Blake Koch
Koch atRoad America in 2017
Born	(1985-08-07)August 7, 1985 (age 40) West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
NASCARCup Series career
6 races run over 2 years
2014 position	67th
Best finish	67th (2014)
First race	2013Bank of America 500 (Charlotte)
Last race	2014Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
213 races run over 8 years
2017 position	11th
Best finish	7th (2016)
First race	2009Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 (Memphis)
Last race	2017Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 10 1
NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career
10 races run over 3 years
2014 position	109th
Best finish	100th (2012)
First race	2012American Ethanol 225 (Joilet)
Last race	2014WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics up to date as of November 18, 2017.

Blake Koch (born August 7, 1985) is an American semi-retired professionalstock car racing driver and businessman. He last competed in theNASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 11Chevrolet Camaro forKaulig Racing. He is also the founder of FilterTime, a residentialair filter company that delivers the filters to consumer's homes on a regular basis.^[1]

Koch began his racing career at the age of 22 after he graduated from college with an associate degree in Marketing and Business Degree atNorthwood University. Prior to racing on four wheels, Koch raced on two wheels and was considered one of the top twenty motocross riders in the state of Florida. Koch raced eight years until the end of 2008 when he made the transition to NASCAR. In 2009, he started racing in theNASCAR Camping World West Series. He finished eighth in the final point standings and finished runner up in the Rookie of the Year standings.^[2] In 2011, he made his first Nationwide Series race at Phoenix and finished seventeenth and on the lead lap. He earned four top-twenty finishes in 2011 and finished eighteenth in the final point standings.^[3]

Koch planned to compete forRick Ware Racing in the 2012 Nationwide Series driving the No. 41.^[4] Partway through the season Koch was switched to the No. 15 whenTimmy Hill returned to Nationwide competition, and soon afterwards was forced to switch to a limited schedule due to a lack of sponsorship.^[5] Koch lost the sponsor after the accompanyingESPN ad campaign was denied for "political and religious overtones".^[6]

For 2013, Koch could not find a full-time ride, and was forced tostart-and-park for SR² Motorsports, for which he had driven a limited start-and-park schedule late in 2012. Koch ran most of the season in the team's No. 24 and No. 00 Toyotas. The team ran full races on occasion.^[7] In October, he made his debut in theSprint Cup Series, driving forLeavine Family Racing atCharlotte Motor Speedway.^[8]

Later in 2013, Koch finally caught a break, landing a ride withRAB Racing in the Nationwide Series finale atHomestead-Miami Speedway, where he started on the outside pole.

However, again unable to find a full-time ride, Koch moved toTriStar Motorsports for the2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, for the most part running the team's start-and-park entries which help fund TriStar's full-time teams.^[9] He also signed withFront Row Motorsports to drive the No. 35 Ford in the Sprint Cup Series for a limited schedule of races.^[10] He also ran a handful of races forGo FAS Racing as well.^[11]

In 2015, Koch was finally given a full-time ride by TriStar Motorsports for the fullXfinity Series (formerly Nationwide Series) in the No. 8 Toyota with LeafFilter Gutter Protection as a primary sponsor.^[12] Koch was leading with 6 laps to go in Road America when the battery died, resulting in a twentieth place finish. After the race Koch described the race as the closest he had come to winning in his entire career.

In 2016, LeafFilter owner Matt Kaulig left TriStar to start his own team,Kaulig Racing, with an alliance withRichard Childress Racing. Koch came over as well, running the full season in the No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet.^[13] Koch finished ninth at the season opener at Daytona, his first top-ten of his career. Koch went on to have the best season of his career, scoring five top-tens and qualifying for the inaugural Xfinity Series playoffs. Koch would finish seventh in points, by far his best career NASCAR performance.

In 2017, Koch returned to Kaulig Racing for another full-time Xfinity season with LeafFilter.

On January 9, 2018, it was announced thatRyan Truex would take over Koch's No. 11 ride.^[14] Koch knew in the later stages of December that LeafFilter would not return in a large role and that he needed to find sponsorship to stay with the team. Kaulig has stated that he would like to retain Koch in a second car dependent on sponsorship.^[15] Koch has stated that he has been contacted by teams in all three of NASCAR's national series and that he would be content with a full or part-time ride in any of those series.^[16] He instead served as a driver coach forMatt Tifft and as an analyst for the "Blake's Take" segment ofNASCAR Race Hub.^[17]

After not driving at all in 2018, on December 4, Koch announced he would be joiningJD Motorsports in their No. 4 entry in the Xfinity Series in 2019, left vacant byRoss Chastain. Koch's company FilterTime was announced as a sponsor of the team.^[18] On January 31, 2019, Koch stepped down from the ride to focus on his FilterTime business after it was announced that Chastain was returning to the team.^[19] Koch continued his driver coaching in 2019, working withHarrison Burton.^[17]

Born inWest Palm Beach, Florida, Koch currently resides inHuntersville, North Carolina with his wife Shannon and their son, Carter and daughter, Bailey.^[5]

Koch is aChristian. Koch has spoken about his faith saying, "[God has] given me this platform that people listen to me and I feel like I have a great opportunity to tell people aboutJesus through that."^[20]

Koch appeared in a commercial for the voting awareness organization Rise Up and Register; however, it was rejected by ESPN due to "religious and political overtones";^[21] despite there being no religious messages in the commercial.^[22] ESPN later issued a statement saying, "Koch’s personal religious beliefs played no role in our evaluation."^[23]

Koch is the founder and owner of FilterTime, a residentialair filter delivery service. The business was founded in 2017 after losing his ride with Kaulig Racing, formed for the purpose of funding his racing career.Dale Earnhardt Jr. became a partner in the company in April 2019.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBlake Koch.

• Official website
• Blake Koch driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• Living people
• 1985 births
• Sportspeople from West Palm Beach, Florida
• Racing drivers from Palm Beach County, Florida
• NASCAR drivers
• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• Northwood University alumni
• Sportspeople from Huntersville, North Carolina
• Racing drivers from North Carolina
• Coca-Cola 600 drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata