Keller proving Nationwide independents can run strong

KELLER NASCAR's Nationwide Series has been dominated by Sprint Cup teams and drivers for years,man y racing in the No. 2 series because the cars were similar and teams could gain knowledge on Saturday that would help them in Sunday's main events.

But this year,the Sprint Cup Series is running the Car of Tomorrow exclusively, so there's not as much information to be gained from racing in Nationwide,w hich uses a very different car. Even so, the double-dipping Cup drivers and teams are dominating the No. 2 circuit.

But the Nationwide independents still get an occasional share of the spotlight. Jason Keller and his CJM Racing team finished third at Gateway International Raceway Saturday night.

The initial assumption is that a recently announced alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing was the reason for the strong run,b ut Keller said in his post-race comments that the upcoming partnership wasn't a factor.

"It's more of an '09 program," Keller said. "We are going to switch to Toyotas next year. I say we ... CJM is going to switch. I hope I'm part of that. I don't know yet."

Keller said the upcoming relationship with Gibbs will help his team,which was started last year as a parttime effort,r unning 15 races. CJM is owned by Bryan and Terry Mullett and has only a handful of employees.

"It's great for a small race team like ours to be aligned with such a dominant race team like Joe Gibbs," Keller said. "It's great to discuss that,b ut what's gotten us to this point is guys busting their tails all winter long building race cars. I don't want to lose sight of that fact."

Keller's run at Gateway was his best of the season, but he consistently has been strong in recent weeks,ha ving finished in the top 11 in three of the past six races. He's 10th in the points standings.

One of the key players on the CJM team,which is made up of several former employees of the idled ppc Racing team,is car chief Steve Helwig,w ho recently was diagnosed with leukemia and missed the Gateway race.

"He's been with this race team since it started," Keller said. "It's a lot of his hard work as well."