Kelly Battles Late Mechanical Issue For Ninth At Mobile

Colton Kelly in action at Mobile Int'l Speedway. (Daniel Vining photo)

MOBILE, Ala. – Getting back to work Saturday at Mobile Int’l Speedway, Colton Kelly secured his third top 10 finish in as many Pro Truck starts at the half-mile paved oval.

Kelly qualified seventh with a lap time of 20.043 seconds, but slipped back to eighth on the initial start and spent the first third of the race fighting to regain his momentum.

He did just that by the midpoint and climbed up as high as fourth place, before another restart with nine laps left saw the Villa Rica, Ga., teenager miss a shift and drop to 11th as a result.

The missed shift hurt the transmission aboard the No. 18K Pave America Pro Truck, meaning that Kelly had to nurse his vehicle home over the closing laps.

He was still able to pick up two more positions, however, en route to ninth place in the final results.

While the finish wasn’t what Kelly hoped for on paper, he recognized the value of racing his way forward through traffic and that his team had plenty of speed before the unfortunate restart issue.

“I’m a little bummed out at ninth, because I know I would have been up there [with the leaders] if I hadn’t missed that shift, but we were still able to salvage the best we could and I’m proud of that,” the 14-year-old Kelly explained. “To a lot of people watching, it looked like I was just in the back … and on that late restart, I was all of a sudden right there in fourth after picking guys off one by one. It was impressive effort by everyone.

“I had great speed in the truck, probably a second- or third-place truck. I was faster than Jason Welch, who got third, for a while,” Kelly continued. “We’ll take it as a learning moment for me, though, and I know I’ll come back better the next time I’m in a similar situation.”

Kelly would like to thank Pave America, Southern Protection Agency, Southern Drywall, Grant and John Thompson, Race Face Brand Development, and the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation for their partnership and support of his racing efforts.

The next planned race for Kelly Is Saturday night, June 28 at Mobile in a reschedule of one of the track’s rained-out dates from earlier in the season.

About Colton Kelly

Colton Kelly is a 14-year-old racer from Villa Rica, Ga., who has been fulfilling his need for speed on the racetrack since 2017, when he began quarter midget racing at the age of five.

Kelly’s resume in motorsports features more than 100 quarter midget victories, as well as 10 track championships in his home state of Georgia.

A four-time runner-up in the Southeast-based Dixie Shootout Series point standings, Kelly also has two national quarter midget victories with the NASCAR Youth Series and was the 2023 NASCAR Youth Series Senior Honda division champion.

For 2025, Kelly will graduate out of quarter midgets and turn his focus to Pro Truck racing, where he’ll drive the No. 18K with sponsorship from Pave America, Southern Protection Agency, and Southern Drywall, under the mentorship of Grant and John Thompson.

When not behind the wheel or at a racetrack, Kelly enjoys fishing, skeet shooting, and playing soccer. He is recognized as a top youth skeet shooter in the state of Georgia, all while maintaining honor-roll and Dean’s List status in school. On the charitable front, Kelly is a supporter of the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation’s efforts to better the quality of life for children battling pediatric cancer and their families.

Follow Kelly’s career at his new website, https://www.coltonkellyracing.com/, or on Facebook by searching CLK Motorsports.