Danny O'Quinn, Jr. (born May 7, 1985), is a professional stock car racer from Coeburn, Virginia. He qualified 8th in his Busch Series debut for the Hershey Kissables 300 at Daytona International Speedway.
Background[]
He began racing go-karts at the age of 12 and won four championships. He won over 130 races, and one Tennessee state championship between 1992 and 1998.
In 1999 he became the street stock rookie of the year at Lonesome Pine Raceway. He moved up to a late model car in 2000 and won the track championship and the Rookie of the Year award. In 2001, he raced both at Lonesome Pine and the ARA series. He had three wins and four poles. He also attended the University of Virginia's College at Wise in 2003-2005 but put his collegiate pursuits on hold as his professional racing career took off.
In 2002, he won the UARA late model touring series national championship.
Move to national driver[]
Quinn moved up to the USAR Hooters Pro Cup (Southern Series) in 2003, and became the Southern Series Rookie of the Year. In 2004, he won the Food City 250 at his home race track of Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, Virginia.[1] He became the youngest driver to win in series history and finished seventh overall in points. In 2005, he had six starts in the ARCA series and three sixth place finishes.[2]
NASCAR career[]
In the fall of 2005, O'Quinn was a contestant on Roush Racing: Driver X. He was ultimately runner-up in the competition, but skipped the Craftsman Truck Series and proceeded directly to the Busch Series with Driver X winner Erik Darnell being inked to the Roush truck contract.
In 2006, he is racing the World Financial Group #50 Ford in the Busch Series. He got his first Top-10 finish at Nashville Superspeedway after starting second, and has followed it up with Top-10's at The Milwaukee Mile, O'Reilly Raceway Park, Memphis Motorsports Park and Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he scored a career best finish of 5th.
O'Quinn was named Busch Series Rookie of the Year after the 2006 Season Finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway beating NASCAR Veteran Driver John Andretti and a class of talented rookies. Roush Racing has committed to 3 teams for 2007 and O'Quinn's at this point is not one of them. He will make starts in #17 Dish Network Ford and he'll also run part time with MacHill Motorsports in the #56 Chevy.
Danny in his two starts with MacHill Motorsports this year has finished in the top 20. He will be in the #17 Dish Network Ford for Roush/Fenway Racing at Talladega Superspeedway.
Trivia[]
- At 6'5 O'Quinn is one of the tallest NASCAR drivers.