- Name
- Kevin King
- Birth Date
- May 31, 1980
- Hometown
- Brawley, Ca.
Kevin King is no stranger to iRacing and has a friendship with team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. that dates back to the early days of sim racing, NASCAR-style.
The 42-year-old King, now the driver of JRM’s No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, used to compete against the team owner online in the NASCAR Racing 2003 days, and their friendship grew from hanging out in the online lobbies and racing each other. The relationship continued from that innocuous start, and the two used to trade paint schemes back and forth.
As an outgrowth of that relationship, King was able to translate that into creating paint schemes that were actually used on real-world tracks on JR Motorsports cars. When Earnhardt Jr. left DEI for Hendrick Motorsports, King helped design the iconic No. 88 that the third-generation star would carry for the remainder of his career.
“He’s been a really good friend, and it’s interesting that it all started on a video game,” King said of Earnhardt Jr. “I’ve never raced in real life, but that’s where it all started. We’ve known each other for nearly 20 years, and I get to drive the number I helped design when he went to HMS. It was very cool.”
King was one of the regular drivers when the eNASCAR series began on iRacing, and battled with now-teammate Michael Conti in the early years. Conti, the 2014 series champion, learned from his older teammate in several ways.
“Kevin and I raced in the Coke Series in 2012-14,” Conti said. “I’ve known him since I got on the service. He was the guy from NASCAR 2003, he was Dale’s buddy and he was the rules enforcer.”
King races by a set of rules enforced in real-life racing, Conti said. “He had two rules that became the norm in sim racing. The first rule was, if you block, you pay. That meant you were going to get sent. The second was, if you pinch, you pay, and he would act on that as well. You raced him a little bit differently because you had those two rules in the back of your mind.”
King won his first eNASCAR event in 2011, taking the top spot at the virtual Phoenix Raceway in just his third start. The following year, in the series that is now the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, King won twice more and authored a streak of 13 races with a top-10 finish or better. He ended the season third in series points behind Ray Alfalla and Conti.
In 2013, King raced to a 10th-place points finish and in 2014, he won again, this time at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway. After a brief break from competition, he came back in 2015 to finish 15th in the standings. His team took the overall team championship that season. The last full-time season King spent in the eNCCiRS was 2016, stepping away at the end of it to concentrate on other things.
After a six-year hiatus, King returned to sim racing in 2022 with an eight-victory, eight-pole season in Real Sim Racing competition, losing the title in the final race despite finishing second. That series mimicked the entire NASCAR Cup Series schedule. He also raced in the FTF (For The Fans) league, winning four times on the way to the championship. He won the season finale to clinch the title.