WHITEFISH, MT :: Giles Thornton is ready to race at Martinsville despite a mishap in testing in which the car he will drive, being tested by Peyton Sellers at the time, caught fire. Thornton is eager about the challenge Martinsville presents and hoping his luck will turn around.
“I heard one of the lines fell off or something in testing,” Thornton said about the testing mishap. “I’m not quite sure what happened but the car’s fixed and ready to race.”
Thornton has been competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West tour. His best finish on the K&N tour has been a fourth place finish at Colorado National Speedway and at Spoanoke County Raceway.
“The season hasn’t gone too well on the K&N side,” Thornton explained. “We haven’t had a lot of luck. We had issues with tires and we thought we had it turned it around but blew a motor two races ago at Miller Motorsports Park and broke a bolt off a shock at Albuquerque. We’re hoping to get that luck turned around at Martinsville on Sunday.”
Thornton has competed in two Late Model races this season. He started on the pole in the Montana 200 but was swept up in an accident while racing for the lead. Thornton knows the prestige of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 and believes he can contend.
“It’s a very big Late Model race,” Thornton said. “I’ve heard a lot about it. We’ve been stout with our Late Model program so I’m hoping to get a top five out of this. We have a good car. I always have a good car with Travis Sharpe. Anytime he works on the car, it’s pretty stout.”
Thornton has always been interested in racing and now the teenager hopes to climb his way up the ladder in to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing.
“When I was two years old, I used to drive around a little Fischer Price car,” Thornton remarked. “I drove those around and, when I was seven, I test drove a Bandelero and been racing ever since. From there I moved up the ranks. My ultimate goal is to make it all the way up to Cup. For now, I’m looking to get in to some Truck races next year.”
Thornton will be supported by Racing Dynamiks in his first career Martinsville attempt.
RACE22.com will have Five Star RaceCar Bodies Live Coverage of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 presented by JRi Shocks all weekend as well as pre-race coverage leading up to the big race all week.
