Getty Joey Gase will have a new partner for the 2022 season.
Emerling-Gase Motorsports has secured a new partner ahead of its inaugural season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team has agreed to a deal with Kitty Kat Coin, a sports-based cryptocurrency.
The team announced the news on Monday, January 24, with a special unveiling at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Emerling-Gase Motorsports also announced that the cryptocurrency will debut during a race at Daytona International Speedway. Kitty Kat Coin will sponsor both Shane Lee’s No. 35 Toyota and Joey Gase’s No. 53 Ford while displaying two wildly different schemes.
🚨🚨NASCAR’s @EG_Motorsports announces partnership with @KittyKatCoin Cryptocurrency & Ecosystem (Kat’s Coin) t.co/weps9Amzy8
The announcement photo showed two separate versions of the Kitty Kat Coin scheme, one primarily gold and the other primarily black. According to a press release from EGM, there is a reason for this decision. Lee’s No. 35 Toyota will be tagged as Team Panther while Gase’s No. 53 will be tagged as Team Leopard.
The Xfinity Series Team Made Major Changes in Late December
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When Gase originally unveiled Emerling-Gase Motorsports, he used the name of Joey Gase Racing. He kicked off the offseason by revealing that he would compete during the 2022 Xfinity Series season as a driver-owner.
The situation changed on December 30 with another major update. Gase issued a press release and said that the team would run the No. 35 entry full-time in 2022 while another part-time entry joined the fold. Gase added that he would share driving duties with Patrick Emerling, Lee, and other drivers that he would announce at a later date.
Emerling joined the Xfinity Series team as a co-owner after a winning season in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He posted 11 top-10 finishes, nine top-fives, and he won three times. Emerling also made three Xfinity Series starts for Our Motorsports in 2021.
“I am very excited to be teaming up with Patrick on this new adventure,” Gase said in a statement. “We both share the same vision and goals for the future, and we are both true racers at heart. The other cool thing is that we will be two of the youngest owners in the sport, but still have a lot of experience and knowledge to go with that.”
Gase Will Pursue More Top-10 Finishes at Daytona
GettyJoey Gase practices at Daytona International Speedway in 2017.
The season-opening race at Daytona will mark the 16th time that Gase has started an Xfinity Series race at the superspeedway, but it will be the first time that he has driven for his own team. He will use the opportunity to pursue another top-10 finish at the Florida track.
Gase’s best runs at Daytona International Speedway took place during his time with Jimmy Means Racing in 2017. He started both races that season in the No. 52 Chevrolet, and he raced his way into the top 10 after starting outside of the top 30. Gase finished the first race in seventh place and then followed it up with a 10th-place finish.
Lee, by comparison, has only made two starts at the superspeedway in the Xfinity Series. He joined Richard Childress Racing for one start in 2018 and finished sixth overall in the No. 3 Chevrolet after originally qualifying 14th. He then joined H2 Motorsports for one race in 2019 and finished 21st overall in the No. 28 Toyota.