For Alabama’s Xtreme Concepts Racing Team, heavy are the trophies when they start running out of hands to hold them.
That was the enviable problem for team owner Landon Ash when he went back to victory lane for the second week in a row in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series.
Ash’s iK9 car driven by Kyle Busch had pulled into victory lane at the same race where Ash’s company was the title sponsor.
This presented a dilemma for Ash.
He had duties as both the owner of the company whose name was on the car — and on the race.
“We got to walk up there and present the trophy to Kyle Busch,” said Ash. “And it was great to be there with Kyle while he got his 198th win.”
That is when Ash realized the trophy was too heavy for him to hold in one hand while he held an iK9 dog in the other.
“They came up to me and handed me this big trophy,” explained Ash. “I’ve got the trophy in one hand, the dog in the other. So I said, ‘Ford, you have to help me, man. I can’t work the dog and hold this huge, heavy trophy with just one hand.”
So Xtreme Concepts team member Ford Brown got called on to present the trophy to Busch.
The opportunity to serve as title sponsor came up once the original sponsor backed out.
Ash jumped at the chance to have his iK9 brand sponsor the race.
“We worked something out to raise awareness for service dogs and name it the iK9 Service Dog 200,” he said. “We have a good relationship with the group that owns all those tracks, including Talladega where we are doing a partnership for the race coming up with veterans and first-responders.”
To take home the checkered flag in a race sharing the same name was a rare occurrence.
“It was great to have our car win a race and also be the main sponsor of the race,” said Ash. “We talked to a few people at Joe Gibbs Racing, and they didn’t remember the last time that ever happened.”
With Busch getting his 199th win the next day in the Cup race, Ash hopes his team can be part of history.
“We might be his 200th win in California,” he added.
Tim Howe is an owner and editor of Yellowhammer News
