On Monday Travis Pastrana issued a statement on his Facebook page to announce his decision to leave NASCAR after the conclusion of the 2013 season.
Pastrana ran a partial schedule of nine races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) in 2012. He competed in one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race in 2012 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 15th place finish. This season marked his first full time NNS season in the sport. The race this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be his last.
“This past season of NASCAR has been an awesome experience,” he wrote. “I have made a lot of great friends, had a lot of fun and gained a new appreciation for all aspects of this sport. Jack Roush and everyone at Roush Fenway Racing have gone above and beyond to try and help me succeed and I am truly grateful for their support. I would like to thank them and all of the other people who stuck behind me during the last two years as I tried to learn how to make a successful career in NASCAR. It’s tough to step back now and prove the critics were right, but unfortunately my results were not good enough to get the sponsors I needed to appropriately fund next season.”
Pastrana also alluded to the need to reassess his priorities now that he is a husband and father.
“My wife Lyn-z has been more then supportive of my foray into NASCAR, often times being my biggest source of encouragement and support. But as my wife had to take a step back from being a professional skater to let me chase my goals in racing, I too need to take a step back and look at my situation as a father and husband. The NASCAR schedule is grueling and takes enormous sacrifices from those you love to make work. With a lack of funding next year, now is my opportunity to sit back and offer support as she chases her goals.”
He was not specific about his future plans but hinted at the possibilities.
“I hate to quit and I hate to fail,” he admitted, “but sometimes things work out as they should. I’ve never been able to figure out the finesse required in pavement racing and that is disappointing, but I’m looking forward to driving more rally and racing more off-road trucks and there will be some announcements on those fronts shortly! My wife is excited to get back to skating on the Nitro Circus Live Tour and I’m excited to spend some quality time with my girls. Thank you to all my fans for the support and I hope to see each of you at an event in the near future.”
In 41 NNS starts and one NCWTS start, Pastrana has four top-ten finishes and one pole. His NNS career best finish was ninth place at Richmond International Raceway in April 2013.
