Spencer Boyd To Make NASCAR XFINITY Series Debut At Iowa Speedway
Adding more drivers to their already impressive resume in 25 years of Motorsports existence, Rick Ware Racing announced today that Spencer Boyd will make his NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) debut this Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.
Boyd will pilot the No. 25 Wick Buildings Chevrolet Camaro in the U.S. Cellular 250. It will be Boyd’s third career NASCAR national series start this season.
Wick Buildings, Inc. is a privately held Wisconsin company founded in 1954 by John F. Wick.
With the sale of over 70,000 buildings to date, Wick Buildings has steadily grown to become one of the nation’s largest producers of post-frame buildings, including sophisticated animal confinement systems, horse housing facilities, on-farm livestock and storage buildings, suburban structures and professionally engineered commercial and light industrial buildings.
An avid racer, Boyd, a native of St. Louis, Missouri is a 12-time World Karting Association (WKA) champion, a two-time Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway Legends Car champion and a multi-race winner in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS).
The 21-year-old is embracing his opportunity to compete in two of NASCAR’s highest levels and looks forward to his Iowa Speedway debut, where he is optimistic for a strong finish.
“It's been a long time in the making since I met Rick Ware at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2012 and a friendship was struck,” said Boyd. “It has been my quest to drive for him one day and to get this opportunity to make my XFINITY debut with such a great team and family.
“I'm excited. We will go accomplish more goals together this weekend with the help of Wick Buildings.”
Earlier this season, Boyd made two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Gateway (Ill.) Motorsports Park driving for MB Motorsports and Premium Motorsports respectively. Boyd’s lead lap 19th place finish at Gateway gives the rookie driver optimism heading to Iowa Speedway where he hopes he’s able to pull off a similar feat.
“Gateway was such a great experience not only for me, but for my sponsors and family too,” Boyd added. “It was a total team effort. I learned a lot at Gateway. Hopefully, I’m able to take some of what I learned there and apply it to Iowa Saturday night.”
Despite never competing at Iowa Speedway before, Boyd says he’ll stay focused during practice and even turn to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series race run on Friday night for additional input.
“I still have a lot to learn, but I’m excited to get to Iowa and get going,” offered Boyd. “Realistically, if we can get out of Iowa with a top-20 finish, we’d be ecstatic.
Team principal Rick Ware says he’s grateful to have another young-gun progress through his team and believes Boyd has the skill and finesse to impress in his XFINITY Series debut.
“I’ve known Spencer a long time and he’s a very smart, conservative, but fast driver,” Ware said. “I watched Spencer in particular at Gateway and he let the race come to him. He raced the track instead of his competitors which aided him in his career-best finish. If he does that on Saturday night at Iowa, he’ll have a finish he can be proud of.”
The U.S. Cellular 250 (250 laps / 218.75 miles) is the 19th of 33 NASCAR XFINITY Series on the 2016 schedule. Practice begins on Friday, July 29 from 4:00 p.m. – 4:55 p.m., while a final session is set for 6:00 p.m. – 7:20 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Saturday, July 30 beginning at 3:15 p.m. The 40-car field will take the green flag shortly after 7:00 p.m. with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90).