By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
After three years away from the sport, Travis Pastrana returns to the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series with Niece Motorsports.
Pastrana will drive the No. 40 Plan B Sales Chevrolet Silverado in the EPT 200 at Kansas Speedway. The Annapolis, MD native last competed in NASCAR competition in 2017 in the Truck Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The EPT 200 marks the second start with Niece Motorsports for Pastrana. Like his 2017 race for the team, it stems from his connection to his former car chief, Cody Efaw. Efaw is the general manager for the Al Niece owned team.
“I always enjoy coming to race in NASCAR, especially the Truck Series,” explained Pastrana. “It’s been fun to watch how this team has grown and progressed over the last couple of years, and I’m excited to get the chance to get back behind the wheel. A huge thank you to Al Niece, Cody [Efaw] and everyone at Niece Motorsports for this amazing opportunity and all of their hard work.”
Pastrana has three career Truck Series starts, all at Las Vegas. His best career finish in Trucks was 15th in 2012.
The 36-year-old also has 42 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts. In those 42 starts he scored four top-10 finishes and one pole position. Only one of those top-10 finishes came at a 1.5-mile track, Las Vegas.
The truck that the extreme sports legend will drive will first be driven by Ross Chastain in the Friday night race at Kansas. As part of the historic Truck Series doubleheader race weekend, the starting grid will be based on an invert of the top-15 finishers from Friday. The rest of the starting grid will start how they finished the night before.
Pastrana will start from the rear as the driver of the No. 40 Chevrolet will change between the two races. The X-Games start will also have zero practice to get him up to speed. Earlier this week NASCAR cancelled practice and qualifying for the remainder of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.