Justin Ashburn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Justin Ashburn, (born December 23, 1981, in Joelton, TN) is a part-time Busch Series driver for Day Racing Enterprises. Before joining that series, Ashburn also raced in the ARCA RE/MAX Series for a number of years for Day.
In 1997, Ashburn won the Rookie of the Year award at Highland Rim Speedway and finished fifth in points in the pro-modified series. Two years later, he won the Most Improved Driver after winning ten races and finishing fourth in points. He then moved on to race at Nashville Fairgrounds in the Winston Racing Series, posting four top-tens in 2001.
[edit] Busch Series career
Ashburn made his Busch Series debut in 2003, running a second Day Enterprises car. Driving the #61 Waterloo Tool Storage/31-W Insulation Chevy, Ashburn started 42nd and finished there at Darlington Raceway. Ashburn had eleven DNFs in thirteen starts for Day. He also did not qualify for a great deal of races. His best finish was a 20th place finish at Nashville Superspeedway in June 2003. Ashburn also made a one-off start for Bost Motorsports, finishing 41st at Michigan Speedway after his Day Racing car failed to qualify.
Ashburn moved to Day's primary car, the #16 for 2004. However, the team struggled to qualify for races early and had to scale back to a limited schedule. As a result, Ashburn only qualified for eight races in 2004, failing to finish six of them. His best finish was a 29th at Talladega Superspeedway. He also led his first career lap under caution in the July race at Daytona International Speedway.
Ashburn only made one start in 2006 at Talladega. Avoiding a wreck early, Ashburn hung onto the back of the draft and earned his career best finish of 14th, his first career lead lap finish.
Ashburn has made one start in 2006 to this point. He finished 42nd in the Day Racing Chevy at Talladega after his engine expired. Ashburn will likely be back at Daytona. However, if the team skips that race, it is unlikely that Ashburn will race again in 2006, as Chad Chaffin is driving the car for the majority of the season.
