He knows how certain drivers drive and how tracks will change. With Daniel only having 12 World of Outlaws starts, so far, Lasoski tries to paint a picture for Daniel before every race of what he can expect.
“Every place you go is so different,” Lasoski said about the World of Outlaws tour. “No matter if we go to Knoxville or Eldora or Williams Grove, there’s immediately things that go through my head about each racetrack. ‘Oh, I felt this at this time. We need to pay attention to this. This may happen to you.’ Everywhere we go, we discuss it when we go there of everything that’s happened to me in the past.”
So far this year, due to the COVID-19, the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars have only had the opportunity to race the DIRTcar Nationals triple-header at Volusia Speedway Park in February. There, Daniel finished 15th in the first event – tying his career best finish – didn’t qualify for the second and finished 23rd in the final race.
The half-mile Florida track is one of Lasoski’s favorites, he said. He was able to tell Daniel what would happen throughout the night and when. When Daniel got out of the car, he relayed to Lasoski exactly what he told him would happen. That advice has been most helpful, so far, Daniel said.
“He’s always helpful when we go to a new track no matter where it is,” he said. “Just kind of looks at you and goes, ‘Alright, the car’s going to roll around the track, just hold it wide open.’ Just taking advice from him any time you show up somewhere new.”
The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars will return to racing on May 8 for a team and participant invite-only event at Knoxville Raceway — a track where they’ve both had success.
Along with his Knoxville Nationals wins, Lasoski is an 11-time track champion at the iconic raceway and has the most feature wins in a 410 sprint car there with 112 wins. Daniel won a 360 sprint car race at the track in 2018.
However, it doesn’t matter what track they go to, Lasoski said their goals always remain the same. Consistently make races. Then consistently work on top-10 finishes and then top-five finishes. Then wins will come.
“When we started, we crawled,” Lasoski said. “He (Daniel) ran 360 (Sprint Cars) and he’s really came a long way in a short period of time. But we still have a lot of work to do. He’s open minded enough to say, ‘We’re going to do this as long as it takes. We’re going to take our ass whippings and keep going.’ That goes hand in hand the way I was brought up. You’re going to get your tail kicked. You just keep coming back harder because that’s what’s going to make for a good season. If you keep that mentality, the sky is the limit. You keep fighting and digging and it’ll come true for you.”
Like Stewart did for him, Lasoski hopes help Daniel throughout his racing career and one day claim a championship.