CLUSTER SPRINGS, VA :: Austin Thaxton enters Saturday’s season opener at South Boston Speedway as a championship favorite. Thaxton, 21, finished second in points last season to two-time defending NASCAR Whelen All American Series (NWAAS) National Champion Lee Pulliam. Now, with Pulliam running in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, Thaxton feels confident he can be the driver to occupy Pulliam’s throne.
“I hope I’m the guy to beat without Lee there,” Thaxton said. “I feel like we’ve worked on the car a lot this year so hopefully we will be the car to beat.”
Thaxton, who’s grandparents owned Late Models at South Boston for years, started out at South Boston in 2009 in the Limited Sportsman division. He currently has one career win in the Limited Sportsman division which he scored back in August of 2011. In 2012, he moved up to the Late Model Stock Car division. In his rookie season, he finished fourth in points. Last season, he finished second in points. Now, Thaxton hopes for his first career win early in the season.
“We should get a win pretty early in the season,” Thaxton stated. “I feel like, as a driver, I learned a lot last year and I hope to roll that in this year and get a couple wins throughout the year. “
If all goes according to plan on Saturday and early in the season, Thaxton feels like he should be the favorite to win the championship.
“I feel like it’s in reach,” Thaxton remarked about his championship hopes. “If we can do what we did last year, I Feel like we should be able to capitalize on Lee not being there and maybe win the championship. I definitely want to dominate this year. That would be really cool to say I won a bunch of races especially at South Boston. That’s one of the hardest tracks to get around and you’ve got a bunch of good guys so if you win there, it says something about you and your team.”
The 2013 season opener at South Boston Speedway goes green on Saturday afternoon, March 15th. RACE22.com will have live interactive coverage of the race.
