Jeremy Clements will have a special throwback look adorning his No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet Camaro for NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway in a couple of weeks.
Clements, who will carry sponsorship from First Pacific Funding in the event, will have the look of Geoff Bodine’s No. 5 Levi Garrett Chevrolet Camaro, which Bodine piloted from the 1985 season to 1989 for Hendrick Motorsports.
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As the 38-year-old Clements hails from Spartanburg, South Carolina, a race at his home track is always a big deal. However, this year his team will be honoring a driver that has been named to the NASCAR 75 Greatest Drivers list, and who was the childhood hero of an integral figure within the leadership of Clements’ primary sponsor First Pacific. So, there’s a little bit of extra motivation to have a solid run.
“Throwback weekend is one of the coolest weekends on the schedule. Plus, Darlington is not only my home track but also one of my favorite tracks to race on,” said Clements in a team release. “We really have a helluva great looking car this year. All the credit goes to Steve (Carnes) from First Pacific for helping bring this 80’s badassery of a scheme back to life again! We hope to put on a good show and take the No. 51 hot rod to the front.”
Bodine was a full-time competitor on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit from 1982 to 1999. Over the course of a 575-race career in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bodine scored 18 victories at NASCAR’s highest level including the 1986 Daytona 500.
Additionally, Bodine scored six victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and he was the 1987 International Race of Champions (IROC) Series champion.
Clements and his No. 51 team are a hard-working family-owned operation that has twice slayed the Goliaths within the NASCAR Xfinity Series as Clements has found victory lane at Road America (2017) and Daytona (2022).
The scrappy No. 51 team has made it into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs in two consecutive seasons heading into the 2023 campaign, but the organization has had a rocky start to the year.
Clements sits 20th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings after the opening nine races, but a lot of that is due to issues that Clements has suffered over the last three events.
Mechanical issues led to Clements finishing 36th at Richmond. A pair of crashes at Martinsville and Talladega resulted in 32nd and 19th-place finishes for the No. 51 team.
Clements and his organization will look to buckle down and shake off the funk of the last few races in an effort to make it into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs for the third season in a row.
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