Up and coming NASCAR driver Brett Moffitt will soon take the wheel of the race car formerly driven by Ryan Truex, the two-time K & N Pro Series East champion and little brother of Cup driver Martin Truex, Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing’s newest addition also plans to follow in Truex’s footsteps by winning the East Series championship in 2011.
“We’re really excited,” Moffitt said of his new Michael Waltrip Racing ride. “It’s really a good fit right now for where I’m at in my career and what they are looking to do. I’m really excited to try to run for their third consecutive championship in the East Series.”
[media-credit name=”Brett Moffitt Racing” align=”alignright” width=”300″]
[/media-credit]Moffitt credits his “good PR lady Michelle” for talking to Ty Norris at MWR and securing his new ride. As are many drivers, Moffitt continues to search for sponsors for the car, the No. 00 so familiar to Michael Waltrip Racing fans.
Moffitt will be running the full K&N Pro Series East schedule in 2011, from Greenville-Pickens Speedway where he won his first ever pole, to the Monster Mile where he won a race in the 2010 season. This is the third year that Moffitt has raced the East Series, finishing third and then second in points, last year and this year respectively.
“My first year in the Series, I ended up third in points with Andy Santerre Motorsports,” Moffitt said. “This past year with Joe Gibbs Racing, I ended up second in points. So, if I continue that trend, then I should be the champion next year.”
Moffitt will also have the same crew chief, Mike Greci, who took Ryan Truex to his championships. In addition to the two East titles with Truex in 2009 and 2010, Greci has won two other East championships, both with Mike Stefanik in 1997 and 1998.
“I’ll also have the same crew that Truex had on his team,” Moffitt said. “Travis Pastrana will also be running some West races for the team but they really don’t know what he’s going to do yet.”
Pastrana, who will be Moffitt’s teammate in the companion West Series, actually did some testing in Florida this week at New Smyrna Speedway. He intends to make his NASCAR debut at the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale in January 2011.
In addition to having an action sports star as a teammate, Moffitt also knows that he has big shoes to fill as he follows in Champion Ryan Truex’s footsteps.
“I’m excited. I’m ready to go out there,” Moffitt said. “I’ve had a lot of fast cars these past two years but a lot of bad luck. Hopefully we can turn that luck around and I’m looking forward to the first race just to see how we do.”
The young driver, just 18 years old, also knows that he is very fortunate to even have a ride, given the toll of the economy, especially on the more local tiers of NASCAR racing.
“This is an amazing opportunity,” Moffitt said. “At this point with how hard it is to find sponsors and what not, to be able to know during the off season what you are doing next year is really quite a relief. It’s stressful trying to find out what you’re going to do, but I’m definitely excited to be in the position I am right now.”
With his ride in hand and his plans secure, Moffitt now intends to focus on preparing for the 2011 season.
“I’ll be doing a lot of personal training,” Moffitt said. “We’re going testing right in the middle of January so that will help our team and help me more.”
Moffitt, a native of Grimes, Iowa, will continue to live with his parents next year. But he is anxious to move to North Carolina, “if only his parents would allow” him to make the move.
Moffitt will be celebrating the holidays in what he calls “snow-covered Iowa.” He, like so many others, has recently spent a great deal of time in airports, experiencing the delays that only Mother Nature can share at this time of year.
As he waits, however, he is most definitely counting all of his blessings as he contemplates the 2011 season.
“This is a heck of an opportunity,” Moffitt said. “I’m honored they chose me to contend for another championship. I plan to show them they made the right decision.”
“We have a lot of faith in Brett,” car owner Michael Waltrip said. “We saw what he did the last two years on the track and we are confident he will do well with us. I think MWR fans and NASCAR fans are really going to like him.”
For my money, the Waltrip-Gibbs Rivalry is the best in Racing.