Austin Wayne Self head to Kansas Speedway prepared for the stretch drive

[NickHolt]

AM Racing, Austin Wayne Self head to Kansas Speedway prepared for the stretch drive

KANSAS CITY, Kan

The stretch drive is here.

Just four races remain on the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series schedule and for Austin Wayne Self and his AM Racing team it’s about head down and fin up heading into Saturday afternoon’s Clean Harbors 200 at Kansas Speedway.

While the team had an insanely fast No. 22 AIRBOX Air Purifier | GO Texan Chevrolet Silverado in the most recent race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Self was a victim of the “Big One” which left the Statesville, N.C. team clawing for the rest of the race.

Able to leave Talladega with a top-20 in the books, a pivotal off week allowed Self and the team to regroup and prepare for the upcoming four-week stretch that will take them to the checkered flag next month.  

“I’m ready to get back to Kansas Speedway this weekend,” said Self. “In July, we had a pretty decent weekend, but we definitely want to utilize the race to put some numbers up on the board to really give our team some momentum for this last stretch of races this season.”

Self, 24, will make his seventh Truck Series start at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. In his previous six starts, he has a personal track best of 13th twice in 2018 and 2020. He also has two ARCA starts from 2014 to 2015.

The Truck Series will return to Kansas Speedway for a record third time in 2020 as the original schedule was realigned because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and while finishes of 17th and 13th during the doubleheader weekend this summer was a jolt of momentum to the team, Self says he hopes to be better in his first-ever fall trip to the 1.5-mile speedway.

“I’m so used to racing at Kansas in the late spring-early summer that I’m not sure what to really expect this weekend,” offered Self. “The track conditions though will be completely different than when we were there in July, so we have to prepare and adjust for that.

“The cooler the track is – the more handling and speed will come into play. I expect a lot of drafting this weekend but this biggest obstacle we’ll face is being able to get that run off the turns that set us up for the straightaways.”

Kansas will also mark the debut of a new crew chief for Self.

Ryan Salmon will take over as the team leader for AM Racing this weekend.  

“This is our first race together in a crew chief and driver role, but I’m hoping it’s a successful debut weekend for Ryan and I on Saturday afternoon,” offered Self. “I’m hopeful that this new relationship can bring some fire to the team and we can start building for the future.”

Even out of the Playoff picture, it’s still business as usual for the AM Racing team as Self expects the upward performance trend to continue to climb aboard his No. 22 GO TEXAN | AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet Silverado from now until Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway in November.

“We’re a relatively small team, but sometimes David can beat the Goliath and at times we’ve been able to show that on track with our heart and passion of racing,” added Self. “We have a lot of people, including our partners who are devoted to our race team and focused on seeing our team succeed not only in 2020 but as we start to think ahead to 2021.”

In addition to primary partner GO TEXAN, AM Technical Solutions, Don’t mess with Texas, AIRBOX Air Purifier, CForce Bottling Company, Flying Circle, Kreuz Market and Prasek’s will serve as associate partners in the 20th race of the year.

In 103 NGROTS races, the 2014 ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year has two top-fives (second at Daytona 2017, fifth at Michigan 2019) and seven top-10 finishes. The Texan maintains an average finish of 18.8 during his five years of competition.

The Austin, Texas native is nestled 17th in the championship standings with four races remaining.

The Clean Harbors 200 (134 laps | 201 miles) is the 20th of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 36-truck field will take the green flag on Sat. Oct. 17, 2020, shortly after 3:00 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 local (Central).

For more on Austin Wayne Self, please visit awsracing.com, like his Facebook page (Austin Wayne Self) or follow him on Twitter @AustinWSelf.

For more on AM Racing, please visit AMRacingteam.com, like their Facebook page (AM Racing) or follow them on Twitter @AMRacingNASCAR. 

About AM Racing:

AM Racing is a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (NGROTS) team owned by entrepreneur Tim Self. Established in December 2015, AM Racing is headquartered in Statesville, N.C. Operated by Self, a native of Austin, Texas, the team is prided on faith, honesty and intelligent performance.

[NickHolt]

This from Ryan Salomon's Facebook account:

Well after taking a 11 month hiatus from being at the race track and working full time in NASCAR I will be making my return this weekend at Kansas Speedway as crew chief of the 22 truck of Austin Wayne Self. Pretty surreal moment I’ve worked my whole life for this opportunity and I’m very grateful for the opportunity and hope to make the best of it. Can’t thank everyone enough for getting me to this point in my career and can’t thank my amazing supportive wife Lindsey Salomon enough for always having faith in me and being so supportive.

[King237]

Probably a printing mistake but Eddie Troconnis is listed as crew chief at Texas.....