Fort Kent’s Austin Theriault will have the first opportunity of his young NASCAR career to get some consistent seat time beginning Friday.
The 21-year-old driver will climb back into the No. 29 Camping World Truck Series Ford for Brad Keselowski Racing at the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
It will be his third of 13 races in the No. 29 and he will also run the following two weeks: the Drivin’ for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park in Illinois and the American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway.
Theriault finished fourth at the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 20 and 14th at the Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway on May 8.
He landed a three-race deal in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports a year ago but the races were on May 18 (Iowa Speedway), July 12 (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) and Sept. 20 (Kentucky Speedway).
Theriault said by racing on three consecutive weeks, “you don’t seem to forget as much. You can apply what you learned week after week after week. You don’t have to wait. I think I’m going to learn a ton.”
He compared his current situation to “having soccer practice every day compared to just once a week.”
He said he is “anxious” to get back behind the wheel and apply what “I learned at Kansas and Daytona.”
Theriault will get even more of an opportunity later in the season when he runs eight races over the final three months of the campaign.
He tested at Texas Motor Speedway’s mile-and-a-half track “but it rained so we weren’t able to finish it.
“Texas is a little bumpier than Kansas. It’s more worn out so there will be less grip. It will be more of a handling race than just raw speed,” he said. “Track position will also be important.”
Theriault’s BKR teammate, Tyler Reddick, is currently second in points behind Matt Crafton in the No. 19 Ford truck. He is also second in owner points behind Crafton.
Reddick has won two of the six races, as has Crafton.
Theriault is 29th in points after running just two of the six races but his No. 29 truck is tied for fifth in owner points.
Keselowski, fellow Sprint Cup driver Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney have driven the No. 29 in the other four races, with Keselowski driving two of them. Logano won a race, Keselowski posted a fifth and a 15th and Blaney came home seventh in his race.
“I’m looking for top five and top 10 finishes,” said Theriault. “I’m trying to gain as much experience as I can. The wins will come. We all feel like the wins will come. It’s a step-by-step thing. You’ve got to walk before you can run.
“[Reddick] did what I’m doing last year. He’d race a little and then have some time off. The more he raced, the better he got. By the end of the year, he was getting top fives and top 10s and now he’s winning races.”
Theriault said he knows he will have a fast truck and it is up to him to be “efficient” when it comes to passing trucks.
The race will start at 9 p.m. and will be shown on Fox Sports 1.