Less than two weeks after the curtain has been drawn on the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season, the short off season thus far has allowed the Young’s Motorsports to reflect on their third full year of competition.
The team bookmarked the season with positive notes from an organizational standpoint. In the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, seasoned-veteran Tyler Young steered his No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado to a career-best sixth place finish nodding the third top-10 performance of his career and the best for the Midland, Texas native overall.
Momentum stuck with Young and his Andrew Abbott led team through the first four races where the team clicked off four top-13 finishes and stood a season-high fourth in the series standings.
Despite running the first seven races of the season, Young decided to step out of the seat while Young’s Motorsports took an active approach to building a foundation for drivers to gain seat time, but race competitively.
In all, drivers Derek Scott Jr. (one race), Dylan Lupton (one race), Patrick Staropoli (No. 07 Chevrolet one race) and Dominique Van Wieringen (one race) all made their series debut with Young’s Motorsports. NASCAR Next alumnus Lupton earned the best result with a 12th at Talladega Superspeedway last month.
Additionally, veteran drivers Austin Hill (four races), Scott Lagasse Jr. (one race) and Austin Theriault (one race) also had their opportunities at the helm of the No. 02 truck making up for nine races Young didn’t compete for himself.
25-year-old Young who also serves as the team manager at Young’s Motorsports earned the team’s best finishes of the year with two top-10 finishes overall including an additional top-10 performance at Michigan International Speedway in August with a tenth place result.
The Ford EcoBoost 200 from Homestead-Miami Speedway, the 23rd and final race on the schedule also marked the first time that Young’s Motorsports fielded two trucks in the series on the same weekend.
Veteran and Florida native Lagasse Jr. piloted the No. 02 Chevrolet, while former NASCAR K&N Pro Series West winner and aspiring doctor Patrick Staropoli made his debut in a collaborative effort with SS Green Light Racing.
“Looking back at things, it was a solid year for our Young’s Motorsports team,” offered Young. “We started the year off strong with a sixth-place finish at Daytona. From there, we had some more good finishes – before we decided to bring some other drivers in and grow our business model.
“Without Austin Hill, Austin Theriault, Derek, Dominique and Dylan – the growth of Young’s Motorsports would not have been possible. It’s because of them that we will make our team better and stronger next season. We know we have some work to do, but we’re happy with the direction we’re going and look forward to Daytona in February.”
As for 2017, Young said he is still working through the options, but feels confident about where his team is headed.
“There’s a lot going on and that’s not always a bad thing,” added Young. “We just have to see where the dots connect and what makes best sense for us as an organization – not only competitively on the track, but also from a business stance as well.
“One thing is for sure, we’ll be at Daytona in a couple months to see if we can’t duplicate or better our finish from this past February.”
In 23 races this season, Young’s Motorsports has tailed two top-10, seven top-15 and 13 top-20 finishes. The team has been running at the finish of 19 of the 23 races run in 2016.
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