ORLANDO, Fla. _ Austin Theriault's victory in the ARCA season opener Saturday at Daytona International Speedway was significant because it was the 23-year-old's second series win.
But it also was a big milestone for several members of his pit crew.
Kapil Fletcher, Jeremy Kimbrough and Phil Thomas earned their first career victories as crew members in their first race. They are graduates of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity Crew Member Development program, which helps former minority college athletes train to earn spots on pit crews in one of the league's national race series.
"My first thought was NASCAR is a bunch of cars going around a track, I'm not interested in that," Johnson said in an interview with the University of Kansas athletics website. "But it was an opportunity for me to use my competitive edge from football."
Eighteen athletes from various sports, including football, basketball, softball and track, were selected from a group of athletes who took part in a series of combines on six campuses last year.
Twelve of the 18 participants played college football _ four played at the FBS level _ including Fletcher and Kimbrough. Fletcher was a defensive lineman at Kansas for two seasons (2013-14), while Kimbrough was an All-American as a linebacker at Appalachian State.
The program teams with Rev Racing in providing both crew members and driver development opportunities. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series drivers Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson along with NASCAR Xfinity series driver Darrell Wallace Jr. are all graduates of the program.
Suarez won the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and will be making his first Daytona 500 start this season.
There are 35 current and former Drive for Diversity crew members working in NASCAR, including 23 graduates in the sport's top series.
