Even though a streak of 52 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts back at zero this weekend at Gateway (Ill.) Motorsports Park, driver Tyler Young is focused on a new agenda beginning with Saturday night’s Drivin’ for Linemen 200.
Last weekend at Iowa Speedway, Young traded his helmet for a radio and helped steered rookie Derek Scott Jr. to a respectable NCWTS debut in the Speediatrics 200, but getting back in the saddle this weekend in St. Louis, Young is feeling recharged and ready to get down to business.
“I’m glad to be back behind the No. 02 Young’s Building Systems / Randco Chevrolet Silverado this weekend,” offered Young. “We may be out of the hunt for the Truck Chase, but we still have a mathematical shot at finishing inside the top-10 come Homestead.
“It’s not going to be easy by any stretch to make that happened, but as a team we know what our new agenda entails and we’ll do whatever we can to make it a reality. We’ve been proud of what we’ve accomplished this year, but we know that we still have work to do and hopefully that hard work will pay off with a good finish on Saturday night.”
Despite missing his first race since Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February 2014, Young mentioned that skipping last week’s race at Iowa Speedway was best in the future long-term plan of his Mooresville, North Carolina-based team.
“Derek did a good job for us last weekend at Iowa,” Young explained. “Everyone knows that we are doing what we can to build a solid, respectable long term foundation at Young’s Motorsports and sometimes being at the top of the chain requires you to step back to take three steps forward. I hated that I couldn’t race at Iowa last weekend, but it was a good evaluation for what we’re trying to do for our future in trucks and the decision will pay off in the end.”
While Young spends countless amounts of hours every week not only in his management duties for his family-owned team, the Midland, Texas native still takes the job at hand on race day even more serious. When it comes to Gateway Motorsports Park, Young has two top-20 finishes, including a 15th place performance last year, but this weekend – he wants a little more.
“It felt really good to get that top-10 at Daytona in February, and we miss that feeling,” Young said with a smile. “We know if everything goes our way, we should have a shot at finishing inside the top-10, but the competition is stronger than ever in trucks, so we’re doing everything we can to make sure we can keep up with the rest of them, including on the smaller tracks like Gateway.
“Gateway is a fun place to race, it’s hard to pass and momentum is everything, but in my opinion, it’s some great short track racing and we hope to put our No. 02 Young’s Building Systems / Randco Chevrolet Silverado in the hunt.”
Entering Saturday night’s race 15th in series points, 25-year-old Young has two starts at Gateway with a best finish of 15th twice, most recently in this same event last June.
For more on Tyler Young, please visit YoungsMotorsports.com or click on his Facebook page. Young is also active on Twitter. You can follow and tweet with him @TylerYoung02.
Young Motorsports PR
