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Kelby Watt will fill the seat of the Bill Rose Racing No. 6 Sprint Car while Bill Rose recovers from an injury sustained in May.
The 23-year-old from Adel, IA, who races weekly at Knoxville Raceway, will make his debut in the car this weekend with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Cedar Lake Speedway for the Independence Day Spectacular, and continue to follow the World of Outlaws tour until Rose is ready to return.
“I’m extremely honored to have the opportunity to work with one of the most experienced veterans in our sport,” Watt said. “Bill has a great program and I have some really big shoes to step into, but I am very excited for the opportunity. This will be a great learning experience for me to get some seat time at various racetracks and get valuable coaching from Bill. We all wish Bill a speedy recovery. Hopefully, he’s back in the seat very soon.”
Watt made his debut with the World of Outlaws in June during the Premier Chevy Dealers Clash at Knoxville Raceway and finished 18th.
His career started in Outlaw Karts and Micro Sprints before transitioning to 305 Sprint Cars at Knoxville Raceway in 2016. He picked up four wins in the division and then moved up to 360 Sprint Cars in 2019. During his time in the 360 ranks, he’s made two appearances in the 360 Knoxville Nationals, scoring a career-best finish of 11th last year.
In 2022, he took a year off from racing to intern at Hendrick Motorsports. When he returned, he made his 410 Sprint Car debut at the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals – but missed the main event – and then joined the 410 Sprint Car rookie class at Knoxville this year.
“I’m excited for this opportunity to work with Kelby,” Rose said. “He is an incredibly determined young man with a deep passion for racing, who is eager to learn and grow, not only behind the wheel as a driver, but by also turning the wrenches.
“Being able to travel the country with the World of Outlaws will help him gain a lot of exposure and seat time at various racing facilities. I am hoping we can be successful, and both continue to learn and grow. I believe he will have a bright future ahead of him.”
Rose is no stranger to helping young talent get seat time in his cars, most notably hiring David Gravel to pilot his No. 6 in 2013 after he got injured. With that opportunity, Gravel scored his second career World of Outlaws victory at I-94 EMR Speedway and then went on to drive full-time for Roth Motorsports the following year.
The Bill Rose Racing team currently sits 12th in the standings for World of Outlaws team points.
For the remaining 2024 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series schedule, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
