Race Weekend Central

Travis Pastrana Discusses Possibility of Returning to NASCAR

From NASCAR to Nitro Circus, the past year-and-a-half have flown by – literally and figuratively – for Travis Pastrana. The former Xfinity Series driver for Roush Fenway Racing stopped by to talk to Frontstretch after being spotted back in the garage area Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.

Pastrana’s last stock car race came in the Homestead Xfinity Series finale back in 2013. Since then, the driver’s presence has been limited as he works on other racing endeavors. Following a brief stint in NASCAR competition, the 14-time X-Games medalist returned to rally cars. In 2013, even while racing in NASCAR, he competed in the Red Bull Global Rally Cross (GRC) division, earning one podium finish that season in five starts.

“This is the first weekend that we’ve had off from Nitro Circus, and I was talking to Matt Crafton and he was like dude, come to Pocono,” Pastrana told Frontstretch. “We’ve been just doing mostly Nitro Circus. We’ve done 45 shows already this year all over the world. My wife is still skating on tour and we just have a big extended family.”

For someone that hates traveling, Pastrana said he loves the destinations Nitro Circus brings him to. The division travels across the globe, providing an action-packed entertainment show for fans. Consisting of stunts on multiple vehicles, Nitro Circus has gone from a DVD collection with Pastrana and his peers, Jeremy Rawle and Gregg Godfrey in 2003 to nearly 100 shows as the “world’s most successful action sports touring brand.”

But the rare sighting of Pastrana at a NASCAR race presented a simple question. Is he thinking of a comeback?

“I had so much fun, but I ran out of money and ran out of talent,” Pastrana joked. “I definitely talked to these guys about running the K&N Series here and there, trying to get a Truck Series race from time-to-time. This year, we just didn’t have much time.”

Pastrana is going to try putting together a deal for the Dover K&N race over the next few weeks or the Truck Series event at Las Vegas, but is uncertain as to whether or not it will happen after having some small conversations with numerous teams. The reason those races are circled on his calendar are due to having an off weekend from Nitro Circus.

Over the course of his NASCAR career, Pastrana had 42 Xfinity Series starts, along with one start in the Truck Series and 11 K&N Pro Series East starts. Originally, he was teamed with Michael Waltrip Racing, forming Pastrana Waltrip Racing and partnering with RAB Racing in 2012. He landed at RFR the next season, running full-time with the majority of the funding coming from private investors and out of his own pocket.

Evidently, Pastrana ran out of money and has not entered a NASCAR-sanctioned contest since. With four top 10s and a pole in his brief career, Pastrana hopes to someday earn the chance to compete at a high level in NASCAR once again.

About the author

Joseph started with Fronstretch in Aug. 2014 and worked his way up to become an editor in less than a year. A native of Whitestone, New York, Joseph writes for NASCAR Pole Position magazine as a weekly contributor, along with being a former intern at Newsday and the Times Beacon Record Newspapers, each on Long Island. With a focus on NASCAR, he runs our social media pages and writes the NASCAR Mailbox column, along with other features for the site.

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