ROUGEMONT, NC – Stephen Nasse made the most of his first career Late Model Stock Car start – overcoming adversity to race his way to a fifth-place finish in the Old North State Nationals at Orange County Speedway on Sunday.
Nasse started in 20th in the 200-lap Solid Rock Carriers Late Model Stock Tour headline event and methodically raced his way through the field throughout the day and doing so without controversy. After the race, Nasse was all smiles about his effort and is looking forward to getting back in a Late Model Stock Car.
“It was a lot of fun,” Nasse told Short Track Scene. “We were struggling with the handling on the car for the majority of the race. It was just free getting in but I was kind of holding on to it, trying to save tires and trying not to push too hard and wear them out. I knew that was a big thing with these cars. We just waited until we got those right sides to really try to do anything. We just struggled with track position. It was a big fight, getting that outside on restarts and the outside was killer. I got hung up by a couple of slow cars a couple times and lost a couple spots, but, at the end of the day, we overcame a lot.
“To come home fifth, I was tickled to death,” Nasse continued. “Jamie Yelton, Fat Head Racing, they all did a hell of a job putting this car together. I’m really looking forward to Martinsville and maybe a couple other shows.”
Nasse felt like the Late Model Stock Car suited his driving style and enjoyed racing with Jared Fryar.
“I feel like throttle control is where I had the advantage, getting to the quarter pedal in the throttle really fast, it just suits my style,” Nasse explained. “I haf a lot of fun there running down Jared [Fryar]. I had a lot of fun racing with him in Supers, he always runs clean. To come over here and do it was a lot of fun. To get a top-five says a lot about the time, especially after starting 20th and overcoming everything we did.”
Fryar wasn’t the only familiar face Nasse battled. He also had a multi-lap side-by-side battle with Bubba Pollard in the late stages of the race.
“It took me a while to catch him,” Nasse said. “He started there in about 10th or whatever and, by the time I got there, just trying to race around him, we run real clean. We’ve a lot of respect for each other. We might get into it racing for wins but, when we’re running back there in 10th place, we’ve got to be smart and save our stuff and try to find methodical ways to get to the front and not really beating and banging and running over each other isn’t worth it for 10th place.”
After the race was over, a smiling Stephen Nassse took pride in being ‘Classy Nasse’ throughout the weekend instead of ‘Nasty Nasse.’
“I’ve been taking pride in trying to run guys clean and not using the bumper,” Nasse remarked. “The white 17, he about had me give it to him there a couple times, he was holding me up pretty good, but for the most part, all night, I had no run ins with any guys and I had a lot of fun so hopefully we can come out at Martinsville, or a couple races before, and do it again.”
Nasse’s next planned Late Model Stock Car race is the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway in September.
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