Dylan Kwasniewski entered the 2014 NASCAR
Nationwide Season as one of the highest regarded rookies. Kwasniewski, who made the move
into the Nationwide Series after becoming the first driver to win NASCAR K&N
Pro Series West and East Championship’s back to back,
made a strong statement at Daytona by qualifying on pole and respectfully
finishing eighth. But that’s where it stopped;
Daytona has been his only top ten to date.
Kwasniewski stated at the beginning of
the season he was not expecting to win races right away, but this probably wasn’t the young rookie's plan either. Despite strong qualifying
efforts, he has just a
handful of respectable finishes within the top twenty, and his three poor
finishes resulted in wrecks and on-track conflicts.
But Kwasniewski’s rookie season is
far from ordinary; shortly after the start of the season he was tapped by Chip Ganassi
Racing as their next development driver. Despite being the
primary driver of the number 31 Rockstar Energy Chevy for Turner Scott
Motorsport, he is also the secondary driver of the 42 TSM Chevy when Kyle
Larson is not present for Nationwide events. As a rookie, he has bounced between two cars
with two different crew
chiefs. Though he is racing for
the same team, each car's crew chief is different. This situation is a hard obstacle
for a rookie to overcome. Kwasniewski made his debut in the 42 this past Sunday
at Iowa and all he wanted was a good clean finish, which is what he got.
Kwasniewski finished eleventh at Iowa, one of the few tracks he is familiar
with. A finish like that is a confidence booster for any
rookie needing to
get back on rhythm. With his talent and skill there is no doubt Kwasniewski
will be racking up the top tens soon. He has all the tools at his disposal, and
has the guidance of two
veteran crew chiefs such as Pat Tryson and Scott Zipadelli. With two crew chief’s like that, it is only a matter of time until he finds his groove and is back to making a statement.
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