2018 CARS Tour Rookie of the Year runner-up Brandon Pierce will jump from Nelson Motorsports to Lee Pulliam Performance in hopes of chasing the CARS Tour championship.

Pierce spent three years behind the wheel of Barry Nelson’s Nelson Motorsports #2 entry and picked up his first career NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car victory at South Boston Speedway this past season. He also placed second to Deac McCaskill in the spring Orange County Speedway stop for the CARS Tour after a masterful drive coming up short in the closing laps.

Pierce is ready to “push the go button”.

“First of all I’d like to thank Nelson Motorsports for all they did for me the last three years,” said Pierce. “They took a chance on a guy jumping straight from go-karts to full-size stock cars and they didn’t have to. I think we accomplished some great things together but I felt it’s time to push the go button and take this to the next level.”

Pulliam is excited to have Pierce, who he calls a friend off the track in his equipment and thinks they can make a strong run for the CARS Tour championship.

“We’ve been friends for a while off the track,” said Pulliam. “I’ve watched him develop his skills and he gained a lot of respect including mine this year especially at Orange County when he could have wrecked Deac (McCaskill) for the win and didn’t. He raced with class and turned a lot of heads all year including the ValleyStar 300 at Martinsville and had a lot of high spots.”

To many, the move from Nelson Motorsports to Lee Pulliam Performance would appear to be a lateral move but Pierce thinks the key is having a four-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion and being the only car making a title run from the Lee Pulliam Performance Stables.

“It’s not every day you can have a mentor and friend that’s a four-time national champion,” commented Pierce. “Nelson gave me everything I needed to get to this point, they had a really great program. It’s just hard to run multiple programs and put everything into them.”

Pierce and Pulliam both think that Pierce will be able to contend for wins and the championship in the upcoming season. Pulliam will not compete against Pierce in the CARS Tour except in the Old North State Nationals, $30,000 to win race at Orange County Speedway in April.

“I’ll be crew chiefing Brandon in the CARS Tour,” said Pulliam. “I’m still going to race, just not against Brandon except at Martinsville and some of the big races. It’s really hard for two drivers to battle for the championship out of the same team.”

“Being the single car running for the CARS Tour championship will hopefully give us more success,” commented Pierce. “We’re hoping to maximize on all our resources with them all focused on one car.”

In addition to running the CARS Tour for the championship, Pierce will also compete in the Virginia Triple Crown at South Boston Speedway, Langley Speedway, and Martinsville Speedway as well as other races throughout the season.

The CARS Tour will kick off its fifth season of Late Model Stock Car racing on March 9th at Southern National Motorsports Park with a $10,000 to win race. Pierce will be hoping to get his season started off on the right note with Lee Pulliam Performance and bag his first CARS Tour victory.