Motorsports career
ARCA
Kimmel's first ARCA start was in 1990. His first full season was 1992, driving the #02 Indiana Steel Co. Pontiac for Wallace Racing. Kimmel was consistent and was able to claim Rookie of the Year honors. Kimmel joined Shirley Racing in 1993, still driving in the No. 02. Kimmel won his first race at Toledo Speedway in 1994 en route to finishing second in the points that year.
Kimmel would join Steve Rauch Racing in 1996 on a part-time schedule and transitioned from the No. 02 to the No. 46. Despite being part-time that year, Kimmel won three races and finished eighth in the points. He would return to full-time in 1997 in the No. 46, winning one race en route to finishing second in the points.
In 1998, Kimmel joined Clement Racing, driving the No. 46 Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet. Kimmel found immediate success, winning nine races en route to his first ARCA championship. After finishing second in the points in 1999, Kimmel won eight championships in a row (2000–2007). During this streak, Kimmel broke Iggy Katona's record for the most championships in ARCA Series history. He became the first ever ARCA Racing Series driver to be assigned a seat in the IROC (International Race of Champions) Series in 2006.
In 2006, the crew chief on Kimmel's team was his brother, Bill Kimmel Jr. [4]
In 2008, Kimmel left Clement Racing after ten seasons, where he won 63 races and nine championships. Kimmel would form his own team with his brother Bill, known as Kimmel Racing in the No. 44. The team initially ran a Dodge with the support of Cunningham Motorsport and sponsorship from Riverside Auto at Daytona before joining forces with Ford Racing for the remainder of 2008.
On August 2, 2008, Kimmel was injured in a three car crash on lap 68 at Pocono Raceway, suffering a concussion. [5] He was taken to the hospital for observation overnight. [7] Though lacking a title sponsor for the entire year of 2008, Kimmel and his team won three races and were able to pull out a second-place finish in points by a margin of 50. The loss of the championship was not the surprising part of that year but rather the surprise was how close Kimmel was to winning a tenth title. As a result of his performance, Ansell and Menards joined forces with him the following season, a partnership that continued until the end of his racing career.
Following the 2011 ARCA Racing Series season, Kimmel left the Kimmel Racing team, and drove for ThorSport Racing in the ARCA Racing Series starting in 2012. [8]
On June 30, 2013, under crew chief Jeriod Prince, Kimmel tied Iggy Katona's record for most wins in the ARCA Racing Series, winning his 79th career victory at Winchester Speedway. [9] On October 4, 2013, he clinched his tenth ARCA Racing Series championship at Kansas Speedway. [10] Kimmel went on to win the race, surpassing Katona to become the all-time win leader in ARCA Racing Series history.
For the 2014 season, Kimmel moved to Win-Tron Racing, retaining his No. 44. [11] His final start came in 2016.
Kimmel holds ARCA records in a number of categories, including starts, wins, and poles.
On December 20, 2019, KBR Development hired Kimmel as team general manager. [12]
NASCAR
Kimmel made seven starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, [13] five of those coming with Travis Carter Motorsports in 2002. [14] He found little success in the series. His best finish to date was a 26th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He had one Busch Series start. [13] Through 2010 he had two top-ten finishes from twelve Craftsman Truck Series starts. [13] and ran the 2011 and 2013 Camping World Truck Series season finales at Homestead-Miami Speedway for ThorSport Racing. [8]
IROC
Kimmel was invited to participate in the 2006 edition of the International Race of Champions, IROC XXX. Kimmel was the first ever ARCA Racing Series driver to be assigned a seat in IROC.
That season, he placed seventh in points [15] with a best finish of third in the first race [16] of the four-race IROC season. [15]