Stephen Nasse is seemingly due for another championship run at the World Series of Asphalt.
The 21-year-old (dubbed Mr. Excitement by this website) has been a contender at New Smyrna Speedway ever since he was a teenage rookie back in 2010. He has five victories in 35 starts in the Super Late Model Speedweeks classic but a championship has eluded him.
“Well, that’s something that’s been haunting me — that we haven’t clicked off a Speedweeks championship yet,” Nasse said. “I’ve come pretty darn very close.”
In fact, he knows he probably should have won it in back in 2014. He was the points leader entering the 100-lap championship race the night before the Daytona 500 but was involved in a crash just past halfway. He eventually finished sixth but it wasn’t enough to overtake Steven Wallace in the championship standings.
Nasse opened 2017 with a third-place result in CRA Speedfest at Watermelon Capital Speedway behind Harrison Burton and Erik Jones. That gives him confidence that he can put together a championship caliber run starting on Friday night.
“We did some testing and we took our new FURY car to get dialed in and be the best we can be,” Nasse said. “If we can be anywhere near where we were in the Govenor’s Cup, we should win a lot of races and contend for a championship by the end of the week.”
He finished sixth and led 103 laps in the annual November 200-lapper at New Smyrna.
READ MORE: What is the World Series at New Smyrna?
But his only concern lies in the short-term speed of his No. 51 Super Late Model. Unlike many of the events he competes at, the World Series of Asphalt is comprised of five 35-lappers a 50-lapper and a championship-deciding 100-lap showdown.
Nasse believes he needs more short-term speed in order to capture the crown.
“I’m a little worried because it’s been taking 20 to 25 laps for the car to get acclimated to the track,” Nasse said. “I mean, we’ve had runs where we’re the best car on the track but it took so long to come in and with 35 lap races, if we can’t get going until Lap 20, and we fall back to sixth or so, that only gives us 10 to make something happen and that’s unrealistic.
“We need to make our short run stuff better because our long run stuff is on point. I think our long run stuff is good. Look at Speedfest: two NASCAR names finished ahead of us and we were right there with them. I think we’re doing great things and we’re going to Speedweeks to win some races.”