ear — Kevin Hamlin — guiding him on track as Chris Monez appears to no longer be in the spotting game for the upcoming season.
“Chris Monez, our spotter for the past two years, last I heard he was getting off the road unless he got another gig which I don’t even know who ended up getting that gig. I hate to see him go but we got Kevin Hamlin, who is going to spot for us next year and so that’s going to be good.”
For a driver and team that have done a lot with very little over the years, there is no telling what is possible if they continue to find big-time funding from more and more partners in 2023.
