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Cole Whitt Makes Charlotte Debut

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Edited: May 25, 2011, 6:31 PM

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CORNELIUS, N.C. — Pastrana-Waltrip Racing adds another talented young driver to its lineup this weekend as Cole Whitt drives the No. 99 Red Bull Toyota in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 19-year-old driver races fulltime in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and is the youngest driver to ever lead the truck series point standings. In eight truck series starts, the Alpine, Calif., native has one pole, two top-five and five top-10 finishes. Two-time K&N Pro Series East champion Ryan Truex will be back behind the wheel at Chicago.

Cole Whitt, Turn One Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

WHITT ON HIS FIRST NATIONWIDE RACE AT CHARLOTTE: “All the Pastrana-Waltrip guys have been awesome to work with, and all their equipment has been super nice. It’s nice to jump into a car like that. It just gives you some confidence going into the weekend. More than anything I am excited to see how the new Nationwide Series cars drive. I have two Nationwide starts but it was in the old car. I don’t know what to expect from the new car, but I am pretty sure Jerry Baxter (crew chief) will have the car pretty good right off the truck. It’s just a matter of me getting used to the track. Luckily, driving the truck race last week should help me a lot, and hopefully I will be able to carry that experience over to this weekend.”

ON WHAT HE LEARNED FROM THE TRUCK RACE: “More than anything, I learned you have to have a car you can race at the end. A lot of the guys were racing really hard at the start of the race, and it really didn’t get them anywhere. We kind of rode out the beginning of the race and waited for the end. This is one of the longer races for the Nationwide Series, so it’s going to be a long race. More than anything we need to get the car right for the end of the race and keep the fenders on it. The last 50 laps is really the time to let it all hang out.”

-source: pastrana-waltrip racing

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