Team principals John and Margaret Kelly established Kelly Racing in 2009 after ending a troubled relationship with Tom Walkinshaw's HSV Dealer Team. They brought their two Racing Entitlement Contracts and formed a new operation partly built on the infrastructure and hardware of Larry Perkins' Perkins Engineering team, which scaled back at the end of 2008. Rick and Todd Kelly served as the lead drivers, supported by Jack Daniel's whiskey as the primary sponsor — a sponsorship already established through Todd's time at Perkins Engineering.
The team's first race was the 2009 Clipsal 500, where both Kelly brothers finished in the top ten in the opening race. Despite the promising debut, the team's first seasons produced mid-field results, with Rick finishing eighth in the championship in 2009 and 2010.
The 2011 season was the team's most successful to that point. Rick Kelly scored the team's first Supercars race win in wet conditions at the Hamilton 400, going on to win twice more during the season and finish sixth in the championship. Greg Murphy and David Reynolds also drove for the team that year, with the four-car operation covering a broad spread of the grid.
In 2012 the team announced it would switch to Nissan for the 2013 season, becoming the first team to change manufacturers under the new Car of the Future regulations. The RECs previously held by Larry Perkins were purchased to accommodate third and fourth entries, and the team rebranded as Nissan Motorsport. Michael Caruso and James Moffat joined as additional drivers alongside the Kelly brothers.
The Nissan Altima proved competitive without reaching consistent race-winning form. Michael Caruso won a race for the team at Hidden Valley in 2016. Simona de Silvestro joined the team for 2017 and 2018, with Andre Heimgartner replacing Todd Kelly (who retired) in 2018. Following the end of Nissan's title sponsorship, the team reverted to the Kelly Racing name in 2019, continuing with the Altima under licence.
For 2020, the team scaled back to two cars and switched to Ford Mustang GTs, selling surplus RECs to Team 18 and Matt Stone Racing. In 2021, the Grove Group purchased a 50 percent shareholding and the team rebranded as Kelly Grove Racing. Rick Kelly retired, replaced by David Reynolds, while Heimgartner continued in car 7. The Grove Group acquired full ownership in 2022, rebranding the outfit as Grove Racing, ending Kelly family involvement entirely. The team continued in the Super2 Series under the Kelly Racing name until withdrawing at the conclusion of 2025.
Kelly Racing's story is one of family-built ambition in a manufacturer-heavy era of Australian touring car racing. The team gave the Nissan Altima its best competitive platform in Australian Supercars, provided race seats for prominent drivers including David Reynolds, Simona de Silvestro, and Andre Heimgartner, and formed the foundation of what became Grove Racing. Rick Kelly's 2011 race wins remain the highpoint of the original family operation's racing record.