Kyle Larson NNS Preview: Road America

Right Turns Ahead…The NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) heads to Road America for its first of three road course races of 2013. Rookie Kyle Larson will be making his first start at the 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Larson has never made a start on a road course in any of the major series he has competed in. However, the entire Turner Scott Motorsports team participated in a test at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) several weeks ago, allowing time for the 20-year-old to get comfortable turning both left and right.

 

Winning On The Road…Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) has a winning history at NNS road courses, particularly Road America. Last season, TSM brought home the win in two of the three road course events in 2012. Nelson Piquet Jr. captured both the pole and the win at Road America last June, and Justin Allgaier visited victory lane in the series’ final trip to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The team also scored a victory with Reed Sorenson at Road America in 2011, meaning that TSM has taken the checkered flag in two of only three NNS events ever held at the track.

 

Color Change…For the second time this season, Larson will sport the colors of Cottonelle. Larson last ran the Kimberly-Clark brand at Bristol Motor Speedway where he fought from a 12th-place starting position to battle door-to-door with the leader in the final laps, ultimately finishing second.

 

Come Say Hi…Larson will join his TSM teammates, as well as many other Nationwide Series drivers, in this weekend’s NNS autograph session. Come say hello on Friday, June 21st from 3:45-4:30 p.m. CDT in front of the media center entrance.

 

This Week’s Camaro… Crew chief Trent Owens and the No. 32 Cottonelle Chevy Camaro team have prepared chassis TSM-301 for competition this weekend at Road America. TSM-301 made two starts in 2012, hitting the track at Road America and Montreal. In both events, the car was driven by Brad Sweet, who scored top-20 finishes in each.

 

Previous Race Recap…Looking to bring his Turner Scott Motorsports team some good news to end a rough week, Larson worked his way through the field and found himself in contention for his first NNS victory. After battling a tight-handling Camaro throughout much of the 125-lap race, the No. 32 Cessna crew gave Larson what he needed to vault from sixth to second in the last restart of the race. With just over 10 laps to go, Larson had his sights set on the race leader, but the rookie ran out of time. He brought home a second-place finish, tying his career best NNS finish, and earning his second top five in a row.

 

Kyle Larson on Road America

“Road courses are a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to making my first start at Road America. We tested a few weeks ago at VIR and I felt pretty comfortable. There was definitely a learning curve there, I went off course a few times, but by the end of the day I was only a few tenths behind Nelson [Piquet Jr.], who has tons of road course experience. Both of my teammates won on road courses last season, so I’m sure I’ll lean on them throughout the weekend.”

 

TSM PR