MOORESVILLE, N.C. – NTT IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly and action sports star Travis Pastrana will join Niece Motorsports for the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 25.
After competing together for much of the spring in the LCQ League, a private iRacing league featuring motorsports and action sports legends having fun in cars from all disciplines, the duo will take their friendly rivalry from the virtual world to reality.
The pair will have sponsorship support from iRacing, Elliott’s Custom Trailers, Pit Viper, Fatheadz and Wienerschnitzel.
Pastrana spent a few seasons racing in NASCAR on a regular basis, including a full season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2013. After a few years away, Pastrana returned to NASCAR earlier this year to drive for Niece Motorsports at Kansas Speedway, where he finished 20th.
“I’m really looking forward to bringing our rivalry from the LCQ League to the real world,” said Pastrana. “We’ve been getting lots of advice and iRacing on track coaching from fellow LCQ member Parker Kligerman. I’m looking forward to seeing how the hours in iRacing pay off on the track, especially for Conor who has never driven a NASCAR truck in real life. He might be the first person in history to jump into a professional racing series and take the green flag without so much as a single practice lap in real life! Conor is a phenomenal IndyCar driver and a quick learner so I think he will surprise a lot of people.
“Conor came over my house a few months back and put my Can-Am on its roof the first lap. I told him I’ve seen Street Bike Tommy drive faster on the dirt! Conor immediately came back with ‘let’s race pavement and I’ll whoop you!’ Since then we’ve continued to talk crap and stayed in touch with our friends at Niece Motorsports. When this opportunity of running a real-world race together with the support of an amazing group of partners came about, we decided to make it happen. I can’t thank Subaru and Yokohama enough for accommodating us as well. They’ll be giving our amazing fans the opportunity to race with us over the next week building up to the race.”
Daly is in the midst of his third full-time NTT IndyCar Series season, where he is splitting time between Ed Carpenter Racing and Carlin. He has one previous start in NASCAR competition, which came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Road America in 2018.
“I could not be more excited to jump in a Gander Outdoor Series truck for the first time ever in Las Vegas,” added Daly. “This will be one of the greatest challenges I’ve ever faced in my career as it will be the first event I’ve ever done where I’ve never driven a single lap in the Chevy Silverado before taking the green flag for the race. Travis and I have been going head to head on iRacing getting as much practice as possible since that’s the best possible form of preparation we have!
“To think this whole LCQ League friendship between Travis and I, along with drivers and riders from all over the motorsport spectrum, all started on iRacing is pretty incredible. We have a tremendous group of partners allowing us to turn this wild idea into a reality and I can’t thank them enough. The only goal I have in my mind is to beat the legendary Travis Pastrana. He made me look like an absolute novice on everything with a motor while at his house a few months ago, but that was on dirt… It’s time to throw down on the high banked pavement of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.”