Josh Bilicki Reveals Poetic Tale About His NASCAR Debut at Road America Amid Reports of Its Departure

This weekend’s race at Road America is going to be an emotional one for a certain Josh Bilicki. This is because the Spire Motorsports driver has some fond memories at the track. In essence, this is where his NASCAR journey began, all the way back in 2016 in the Xfinity Series. Ahead of the race weekend, Bilicki revealed a special story close to his heart, pertaining to his NASCAR debut.

He said, “Six years ago today, on the Wednesday before the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America I shot my shot and sent Obaika Racing a Facebook message letting them know of my availability if they needed a last minute driver. I knew it was a long shot, but what the heck, I thought.”

“Little did I know, that one message would change my entire life. To make a long story short, the team called me Wednesday evening. On Thursday, I put together enough sponsorship to purchase four sets of Goodyear Eagle tores. I rushed through my licensing and drug test paperwork and on Friday I was in the car for Practice. The weekend was full of mechanical failures, but I was just thankful to be there and thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.”

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Josh Bilicki is looking forward to racing at the track where he debuted

Now, after 82 Cup, 75 Xfinity, and 10 Truck starts, he is back where it all began. The most incredible part of this is that when he debuted, he had virtually no oval or stock car experience. Instead, he was primarily a road racing driver, so he was surprised that Obaika gambled on him. From there, his NASCAR career took off and he competed in his first oval race at the Phoenix Raceway.

According to him, he had brake trouble on a couple of occasions during that weekend. This was largely because of a stripped front brake bleeder screw. Nevertheless, he managed to nurse the car to the finish line and was eventually classified in 38th place. A year later, he graduated to the Cup Series and has been racing there and in the Xfinity Series ever since. Speaking of Road America, there were recent reports of the track being dropped in the future. This makes the upcoming race all the more special for Bilicki.

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