Chad Boat Set For 2014 Nationwide Run

Billy Boat Motorsports announced today that they will field the No. 84 Chevrolet driven by Chad Boat in the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series. The newly formed program, which operates out of a state-of-the-art facility in Mooresville, North Carolina, will run a minimum of 15 races this season. 

"I'm excited for the opportunity to compete at the next level in my career," stated Boat. "We have a great team at Billy Boat Motorsports and I'm thankful for their hard work putting this program together.  I can't wait to get behind the wheel of the No. 84 Chevrolet this season." 

Boat began his motorsports career at the age of five running quarter midgets in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.  At just 15-years old, he was well on his way to a promising racing career after earning multiple championships across different series and winning races at the national level of the USAC open-wheel ranks before making the transition to stock car racing in 2011. Over the last three years, Boat has accumulated 26 starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and 10 starts in the ARCA Racing Series, where he scored four top-five and six top-10 finishes.  The now 21-year old will contend for Rookie of the Year honors this coming season in the NNS. 

The Billy Boat Motorsports organization will be led by veteran NASCAR crew chief Dan Deeringhoff who has 168 starts, four wins, and the 2008 Nationwide championship under his belt as a NNS crew chief.  

"I have been around racing my entire life and it is an honor to have the opportunity to form a NASCAR program like this," said team owner Billy Boat.  "Chad has shown so much promise in stock car racing, especially with our limited ARCA program last year, we felt it was an appropriate time to take this next step.  We are lucky to add Dan Deeringhoff  to our team and we are confident his knowledge and experience will lead us in the right direction as we get ready for this season." 

Boat is scheduled to make his NNS debut on Friday, April 4th at Texas Motorsports Speedway and will continue throughout the remainder of the season in a minimum of 15 races.  In an effort to get the rookie more track time, the team will head to Daytona International Speedway this week to take part in Preseason Thunder, NASCAR's annual test session at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. 

"We are using the Daytona test in January as a starting point and if things go well we're open to adding the season-opening race to our schedule," added Billy Boat.  "We have closed on a few sponsorship programs that we will be announcing in the near future so there is plenty of excitement going on." 

In addition to attending Preseason Thunder in Daytona, Boat will be competing in the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week.  Boat, who has competed in this event seven times, will be chasing the coveted trophy after winning the Friday night preliminary event at last year's Chili Bowl.