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2020 Review: Andrew Kosiski Racing

With the 2020 calendar getting smaller and smaller, and a bright 2021 on the horizon, it’s time to take a look back at the crazy roller coaster of a season that it was for Andrew Kosiski and Team 53.

With the world’s pandemic hitting early in the year it was uncertain in the early months on how much racing Andrew would get in his 16th season behind the wheel. With basically all the races being canceled in March and April the team would use this time to get pre season testing done which proved to be costly. Not one, but two engine failures came about in the practice sessions putting the Team behind the 8-Ball before the first competitive green flag waved.

The month of May seen more cancellations of races, but the light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter as the first Malvern Bank Series race of the year was scheduled at the Stuart Speedway on May 24th. Unfortunately after a few heat races were in the books the sky’s opened up and Mother Nature ruined the party. The following weekend however had Central Missouri Speedway on the schedule, with a great forecast and the car ready to go Kosiski was finally ready to hit the track for the first time during the final weekend in May.

The Thursday before the race Andrew started feeling sick, by Friday he was really sick, and on race day he made the decision not to attend. What was thought to be a bad case of the flu, turned out to be a positive Covid-19 test. Kosiski ended up spending a few days in the hospital on an oxygen machine before being released to be on the oxygen machine at home. It took a few weeks to get over the virus, but he did, however the racing world got under way. Missing four Malvern Bank Series races and two Hoker Trucking LLC Series races, championship contention was out of the question for both series.

A pair of Hoker Trucking races on June 19th and 20th was set as the first races of the year, but once again Mother Nature had other ideas canceling both. A three day swing the following weekend again started with a rain out, but June 27th was finally the day that the 2020 race season got under way. In his first trip to Independence Motor Speedway Andrew finished in the 10th position in the A main event. The following night at the Mason City Motor Speedway Kosiski brought home a top five finish in his first visit at that track, getting the season underway in the right direction.

July would see the start of the NASCAR season at I-80 Speedway, a five race mini season that was Andrew’s only opportunity to pick up a Championship. A runner up finish followed by an 8th place result gave the All Makes Collision Center , Certified Transmission , Kosiski Auto Parts, Super Clean , Select Auto Omaha , Omni Inventive Care , We'll Smoke U BBQ , Mars Race Cars No. 53 a good start to the year. Another top ten finish at the Boone County Raceway gave Kosiski momentum going into two weeks of racing with the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series. Unfortunately the team struggled at both the Show Me 100 and the Silver Dollar Nationals. The only bright spot of the Silver Dollar weekend was a strong run in the Wednesday night Malvern Bank Series race, starting 20th in the 40 lap event, AK raced to a 6th place finish.

The month of August was finally a full month of racing. With 10 races getting in the books Andrew picked up five top five finishes, including four in the final five races of the month.

Heading to the Yankee Dirt Track Classic for the second year in a row, Andrew finished 6th during a rough and wild first night, while pulling off to save his equipment during night two. The following night was the season championship night at I-80 Speedway, with three top fives in the four races thus far, Andrew needed to win and get a little help in the final race to claim the championship. Kosiski did his part racing to a comfortable victory, but Ben Schaller took the championship by six points after finishing third. The following weekend seen another strong performance at I-80 Speedway during the Casey’s Midwest Fall Brawl. Andrew was running down Tad Pospisil in the closing laps of the main event, but just ran out of time to finish 2nd.

Debuting a Rocket XR1 for the I-80 Nationals with the Lucas Oil Series, Andrew once again struggled. Not making the feature any of the three nights, AK ended up 1 for 7 in making features with the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series in 2020.

Wrapping up the season Andrew finished 9th at the Davenport Governor’s Cup race, and the first weekend of October was set to be the final races of both the Malvern Bank and Hoker Trucking seasons. Going into Lakeside Speedway with hopes to continue with strong performances, the No. 53 ended up going for a wild ride down the front straightaway. Going home with a destroyed race car, Andrew visited the University of Nebraska Medical Center Sports Medicine Team for concussion assessment. After being deemed ok to race, Kosiski made his final start of the season for Getzschman Racing at I-80 Speedway’s Cornhusker Classic. Starting in the middle of row one in the three wide start, Andrew dominated the caution plagued race. With the race being shortened to a green-white-checkered finish, Kosiski lost the lead to Cory Dumpert in turns one and two, and after contact was made when Andrew crossed him over down the back straightaway, AK took matters into his own hands spinning the No. 77 along with himself.

From starting the year in the hospital to ending it there, from running really good to struggling, from blowing engines to destroying a car, 2020 was definitely a roller coaster for Andrew and Team 53.

Season ending statistics show in 23 feature starts Andrew had one win, 9 Top 5’s and 16 top 10’s.

Andrew was runner up in the I-80 Speedway NASCAR standings, while finishing 10th in the Hoker Trucking East Series and 13th in the Malvern Bank West Series standings.

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