AM Racing and Austin Wayne Self eager for Charlotte showdown

It is only May, but it seems like an eternity since the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series last saw AM Racing and Austin Wayne Self on the track.

The COVID-19 pandemic literally brought the world to a screeching halt in early March and since then the Truck Series has been idle. Thankfully, Trucks will roar tonight and 40 drivers will compete for the checkered flag.  

For Self and his Eddie Troconis led team, the organization has been following the strict guidelines of NASCAR and the local government but adequately preparing race trucks for the upcoming stretch of races.

When it comes to Charlotte, it is one of the races that the AM Racing team had circled on their calendar even before the coronavirus pandemic.

In the most recent race at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, Self improved on a 26th-place qualifying effort to finish a season-high 17th, but wanting more for his family-owned team, Self is ready to get back to the consistency his AM Racing team dished out throughout the second half of the 2019 season.

“I’m just ready to get back to the race track,” said Self. “Yeah, things won’t be exactly the same as they were in Las Vegas, but we’ll be racing and trying to put on a good show for the fans.

“We’ve had a lot of downtime to discuss a lot of things, especially how to make sure we come back out of the gate swinging to give us some momentum for the stretch of races coming in June.”

To help Self get back in the saddle, he participated in a local Late Model event. While the race was conducted without fans in the stands, the ability to get back into a routine is helping Self prepare for his fifth start at Charlotte’s 1.5-mile speedway.

“I always love racing at Charlotte even if we don’t have the best results to show for it,” added Self. “We always seem to have fast trucks but something out of our control seems to go wrong late in the race and leaves us little time to recover.

“Charlotte is a big race for us. For everyone in fact. It’s the first Truck Series race since going through one of the biggest economic challenges our country has ever faced. It may be dicey for the first few laps without practice or qualifying, but I have that comfort with Eddie that we can get a good baseline setup until we have that competition caution for adjustments.

“I just want to come out of Charlotte with a better finish than we did at Las Vegas and keep moving forward as we get a number of these races made up.”

For Charlotte, GO TEXAN and AM Technical Solutions will serve as major associate partners for tonight’s race. 

Don’t mess with Texas, CForce Bottling Company, Flying Circle, and Kreuz Market will serve as associate partners in the third race of the year.

In 86 NGROTS races, the 2014 ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year has two top-fives (second at Daytona 2017, fifth at Michigan 2019) and seven top-10 finishes. The Texan maintains an average finish of 18.1 during his five years of competition.

The Austin, Texas native is nestled 23rd in the championship standings with 21 races remaining.

For more on Austin Wayne Self, please visit awsracing.com, like his Facebook page (Austin Wayne Self) or follow him on Twitter @AustinWSelf.

For more on AM Racing, please visit AMRacingteam.com, like their Facebook page (AM Racing) or follow them on Twitter @AMRacingNASCAR. 

For more information on Don’t mess with Texas and how you can become involved in the program, visit dontmesswithtexas.org. 

For more on Flying Circle, please visit flyingcirclegear.com, like them on Facebook (FlyingCircleGear) and follow them on Instagram (@flyingcirclegear) and Twitter (@flyingcircle_). 

Also, connect with Flying Circle on Pinterest and YouTube.

For additional information on CForce premium artesian water, please visit cforce.com.

For more on Kreuz Market, please visit kreuzmarket.com. like them on Facebook (KreuzMarketLockhart) and follow them on Twitter (@kreuzmarket).

The N.C. Education Lottery 200 (134 laps| 201 miles) is the third of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 40-truck field will take the green flag shortly after 8:00 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).

AM Racing PR