Fort Kent’s Austin Theriault has landed a ride with Brad Keselowski Racing in NASCAR’s season-opening Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19.
Theriault had a 13-race deal in the Truck Series with Keselowski Racing last year but missed four races because of a 10 percent compression fracture in his back after crashing at the Rhino Linings 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 3.
He posted four top-10 and two top-five finishes, including a fourth in the opener at Daytona.
He will be driving the No. 2 Ford F-150 and will be joining full-time BKR drivers Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric in the race, the NextEra Energy Resources 250.
Theriault said he has his sights set on winning the race with crew chief Buddy Sisco, who is a special projects coordinator and liaison between the Hemric and Reddick teams.
Sisco had been a crew chief for 48 Sprint Cup races with 12 different drivers.
“I’m thankful to Brad for giving me this opportunity,” Theriault said. “My truck will be fast enough to win, and that’s what I’ll be looking to do. That would open up some doors for me.”
Theriault said he is considering an opportunity that would enable him to run “for a points championship in a full-time ride,” but he preferred not to discuss whether it was in NASCAR’s Truck or Xfinity Series.
The Theriault, 22, said Sisco has done a lot good things in his time with BKR. Sisco joined BKR in 2013.
“You always want to run well at Daytona, and I think we have an excellent chance to do that with Austin,” Sisco said in a news release. “He’s a student of the game, and there are so many things you don’t have to teach him. We’ve made changes here at BKR and feel like everything about our Ford F-150 trucks is even better than they were last year.
“Our teammates are running for the championship and won’t take as many risks, but we can get outside the box a little bit and try some different things setup-wise to see if it pays any benefits,” he added.