Fort Kent’s Austin Theriault will return to the track on Friday night in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale. He has missed the last four races because of a 10 percent compression fracture in his lower back that he suffered during a wreck at the Rhino Linings 350 on Oct. 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He has been cleared by doctors to run in the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 21-year-old Theriault had signed a 13-race deal with Brad Keselowski Racing and had two top-five and four top-10 finishes in eight races.
Brian Keselowski, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney have filled in for Theriault over the last four races while he recuperated from his injury.
Theriault was injured when his No. 29 BKR Ford was side-swiped by teammate Tyler Reddick, who lost control of his truck and slid down the track. After being tagged by Reddick, Theriault’s truck careened up the track into a portion of the track that did not have a SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier.
Theriault underwent physical therapy and a workout regimen to return to racing.
Team owner Brad Keselowski tweeted: “Been a long time coming. Glad he is now cleared and feeling great after Vegas.”