From Langley to racing's top stage
York High grads are working for Cup Series’ most famous teams
Pair of York High School graduates are living their dreams, working for NASCAR teams in Charlotte.
Lindsay Bowman and Ryleigh Lemonds fell in love with stock car racing during Saturday nights at Langley Speedway and nurtured dreams of working on the NASCAR Cup level.
Their dreams are coming true this summer.
The York High graduates landed similar jobs in Charlotte with two of NASCAR’s most famous teams. Bowman was hired by Stewart-Haas Racing in marketing and social media after winning a fan contest. Lemonds is doing a summer internship in social media for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“It’s cool that we’re both here following the same dream and we can kind of stand beside each other as we fulfill it,” said Bowman, a 2003 graduate of York High.
Lemonds, who graduated from York in June, see’s Bowman as a role model.
“We met for coffee recently and
Lindsay is someone I’ll forever look up to,” Lemonds said. “We have the same interests and goals, and it’s nice to have someone from home doing almost the same thing I’m doing.”
Lemonds was a toddler in 2005 when her grandmother, Sandy Lemonds, hired to Bowman become Miss Langley Speedway. Sandy Lemonds, was then the track operator — having inherited the position when her husband, Dale Lemonds, died in a Legends Division wreck at Langley in
August 2004.
Bowman hosted race winners and sponsors in Victory Lane, and even worked in the front office. She sang the national anthem most weekends and, soon after graduating from Averett University in 2008 with a sports management degree, moved to Nashville to become a country music singer.
Bowman made a living as a country artist for a decade and her 2020 single, “You Don’t Get To Know,” has more than 40,000 streams on Spotify. But her primary income came from singing live and that dried up with the onset of COVID-19.
“Not being able to play live was a challenge, and that’s what started my thoughts of what’s next,” said Bowman, who earned a master’s degree in business four years ago. “I went to Nashville to follow my dream, traveled the country and played professionally for 10 years, but last year I was wondering, ‘Do I continue to try to push for country music in Nashville or do I do something different?’ ”
A Twitter contest sponsored by Busch Beer during the Daytona 500 in February supplied the answer. Fans were invited to answer questions to become one of 10 finalists who would be interviewed for a marketing/social media job with Stewart-Haas, the team of former Cup champion Kevin Harvick.
Asked what her nickname would be if she were on Harvick’s team, she answered “Miss Busch Beer,” because she had been Miss Langley Speedway. Her answer to how she would help Harvick celebrate in Victory Lane if he won the 500 was to say she’d “hand him a cold Busch Light.”
Those answers landed her the interview. Impressed by her racing knowledge and academic background, Bowman was hired and began at Stewart-Haas in early May.
Lemonds’ earliest racing experiences came behind the steering wheel. She started racing at 8 and won four races while earning the Bandolero Division championship at Langley Speedway in her rookie season.
After winning her first victory in 2012 at Langley Speedway, she celebrated in the spot named to honor her late grandfather.
“Just to be standing in Dale Lemonds Victory Lane for the first time as a winner will forever be close in my heart,” Lemonds recalled. “That was very sentimental for me and I cried happy tears,”
Lemonds replaced racing with cheerleading when she entered her teens and York High. Football Fridays were her favorites.
“I loved York High from the moment I walked into the building, because there was so much spirit, and going to football games and sideline cheering for the school is one of my best memories,” she said. “That win over Lafayette (which broke the Rams’ 60-game Bay Rivers District win streak) was literally the highlight of my high school career.
“The feeling at Bailey Field was unreal.”
But Lemonds missed being at the race track and, following her junior year, asked Langley promoter Vaughan Crittenden if she could help out. Crittenden assigned her to make videos to post on social media on race nights and
Lemonds discovered her calling.
“I would document race days across different platforms with behind-the-scenes things most race fans don’t really see,” Lemonds said of her summer her summer at Langley that inspired her to apply for the internship at Joe Gibbs Racing.
At JGR she continues to give fans a behind-the-scenes look, primarily via TikTok in the shops. Recent TikTok videos featured shop workers welding chassis and cutting metal with a water-pressure machine.
“I didn’t even know that could be done,” Lemonds said of the latter procedure. “Working here is everything I’ve dreamed of and I feel like this is where I’m meant to be.
“It’s my new home, and I love it. After the internship I’m going to community college to get a degree in motorsports management and then I hope to become completely involved with racing.”
Bowman is also active on TikTok at Stewart-Haas. She recently posted an inverted filter video flipping Cup driver Cole Custer’s car from left to right to feature the flowers on his Mother’s Day paint scheme.
Her other duties include posting press releases, postrace reports and information about upcoming races for Stewart-Haas drivers Harvick, Custer, Chase Briscoe and Aric Almirola.
“I love this and hope that they’ll keep me on after this season,” Bowman said. “I grew up most of my teen years at Langley Speedway and it’s nice to be back around the cars and the sport.”