For some, placing 15th in their first-ever race on NASCAR’s Nationwide Series would supply a healthy measure of satisfaction.
But that isn’t how Fort Kent’s Austin Theriault assessed his finish in the Get to Know Newton 250 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday.
“To be fully honest, I’m a little bit disappointed,” said the 20-year-old Theriault, who competed in his first race of a three-race deal with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports Nationwide team.
Theriault qualified 17th and ran in the top 15 all afternoon in the 40-car field.
But he was ninth on the last restart after a caution with 21 laps remaining and, six laps later, he had been shuffled back to 15th after getting caught in the middle of a three-wide duel.
“We had a legitimate shot to finish in the top 10. But that last restart didn’t work out in our favor. I was on the losing side of that situation,” explained Theriault. “When you’re in a big pack of cars like that, and you’re in the middle, the wide car takes away your air. It changes your aerodynamics.”
Veteran crew chief Ernie Cope said Theriault’s “inexperience on the restart” probably cost him a top 10, but he said Theriault did a nice job salvaging a top-15 finish by backing off after being shuffled back to 15th.
“He could have made a worse mistake by trying to force the issue, crashing the car and winding up 30th,” said Cope. “He made the right decision.”
Cope noted that the only way a driver learns from that type of three-wide situation is by experiencing it during a race.
Cope said Theriault did an “excellent” job in his debut.
“He passed cars all day long, and he stayed on the lead lap,” said Cope. “He can definitely do this thing.”
Sam Hornish Jr. won the race, and the other JR Motorsports drivers, Regan Smith and Chase Elliott finished third and fourth, respectively.
Elliott leads the Nationwide Series points standings, and Smith is tied for second with Elliott Sadler, two points behind Elliott.
Cope and Theriault will be reunited for his second Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 12, and they will finish his deal at Kentucky Speedway on Sept. 20.
Theriault felt he learned a lot, and he received some “invaluable” seat time during Friday’s practice session. He also studied some of the series’ fastest drivers to get an idea how to approach Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
“I knew we had a good race car when the green flag dropped, but qualifying 17th didn’t do much justice for how good the car was,” said Theriault. “ Qualifying was new to me. Now I have a much better idea of what to expect from qualifying.”
He said his car was “really good on long runs,” and he feels he would have finished higher if not for that late-race caution and restart.
He said he benefited from driving for a top-notch race team.
“The pit stops were good, and the calls [made by Cope and his crew] were very smart,” said Theriault. “The whole team is really dedicated and wants to win. That’s why it’s a little disappointing. We thought we deserved a top-10 finish, but where you feel you deserve to finish and where you finish are rarely the same.”
Theriault’s race capped a busy week. He had been interviewed earlier in the week by Newburgh native Ricky Craven, a former two-time Sprint Cup race winner and ESPN NASCAR analyst.
“That was my first big interview,” said Theriault. “It was good. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. It was great to sit down with a fellow Mainer who has run full time at the highest level. There’s definitely a lot I can learn from him. It’s good to have him as sort of mentor in all aspects of racing.”
Theriault’s next order of business is some marketing and promotional gigs to try to attract more sponsors.
He hopes to drive in a July 5 Pro All-Stars Series Super Late Model North race at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, and he would like to land another race or two before his July 12 Nationwide event.