Pastrana Back Behind the Wheel for Daytona Trucks Niece Motorsports
Travis Pastrana, an action sports star much more widely known for jumping over things and sliding in dirt and making stunts work in films, is back in NASCAR. At least temporarily.
Pastrana is entered in a Niece Motorsports truck in Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series opener at Daytona International Speedway. The race will mark Pastrana’s first NASCAR appearance since 2023, when he ran in the Daytona 500—his only Cup Series event—and in one Truck race. He ran the full O’Reilly Series in 2013, an experience that convinced him that stock car racing probably wasn’t a good full-time adventure for him.
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Pastrana didn’t hesitate, however, when sponsorship opportunities opened the door for the Daytona ride with Niece’s multi-truck operation.
“It’s really wild coming down here to see the family, the camaraderie and knowing so many of the crews and drivers and everybody, this whole NASCAR community,” Pastrana said. “It’s so much fun. When I stopped racing NASCAR for a few years, all my friends were almost depressed. I just love being around the tracks, and I love everything about it.
“It’s an amazing sport, and it’s way, way more challenging and way more stressful than you ever imagined watching television.”
Pastrana excelled in motocross, rally racing, and dropped in on powerboat competition. He is known to accept challenges involving fast vehicles.
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“Look, I’m not the best pavement driver,” he said. “I came from motocross. I went to rally. I like being sideways. Restrictor plate racing, in general, is a skill set that separates the drivers. When I raced in the Daytona 500, I had a couple-hundred-page booklet about where to be, how to slow people down, how to speed yourself up, how to bump right. You’re trying to drive perfect, to hit your line, to get to the person you’re trying to pass at the correct spot, and all the while you’re paying attention to who’s behind you and who’s around you. It’s a game of chess at 200 miles per hour.
“Anyone who tells you that that is not scary is full of it. So it was awesome.”
Pastrana, 42, has suffered a long list of injuries across a career that has touched on many varieties of motorsport. His NASCAR appearances have been the exception. “I’ve had some good bell-ringers out there, for sure, but no major injuries,” he said.