Pastrana Finishes 16th in Las Vegas Return to the NCWTS

Action sports star Travis Pastrana received a warm welcome back to NASCAR, making his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start since 2012. Battling a free condition and going a lap down halfway through the race, Pastrana wheeled his GunBroker.com Chevrolet Silverado to a 16th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Taking the green flag from the 17th position, Pastrana navigated up to the 14th spot by lap 10, but reported that his No. 31 Silverado was extremely free. When the first caution flag of the day waved on lap 15, crew chief Chris Rice called Pastrana down pit road for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment. Restarting 15th, Pastrana dropped back to 19th before the next yellow flag was displayed on lap 38. Stating that his truck was still very loose, Pastrana once again visited pit road for fuel and another track-bar adjustment. Scored 12th when green-flag racing resumed, Pastrana was 14th when the third and final caution flag waved on lap 49, and the NTS Motorsports team once again used the opportunity to adjust the GunBroker.com machine, providing fuel and a wedge adjustment. A long green-flag run followed, with Pastrana dropping to 19th and eventually going one lap down. However, the team’s decision to pit under the last caution allowed Pastrana to remain on track 17 laps longer than the leaders, and he advanced up to the ninth spot before pitting under green for four tires and fuel. Stating that his truck’s handling now felt “great,” Pastrana was consistently making laps faster than the leaders, but was unable to make up any ground being off the lead lap. Pastrana remained on track as several competitors ran out of fuel, allowing him to advance to the 16th position before crossing the finish line.

Travis Pastrana on Las Vegas Motor Speedway

“It took me a little longer to get up to speed in practice than I was hoping, but by the end of practice I felt really, really good. I’ll tell you, Chris [Rice] and the entire NTS Motorsports team did a great job making the truck fast. We moved up to 12th and broke into the top 10 at one point, and at the end we were running super-fast laps. We were able to stay out there really long under green, and it probably would have worked out better for us, but we just got too free at the end of the run and burned off the right rear, so I lost a lot of spots and a lap at the very end of that run. I really felt like we had a great truck and I’m so thankful to Bob Newberry, GunBroker.com, Lazy F Ranch and Never Too Hungover for this opportunity. I’ve missed NASCAR a lot and I love the [NASCAR Camping World] Truck Series, so I really had a lot of fun this weekend.”

NTS Motorsports PR