NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Jordan Taylor isn’t used to rubbing panels.
In his full-time job as an IMSA WeatherTech SportCar driver for Corvette Racing, the time he spends door-to-door with competitors is extremely limited.
“When I touch another car with my sports car, I’ll get on the radio and say, ‘Guys, I touched someone, I’m sorry.’ And you hope everything is OK,” Taylor said. “And then you watch these (NASCAR) races and they’re not touching each other less than they’re touching each other.”
The 32-year-old recently waded into the waters of stock car racing, beginning with his involvement as a test driver and coach with NASCAR’s Garage 56 program. He swam further when given the opportunity to sub for the injured NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliot in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at Circuit of The Americas on March 26.
And two months later, Taylor is continuing to get his feet wet in the stock car racing world.
On May 17, he made his first CARS Tour start in the pro late model division at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Taylor wheeled the No. 1 E33 Motorsports entry in the 100-lap Crossroads Harley Davidson 75 and finished 20th.
While it’s a less-than-thrilling result, for the sports car ace, each stock car start simply adds a piece to a much bigger puzzle.
“Now that I’ve gotten a taste of the NASCAR side, I would love to try to do more,” Taylor admitted. “I spoke to Jeff (Gordon) a couple days after the Cup race and asked if it would ever be realistic for someone like me to make a switch, whether it was full time or part time.”
Gordon’s short answer: Yes.
His suggestion: Go run late models and learn from the ground up.
And that’s exactly what Taylor is taking upon himself to do.
Prior to the race at North Wilkesboro, he spent an hour testing a late model at North Carolina’s Orange County Speedway and also put in a 50-lap run 40 miles west at Ace Speedway. But just like his NASCAR debut, being in a race environment was another story entirely.
Even in the first CARS Tour practice session on Tuesday afternoon, Taylor felt completely out of his comfort zone.
He added, “First session was a disaster.”
With dozens of other cars on track, he admitted to feeling overwhelmed between the close quarters he was racing in and trying to listen to the spotter feeding him information over the radio — something he’s not used to in IMSA sports car racing.
By the second practice on Wednesday, Taylor was feeling like a race car driver and was more at ease with handling the late model. Though he floated around the mid-pack for much of the Crossroads Harley Davidson 75 in the evening, Taylor’s 20th-place finish had little effect on his future plans.
“After doing an oval here, I’d love to do some more of these and get more experience with it. And then if there’s an opening for some part-time NASCAR schedule down the road, I’d love to give it a shot,” Taylor said. “Now that I’ve gotten this break, that my name is in this world, people at least know who I am.”
He also announced on Wednesday that he will drive the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland Int’l Raceway in June.