WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Last week after the ARCA Menards Series race at Iowa Speedway, Clubb Racing Inc.’s hauler was involved in an accident in which the trailer rolled over along Interstate 80 in Illinois.
While the team reported that everyone was OK, most of the equipment of the No. 03 was badly damaged.
One week and thousands of dollars of donations later, the team managed to rebuild that same car inside that trailer and show up with two cars at Watkins Glen International.
With Alex Clubb in the No. 03 and Casey Carden in the No. 86, the team regrouped and was able to show up to the track.
It was a full team effort, working relentlessly to get the No. 03 ready for the trip to New York. The team got help from several other teams, and when it got the track on Friday, Aug. 8, people bought the team food and drinks as their way of helping the team however they could.
“It’s been crazy,” Clubb told Frontstretch after the race. “It feels like Friday was yesterday and it’s Friday today. We worked 20 hours a day, everybody that could come and help.
”Sunday, I didn’t think we’d be coming, but with one car, and we were gonna put Casey in it if that was the case. Amazing that we have the outpouring of support from people with the GoFundMe and people coming to the shop and helping.”
The team was able to raise funds to repair equipment, in part, thanks to fan support. A GoFundMe launched just after the accident has raised nearly $17,000 as of this writing.
“I wanna thank everybody so much,” he said. “If it weren’t for the outpouring with the GoFundMe and money on Venmo and all that, there’s no way we would’ve got here. That $8,000 tow bill basically killed us, so we were dead in the water. People just started pouring in donations, and it made me wanna cry, because without that, we wouldn’t have been here.”
“It’s just nice to see that there are that many people paying attention to what’s going on, and it really shows that there are true fans that follow the entire field,” Carden added. “I think it’s very nice that their voice was heard this week.”
Clubb reported a bad vibration in practice, after which he said at the very least, he could start-and-park, which would be a win by itself just for getting to the track.
However, the race became one of attrition, despite little on-track issues for drivers. By race’s end, Carden found himself 14th, while Clubb came home just two spots behind him in 16th.
“We worked our asses off and did the best we could, and got here and got two finishes out of it,” Clubb said.
”Really good dedication by the Clubb Racing group,” Carden said. “Six days ago, it wasn’t such a good story, but they’re real racers, and I think that’s what this series is about.”
While Clubb stated he plans to continue running both the Nos. 03 and 86 full time through the end of the season, he almost showed up to Watkins Glen with just one car, in which Carden would have been the driver.
Carden was a true team player throughout the process, even telling Clubb he’d let the owner-driver wheel the car if there was only one car available to run.
”He’s been awesome,” Clubb said. “He told me, ‘Hey, man, if you don’t got a second car, you just go and run and I’ll worry about next year.’ But I said, ‘No, we’ve got the deal with you. I suck at road courses, I’m not a road course guy, so we’re gonna put you in the car.’ … Casey’s a great guy, wish we could get him full time.”
“The one thing that a lot of people overlook is that racing is a team sport and that, no matter what, you have to maximize your role within the team,” Carden said. “Alex is sitting sixth in points. He’s dedicated to this. He’s put in the work, he’s put in the effort. He gave me my start in stock car racing about four years with my first ARCA race.
”So when I’m in a spot where we can come run this race, I have to set that aside and make sure he looks out for the best interest of the team. Because I’m very supportive of whatever team that I’m driving for.”
Carden said that Watkins Glen was his final scheduled start of the season.
”We had a good run here,” Carden said. “We showed what this car can do. Hopefully, some people are paying attention and get behind this, because I think the momentum is now swinging in the right direction.”
Clubb agreed that even with the setback, the team won’t quit trying to perform as best as it can.
”We’re gonna keep plugging away, keep showing up, and doing the best we can with what we got,” Clubb said. “Keep trying to find sponsors and get where we can be more competitive.”
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.