Kevin Sullivan becomes the first member to be inducted into the Hall of Fame after receiving the most league wide votes for 2 years in a row. Kevin was nearly inducted into the Hall in 2015 but lost a close race to Troy Wiggins. The hall of fame committee votes denied Kevin for the first time, but he would easily get in the following year. Kevin officially enters the hall of fame as the eighth member to be inducted. Kevin has found success in all three series but his biggest success has come in the Cup Series.
Kevin won the Cup championship in 2014 and won the team championship in 2011. He also was named the MVT in 2009 and 2011. He earned that with two different teams, the first member to do that in league history.
Kevin joined Lucky Dog Racing in 2006 and started in the Busch series. Kevin started his career off with a bang, winning his first race in his first start. He won the Hershey Kissables 300 at Daytona and joined an exclusive first time winners club in their first start. He would also win a few months later in May at Richmond. Kevin had a great first season in the Busch series after recording 2 wins, 5 top 5's and 9 top 10's. He finished 5th place in the standings and normally would probably have won rookie of the year. However that year there were so many rookies and many strong ones. Bob Douce ended up winning the championship and rookie of the year title.
His good finish in the Busch series allowed Kevin to be promoted to the Cup series at the start of the 2007 season. On February 18, 2007, Kevin made his Cup debut at Daytona. He didn't quite have the results as his first Busch race, he finished in 25th place. It did not take long to get his first win though, just two race later Kevin won the UAW-DaimerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. it would be his only win of the year. He didn't make the Chase but he did finish as the best of the rest over the non-Chase teams. Kevin would also finish 6th in the newly branded Nationwide series as well. He also made his debut representing Lucky Dog Racing in the LROC Series. He finished in 7th place and won his first race that season as well.
The following year, Kevin would make his debut in the Truck series for its 2nd season. He had his worse first start by finishing in 34th place. However, like the other series, he didn't have to wait too long to get his first win. He won the 5th race of the season, the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas. He would win his first and only rookie title in that series as well. Kevin finished the season in 8th place, the only rookie to make the top 10. He would recorded 2 wins, 3 top 5's and 4 top 10's. Kevin had a sophomore slump in the Cup series after finishing in 27th place, He did pick up his 2nd victory by winning the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. That season was also the first of the multi-car teams, he joined North Coast Racing along with Mark Mason, Jordan Hunt and Bob Douce. He finished 11th place in the Nationwide series.
2009 was a great year for Kevin in the Cup series, he made his first Chase and finished in 4th place. He also won the MVT award with North Coast Racing and led many of the league points averages as well. He also had a good year in the Nationwide series by finishing in 7th place. The Truck series provided another sophomore slump after he finished 22nd there.
In 2010, North Coast Racing had disbanded and Kevin joined Bob Douce, Jordan Hunt and Gary Wheat at the newly formed Northeast Ohio Motorsports. It was a pretty good season since he made the Chase for the 2nd time and finished 9th place in the standings. He also finished 5th in the Nationwide series and 3rd in the Truck series, making it the first time that he's finished in the top 10 in all three series. Despite a great year, he wasn't able to win a race in any of the series.
Despite a good first season with Northeast Ohio Motorsports, Kevin would branch out the following season and create his own Cup team, called Coast To Coast Racing. Kevin enlisted Ed Blackman, Harry Jeffery and Greg Miller to join his team. It was a great year for them as well since they ended up winning the team championship and Kevin won the owner's award. He also won the MVT award for the 2nd time and first time with his own team. Kevin would make the Chase for the 3rd consecutive year and also win 2 race in the Cup series, the first time that he was able to do that. Those were also back to back wins at Bristol and Auto Club Speedway. He also won race both in the Xfinity and Truck series so it was the first time that he was able to win races in all three series.
The 2012 and 2013 season were a bit of a slump for Kevin. He finished 15th and 16th in the Cup series and won just one race in those two years. He finished 29th and 11th in the Nationwide series and went winless. He had one good year in the Truck series after finishing 3rd in 2012, however the following year he finished 21st.
After a couple of disappointing seasons, Kevin would make up for it in 2014. In the Xfinity series, he would win 2 races in a season for the first time and finish in 4th place. He would also win 2 races in the Truck series for the first time and finish in 8th place. He didn't get to win any race in the Cup series, but was able to pull off something more impressive. Kevin was just barely able to make the Chase, ending a 2 year non-Chase streak. Once in, he recorded some great finishes which put him just 9 points behind the leader heading into Homestead. Kevin was able to pull ahead of Joe Tenpenny and finished just 2 points ahead of him. The two points were just enough to let Kevin win the Cup Series Championship for the first time and his first ever championship in the league.
Kevin suffered a championship let-down slump the following year when he finished in 39th place, his worst ever finish. He did have a good finish in the newly named Xfinity series by finishing in 5th place and then 7th in the Truck series.
Kevin has raced a full decade in Lucky Dog Racing and has had some great success. One wonders if his best success is still ahead of him though. He has remained pretty consistent without too long of a slump in any series. Now Kevin will continue to race in the league, now as a hall of famer. Congratulations to Kevin!
Kevin was inducted into the Hall of Fame after receiving a total of 13 points. 10 points came from the league-wide vote where he received 20 votes. 3 points came from the committee members.
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Career Highlights
2006-2015 Seasons
Cup Series
Won Championship in 14
Won team championship in 11
Won team owner award in 11
Won MVT Award in 09 & 11
Won Chaser Eraser in 11
Won Best of the Rest in 07
Finished in the top 10 four times
324 starts
5 victories
41 top 5's
86 top 10's
Made the Chase four times
Xfinity Series
Finished in the top 10 seven times
341 starts
6 victories
48 top 5's
91 top 10's
Truck Series
Won Rookie of the year in 08
Finished 3rd place in 10
Finished 2nd place in 12
Finished in the top 10 five times
166 starts
6 victories
17 top 5's
38 top 10's
LROC Series
Qualified for the series under LDR 3 times
3 victories
42 starts
12 top 5's
26 top 10's
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