RIDGEWAY, Va. — A relative unknown in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series garage nearly took team owner Mike Mittler to the final round of Keystone Light pole qualifying Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.

16-year-old Kyle Donahue, who only got 14 total laps of track time on Friday due to a seat belt issue before rain washed out final practice, stormed through round one in an unsponsored truck and contended for a spot in the third and final round before falling just shy of the cutoff line and the run for the pole.

Donahue is making just his second career Truck start this weekend, and carried a huge smile as he sighed in relief after climbing from his truck and reveling in what he had just accomplished.

“Man, this is unbelievable,” the teenager said. “All of the Mittler guys work so hard in the shop and it showed today.”

“It’s amazing the amount of preparation this team put into this truck just for this race. They worked all winter, and I hope I made them happy out there. i wanted to make it to the third round … and we were trying, because we went aggressive and made it a real loose truck … but it is what it is and 14th is not bad at all!”

The native of Chesterfield, Missouri, who turns 17 at the end of the month, drove for Mittler in the Truck race at Martinsville last fall but crashed out of the event after only 48 laps — making his run on Saturday morning that much more impressive.

In turn, Donahue was equally as impressed by the effort put in by his team to get him the speed he needed to contend up front, noting the underdog nature of the MB Motorsports operation as they notched their best start since Eldora last August.

“Just competing with these guys is an honor,” he admitted. “A lot of these teams out here have way more budget than we do and have guys where … this (racing) is their life, so to beat some of them and run up (front) against some of them made me real happy.”

Without a sponsor for the weekend, Donahue and the team elected to put the #BlueLivesMatter initiative on the quarter-panels of his No. 63 Chevrolet, honoring the policemen and policewomen that have given their lives in the line of duty.

“I try to find a positive in every negative, and when we were gonna run this race we couldn’t find a sponsor. When we realized we were gonna have a blank truck, I said, ‘We might as well put something on it where people are gonna appreciate it, even if we don’t get money out of it and it costs us a fortune to run this race.'”

“Who knows? This might be the last (NASCAR) race I’m ever out here. I’m trying to break into this series, but it’s really hard. I race every lap out there like it’s my last, because it might be. But regardless of what happens today, I’m proud to carry ‘Blue Lives Matter’ onboard our truck and raise awareness for all the policemen out here that serve us every day. Every one of them out here is a local hero and I’m thankful for their support as we do what we love today.”

His goals for the race are modest, knowing that survival is key at a bullring like Martinsville, especially for a low-budget operation.

“I just want to get a good finish for all of Mike’s guys. I know we need to keep this truck together and roll it back onto the trailer, so we’ll just do the best we can and see what happens.”

“Short track racing is second-nature to me,” Donahue added. “I love it and I’m glad there’s a Truck race here at Martinsville that we can come and run. It’s a special place.”

Listen to Race Chaser Online’s exclusive interview with Kyle Donahue following NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying on Saturday:

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

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