Austin Wayne Self fired up for Homestead-Miami Speedway return

With the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season set to come to a close in Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, Martins Motorsports with Faith Motorsports driver Austin Wayne Self (@AustinWSelf) is fired up for his return to the Sunshine State.
 
In February, Self, a native of Austin, Texas opened his sophomore season of competition with a thunderous second-place finish in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. And while the 21-year-old realizes that a duplicate performance may be difficult at Homestead’s ultra-fast 1.5-mile speedway, the Texan is optimistic about his chances.
 
“I’m looking forward to getting back to Homestead this weekend,” said Self. “It’s a neat race track and I always seem to have a lot of luck in Florida.
 
“This is my last race with the gang at Martins Motorsports with Faith Motorsports and I really want to go out there on Friday night and give these guys a finish they can be proud of.”
 
Since joining the team mid-season, together the duo has been able to put some respectable finishes together including several top-15 finishes while hovering inside the top-20 for nearly all their races run together.
 
Even though the team has been plagued with mechanical failures in their last two races together at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway, Self believes they can
rebound and peak even with just one race remaining.
 
“Everyone goes into the last race of the year hoping for the best, right?” he said. “No different with these guys. I feel like we’ve done a great job to be as fast as we have been and to make the gains throughout the races like we’ve done.
 
“Homestead is not an easy track, but it’s a place I felt I was pretty comfortable last November. It’s not a standard mile-and-a-half track, but I think that’s what makes it so compelling. It’s a multi-grove race track which can be extremely slick, especially when weather is a factor.
 
“Hopefully, we can have a good night and the team can have something to build with for 2018.”
 
Set to return to the Truck Series full-time next year, Self realizes that his opportunity to compete in the Championship 4 could become realistic with a lot of hard work and a positive attitude.
 
While he plans to remain respectful to the Championship 4 competitors while running his pace for his team and marketing partners.
“We’re going to race hard but be extremely respectful,” noted Self. “I would expect the same if the roles were reversed. I think this Championship format brings a lot of enthusiasm and energy to the series and we hope to have our moment amongst the Championship 4.
 
“I think the season finale will be just as thrilling and unpredictable as the season-opener and that’s awesome.”
 
In addition to AM Technical Solutions and B&D Industries Inc., Don’t Mess with Texas will serve as an associate marketing partner for Self’s 40th career NCWTS race.
 
Industry veteran Kevin Eagle will continue his role as crew chief.
 
In 17 races this season driving for AM Racing, Martins Motorsports and Niece Motorsports, Self earned a career-best second place performance in the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and earned an additional top-10 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, both finishes driving for AM Racing. Overall, Self has earned one top-five, two top-10, eight top-15 and 12 top-20 finishes respectively.
 
The Ford EcoBoost 200 (134 laps / 201 miles) is the 23rd of 23 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races on the 2017 schedule. Practice begins on Fri., Nov. 17 from 8:30 a.m. – 9:25 a.m. A final practice has been etched in from 10:00 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. Qualifying is set for later in the day beginning at 3:30 p.m. The 32-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 Eastern (ET).
 
For more information on Don’t mess with Texas and how you can become involved in the program, visit dontmesswithtexas.org. 
 
To learn more information on AM Racing please visit amracingteam.com.
 
For more on Austin Wayne Self and AM Racing, please visit awsracing.com, like his Facebook page (Austin Wayne Self) or follow him on Twitter @AustinWSelf.

AWS PR