Joey Gase's touching story gains steam after Talladega surprise

NASCAR's feel-good story coming out of its Talladega Superspeedway race weekend was back home Monday in Cedar Rapids.

Yet, 22-year-old Joey Gase still felt like he was in a brand-new place.

Gase has been a popular guy since his unlikely fifth-place finish in Saturday's Xfinity Series race at NASCAR's biggest track — so much so that his cellphone died in the middle of a media interview Monday.

"I'm still just trying to figure out how it happened," he said of overcoming a 39th-place start (out of 40 cars) and an early-race wreck.

The race day began with Fox Sports airing a tear-jerking, 3 1/ 2 -minute segment on Gase and his late mother, Mary. Then Gase went out and gave team owner Jimmy Means his first top-10 finish since 1987.

"We got a lot of publicity for that, and the fifth-place finish helps that much more," Gase said.

Gase was 18 when his mom died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in April 2011. His parents were divorced, so he was the de facto guardian to sign off on donating her tissue and organs. The Fox video story said donations from Mary's body touched the lives of 66 people.

"Every time I can get in the driver's seat," Gase said, "it helps me get my name out there."

Gase has since worked hard to get sponsorship from Donate Life chapters around the country. It's not a lot of money, and Gase's No. 52 Chevrolet requires other funding to stay afloat. As Gase put it, "what our Xfinity team gets right now gets for the entire year is about what a top team spends in one race."

That dichotomy of rich vs. poor is an undertold but a significant story in NASCAR. The contrast was hard to miss Saturday, as Gase took a seat in the Talladega media center next to second- and third-place drivers of privileged backgrounds — Brian Scott, whose billionaire family owns the Albertstons grocery chain; and Austin Dillon, whose grandfather Richard Childress is a wealthy team owner.

READ MORE:Memorial sponsorship on Gase's car for Iowa woman

How tough is it for an underfunded team? To start, Gase is his own PR guy and sells the sponsorships. He cobbles enough dollars together to help pay 5-6 regular employees (one is in the National Guard, so his availability varies). The team can't afford a pit crew, so it relies on volunteers.

The mechanical disadvantages are evident by looking at their four Goodyear tires. Gase's car almost always uses "scuffs" (used tires), compared to bigger teams that can freely get fresh rubber. His team only bought one set (the minimum required by NASCAR) of sticker tires at Talladega, priced at more than $2,000, for qualifying and the race.

The Goodyears on his car during his late charge at the end of the Talladega race were used practice tires from Dale Earnhardt Jr., a longtime friend of Means.

Gase sometimes gets frustrated that people see him running several laps down on TV and assume he doesn't have the driving talent to keep pace with cars that have millions of dollars in funding.

"If someone doesn't understand but walks through the garage area or the pits (and sees the comparison)," Gase said, "they understand it pretty quick."

Gase's talent was evident at 16, when he became the youngest driver to win a Late Models season championship at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids.

As he spoke Monday, the Cedar Rapids Xavier alum didn't have any new sponsors to report but was fielding more interested calls. (By the way, he'll get back to anyone that wishes to sponsor his sixth career Sprint Cup Series start this weekend at Kansas Speedway in Go FAS Racing's No. 32 Ford.)

But the Joey Gase story is gaining awareness. And his mom is literally along for the ride — her face will adorn the hood of his Chevy May 16-17 when the Xfinity Series stops at Iowa Speedway.