Catchfence

“Young Driver Rides A Pair Of Top-Three Finishes Into Kentucky”

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship contender Brian Scott is a bit of an anomaly as far as drivers are concerned.

For starters, the 21-year-old heads into Saturday’s race at Kentucky Speedway (7 p.m. ET live on SPEED™; NCWTS Setup with Krista Voda at 6:30 p.m. ET) with a third and second-place finish in the past two events, netted while driving with his broken right wrist in a cast.

But perhaps even more interesting, Scott, sixth in Truck Series point standings, hails from Idaho, not exactly a hotbed of NASCAR racing, and got into competitive driving as a way to keep peace with the neighbors.

“My dirt racing and mini sprints got started because I wanted a go-kart and my dad had enough wisdom to know that if he got me a go-kart, he’d probably get a lot of complaints from the neighbors,” the driver of the No. 16 Albertsons Toyota said. “So, he figured out a controlled way for me to race go-karts – mini sprints on dirt circle tracks – which progressed to sprint cars.”

Joe Scott’s call is paying off as his son, Brian, continues to impress with four top-five and six top-10 finishes in 11 starts this season, despite his inability to fully grip the steering wheel since an accident at Michigan left him in a cast that is expected to remain for two more months.

“It really shows the strength of our team because I’m not able to be 100-percent because of the cast but everyone else has really shined,” Scott said. “We’ve got such good equipment and unload strong at the track. My hat’s off to the guys because they’ve really stepped up and filled in the gaps.”

Armed with top-three finishes since his injury, sheer numbers predict Scott has a good shot at winning at Kentucky. Reflecting on his team’s results at similar mile-and-a-half tracks, Scott expects a solid showing Saturday.

“We have a very strong mile-and-a-half program,” he stated. “We did a little experimenting at the beginning of the year that didn’t work out so well and produced bad finishes at Charlotte (21st) and Texas (15th). But we’re going back to the same type of stuff we finished second at Homestead (2008) and third at Kansas (2009) with, and every time we’ve had this truck and type of setup, we’ve been in contention to win.”

By virtue of driving for Xpress Motorsports, the team owned by his father, Scott is also in position to understand precisely what goes into a fulltime Truck Series effort. He has a hand in the management of the team and also assists in the shop. But along with his versatility comes an inherent set of issues that stems from driving for his father.

“There’s added pressure,” Scott explained. “You understand the inner workings of everything – the process from start to finish … bare metal on a sheet rack to a truck in contention for a win on the track. You know the money that goes in. Other drivers have pressure to perform to keep a ride and sponsorship, and I have that too, but it’s just a different type of pressure.”

“Brian is a young kid who has improved a lot and understands what being successful is all about,” said SPEED reporter Adam Alexander. “He realizes today that it’s much more than just winning races. Brian is better now at finishing races and has adapted really well to the media side of the sport, grasping the importance of having a strong relationship with the media and fans. Plus, to do what he’s done with a broken arm on difficult tracks just demonstrates the maturity process he’s gone through.”

That’s not to say there haven’t been some surprises along the way.

“Every day is a surprise to me,” said Scott, who counts three-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. among his mentors and friends. “It was a really eye-opening experience switching from dirt to asphalt for one; two, getting involved in the NASCAR ranks and everything that goes with it – the media, PR, the incredible amount of money it takes to race. The level of competition … you’ve got to accelerate the learning curve as quickly as possible because you’re doing it against guys who have been doing it for 20 years.”

With only 43 career Truck Series starts, Scott finds himself battling those veterans for the series championship and thinks his team belongs right in the thick of the title run.

“As soon as we got Jeff Hensley (crew chief) on board, we saw just how competitive we were, contending for the win last year at Phoenix and Homestead especially, we knew we had a shot and if we kept it going, there was no reason we couldn’t be in contention for the championship,” Scott related. “When we were within 100 (points) of the championship a few weeks ago fifth in points, we really felt we belonged there. We since have had a bad streak … but I don’t think that’s insurmountable and, at the end, we expect to contend.”

SPEED, now in more than 78 million homes in North America, is the exclusive home of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Gatorade Duel at Daytona, NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The only network delivering live, at-track programming all season long, SPEED offers the definitive pre- and post-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series programs – NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane, as well as other popular NASCAR programs including Trackside Live, NASCAR Performance, NASCAR Live!, This Week in NASCAR, NCWTS Setup and NASCAR in a Hurry.

- SPEED Press Release