Stephen Nasse Stands On Pro Cup Podium
After Only The Second Race of His Rookie Season
14-Year-Old Finishes Third at New Smyrna Speedway
Through the years in racing, rookies have generally had a purpose. Like children, they are to be seen and not heard. Their goal in any race is to stay out of trouble and log laps of experience. Maybe if the right breaks go their way, a solid top-10 finish or two might come along later in their season, but to contend for a victory isn’t something that has happened much in the past.
But Stephen Nasse didn’t get that memo and he’s not driving like a typical rookie during his first season of USARacing Pro Cup competition. On Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway (FL), Nasse recorded his first-ever podium finish after crossing the line third in the USARacing Pro Cup event there. It was only the 14-year-old driver’s second race of his rookie Pro Cup season.
Nasse has had plenty of experience at New Smyrna in the past and has won Late Model races at the facility, but racing a Pro Cup car there was an entirely new experience for him.
“To tell you the truth, it was just pretty amazing,” said Nasse. “I love those cars and I enjoy racing long races. I could feel the weight difference with the Pro Cup car. It took me a few laps on every restart to get used to it again because I would try to drive the car into the corners as hard as I would in the Late Model.”
Nasse started the race in the 11th position and didn’t have an ideally-handling racecar either – making the result even more impressive.
“My car wasn’t handling as good as it could have,” said Nasse. “We had been fighting tight all day in practice, but that might have been my fault. I was driving too hard and the car would push up the track. The team freed it up, but that made it a little too free. Even through the race, we were adjusting it. But Buggy Pletcher (Nasse’s crew chief) and the whole team did a great job. He’s got a lot of laps around that track and he knows so much about these cars. I’m very thankful for him and my whole team.”
Nasse had another reason to be thankful. In the Pro Cup season opener at Gresham Motorsports Park (GA), he crashed hard and escaped serious injury, but his car wasn’t so lucky. However, the team pieced it back together and prepped it for New Smyrna.
“That was the same exact car that I wrecked and the team worked 80 or 90 hours just to rebuild it. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what I’d be doing. The car is as a good as new now though.”
The podium finish was rewarding to Nasse for another reason too. He is racing this year in the memory of his former fabricator, Eddie Brann, who passed away last year.
“I’m really excited for a podium finish and it is really special because this year, I’m racing for Eddie Brann. Every race that I run this year is in his memory and his wife was there at New Smyrna on Saturday night. He pretty much got me where I am today and I miss him a lot. I think he and my uncle are up there now trying to build me another racecar.“
Nasse’s next Pro Cup race will be on May 1st at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC).
“I’ve been to Hickory once before for an ASA Late Model race,” said Nasse. “We practiced a little bit and then the race got rained out. To be honest, I really didn’t like the track too much then. But it’s still just another racetrack, so I’ll go back there and try to make the best out of it.”
