Cooksey first made his ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series debut in 1996 driving the No. 41 Chevrolet that he owned at Salem Speedway, where he would finish 22nd due to a rear end issue. He would make eight more starts that year and would earn four top-tens, including a best result of sixth at Indianapolis Raceway Park. In the following year, he would run twelve races, mainly in the No. 51 Chevrolet, and would earn four more top-tens with a best result of seventh at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack, and finish twelfth in the overall standings. In 1998, he ran eighteen of the 22 races on the schedule, and finished in the top-ten nine times, including a best finish of third at Winchester Speedway.

In 1999, Cooksey ran the full schedule in his self-owned No. 51 entry. In the first race of the year at Daytona International Speedway, during a caution period midway through the race, Cooksey collided with the back of the pace car. He, along with pace car driver Jack Wallace and ARCA official Buster Auton, escaped serious injury.^[1] Afterwards, he earned eleven top-tens and four top-fives, including a best finish of second at Flat Rock Speedway, to finish fourth in the standings. In the following year, he partnered with Don Fauerbach for the full season in 2000, and finished on the top-ten five times with a best finish of third at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack. He got his first pole position at DuQuoin, to finish ninth in the standings. This would be the last time he would run the full ARCA schedule.

In 2001, Cooksey downsized his schedule, only racing in nine races, and finishing in the top-ten five times. It was also during this year that he made his NASCAR Busch Series driving the No. 73 Chevrolet at Gateway International Raceway, finishing 29th due to a brake issue. He would make two more Busch races that year at Indianapolis and Memphis Motorsports Park. For next year, he made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in the No. 59 Chevrolet driving for Fauerbach at Gateway, and finished 23rd. He also attempted to make the race at Memphis, but failed to qualify for the event. On the ARCA side, he made only three starts, finishing in the top-five twice at both dirt events at Springfield and DuQuoin. In the following year, he solely focused on ARCA, running nine races with a best finish of third at DuQuoin.

In 2004, Cooksey ran a majority of the races driving for Hixson Motorsports in the No. 23, and earned five top-tens with a best finish of fifth at South Boston Speedway. In 2005, he ran thirteen races for Hixson, with one top-five, a third place finish at Springfield. In the following year, he only ran the two dirt events, and finished in the top-five in both events. He entered in both races the following year in 2007, driving for Darrell Basham in the No. 94 Chevrolet, finishing 29th due to a crash at Springfield, and failing to qualify at DuQuoin.

After not running in ARCA competition in 2008, Cooksey returned to the ARCA circuit in 2009, driving three races in his self-owned No. 51 Chevrolet, and finished seventh at DuQuoin. After a one-year absence, he ran only one race at DuQuoin, finishing nineteenth. In the following year, he ran at Springfield, finishing 33rd due to an engine problem.

After not running in the series in the next three years, Cooksey ran at DuQuoin driving for Hixson in their No. 2 entry, finishing eighth.^[2] He would run both dirt events the following year, finishing ninth at DuQuoin. In 2018, he ran both dirt races as well as the race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, and finished ninth at DuQuoin again. After another three-year absence from the series, he returned to DuQuoin in 2022, driving the No. 11 Toyota for Fast Track Racing; he finished eighth in the race.

(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.)