Wellesley native and auto racer Blake Lothian has rapidly been working his way up the NASCAR ranks. He’ll make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with Reaume Brothers Racing at the a 200-lap race in Martinsville Speedway on Thursday, April 7 at 8pm on Fox Sports 1 (FS1).
Lothian will be driving the #43 vehicle.
Lothian started his racing career in go karts at age five.
Lothian is coming off a successful 2021, winning a race at Hickory Motor Speedway and securing eight top-10 finishes.
He tells us that the vehicle he’s driving “can best be described as a purpose-built race truck.”
For those of you unfamiliar with how NASCAR works, here’s a primer via Lothian:
NASCAR has 3 top tier nationally televised touring series
1. Cup, competes and airs nationally every Sunday at a different track in the nation
2. Xfinity, competes and airs nationally every Saturday
3. Camping World trucks competes and airs nationally every Thurs or Friday night
All 3 races will occur at the same track in the same city on any given weekend. So technically fans could go to all 3 races in one weekend if they want to
(Although in the case of Martinsville, there will be racing on Saturday, but not on Sunday.)
While the Cup is the top tier, Lothian notes that many drivers race in multiple series. “For example, Kyle Busch loves trucks so he races in both Cup and trucks and will be racing at Martinsville. This provides me with a great learning opportunity. There are some drivers who choose to spend their entire career in one series and that can be lucrative for them. As a rookie in my first truck race my only goals are to complete all laps and bring the truck back clean. That would be a win for me. Starting with small steps and seeing where it leads for now.”
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