NASCAR: Rookie Driver Bryan Clauson Set To Make First Career Start At Darlington
May 08, 2008
Bryan Clauson
The 18-year-old earned the Raybestos Rookie of the Race award for the second time in the 2008 season after his strong finish in the NASCAR Nationside Series 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
Clauson rolled off the grid 16th and settled into the top 20 with a tight race car. The teenager tried to hold on to the lead lap until the first pit stop, but with more than 60 laps of green-flag racing the Fastenal Dodge went a lap down to leader Carl Edwards.
The team continued to battle despite being a lap down for the remainder of the event. The young racer and the Fastenal team went on to finish the 250-lap race as the highest finishing rookie of the event.
“Our Fastenal Dodge was really strong,” said Clauson. “We missed it a little there on the start and made a couple of adjustments on that first pit stop. After the changes we ran some good lap times. We were a top-10 car tonight but we got stuck a lap down and couldn’t recover from it.”
He recently became a team owner, forming Bryan Clauson Racing, Inc., which is fielding two cars throughout the midget season.
