Treyten Lapcevich will end his CARS Tour campaign with the best opportunity of his career in a one-off driving the No. 8 for JR Motorsports on Saturday night at South Boston Speedway.
It all happened very quickly.
“I got a phone call from Dale just before Newport and I was able to work with the guys at JR Motorsports and Dale and put this thing together really quickly,” Lapcevich said. “So I’m excited, very thankful for the opportunity and yeah, happy to be here.”
Lapcevich had raced with Chad Bryant Racing this season, not to mention his 2024 season, but parted ways with the organization in the aftermath of the incident in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 when several crew members were involved in a post-race fight with Corey Heim.
But there is another subplot to this opportunity as well. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to continue to drive the No. 8 next year and a handful of select events but intends to field the car full-time with another driver.
Could Lapcevich be that guy?
“I mean, I hope so,” Lapcevich said. “I’m really focused on tomorrow and just doing the best that I can and putting forth my best effort for everyone on this Filter Time No. 8 here and all the guys at JR Motorsports.
“So like I said, yeah, I’m super, super thankful for the opportunity. I know that they run really well everywhere they go. So, I’m super excited to be a part of this team and just doing everything that I can to deliver them a good result tomorrow night.”
This opportunity also means Lapcevich working with veteran crew chief Bryan Shaffer after years of having either Bryant or even dad Jeff in his ears.
“Yeah, I’m excited,” Lapcevich said. “It’ll definitely be something… Every time we work with a new crew chief, it’s different for sure and you learn how you communicate with each other differently and different things that I’m saying, how he’s perceiving that and how we get the car where we want it to be.
“But yeah, just throughout the last couple weeks just been trying to hang around in the shop as much as I could and get to know all the guys and it’s been going really great. They’ve been very welcoming. It’d be cool to take to the track with them today and just see how we can get this car hopefully in victory lane tomorrow night.”
Lapcevich is also running the Pro Late Model race for Rette Jones Racing as has been the case all season. He will also compete in the Snowball Derby for that organization in Deceber.
But this weekend, it’s about a chance to win a race with the most prolific team in Late Model Stock racing.
“I’ve been really grateful this year for the support of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship all year long on the 77 and then Dale giving me this opportunity to drive one of his race cars,” Lapcevich said. “If you were to tell me that I’d be driving Dale’s No. 8 10 years ago when I was driving Street Stocks in Ontario, Canada, I probably would’ve said you’re crazy.
“But like I said, I got a lot of great people in my corner. My parents have done so much for me in supporting this dream of mine. So yeah, I mean it’s up to me now and just doing everything that I can to give them a good result.”
