Ashton Lewis Jr.

Ashton Lewis has come a long way since the first time his Dad sent him off to Sears Point Raceway (now Infineon Raceway) in California for racing school at the age of 17. After starting his racing career in go-carts, Lewis had the opportunity to race in the Skip Barber Formula Ford Midwestern Series. Success came quick as Lewis scored two victories his first season. In year two of racing the series, Lewis dominated with 14 wins in 16 starts. With that success, Lewis was granted a Team USA racing scholarship to compete in the British Formula Ford Championship where he finished 15th out of 176 drivers.

With a racing career looming and opportunities to compete both in the United States and abroad, Lewis made the decision to place road racing career on hold. Lewis entered Old Dominion University in 1993 with the goal of obtaining an Engineering degree. Lewis knew the degree would eventually help him in his pursuit of a career in motorsports. When he wasn’t busy studying, Lewis would spend time racing NASCAR late model stock cars in the Virginia area. An engineering professor assigned Lewis a project to build a late model stock car from the ground up. With help from his brother and current crew chief, Charlie, Lewis built the car, and quickly began winning late model stock car races with it.

Following graduation, Lewis continued racing the late model stock car and entered various NASCAR Busch Series races with his family owned Lewis Motorsports team. A third place finish at Watkins Glen in just his fourth career start, quickly opened the eyes of the NASCAR community. Lewis continued to race both for Lewis Motorsports and other team owners until deciding to race full-time for Lewis Motorsports in 2001.

Over a four year period (2001-2004) Lewis helped build his team into a top-ten team in the Busch Series , despite being unsponsored for half of those four years. Each season, Lewis improved and other began to notice, team owners began to offer Lewis the opportunity to leave his family team, but Lewis remained loyal right to the very end for the team his family had worked so hard to build. With the decision made to close the doors at the end of the 2004 season, Lewis received a call from Team Rensi Motorsports to pilot the #25 Team Marines Ford for 2005. Lewis jumped at the opportunity and can’t wait to take the Team Marines Ford to Victory Lane and honor the Marines scattered throughout the world defending our nations freedom.

“I am so excited about driving the Team Marines Ford and giving something back to the Marines across the world,” Lewis said. “It’s an honor for me to be chosen to drive for Team Rensi Motorsports. Over the years, they have proven to be one of the top-teams in the Busch Series and I am really looking forward to this season.”