Could Travis Pastrana be a Dodge NASCAR driver?

SRT Motorsports unveiled the 2013 Dodge Charger stock car
earlier this year – right after Penske Racing announced that they would be
leaving Dodge after the 2012 season to go race with Ford.  This means that the only NASCAR Sprint Cup
teams running Dodge Chargers right now will have gone elsewhere next season,
leaving Dodge NASCAR fans like myself wondering if there will be a “next year”
for the Dodge Sprint Cup program.   You
would think that if Dodge went to the trouble to design a 2013 Dodge Charger
stock car, they would have someone to drive it but who might that be?

We have already speculated that Sprint Cup points leader
Matt Kenseth could be making the jump to a Dodge team as he has announced that
he will not be with Roush Racing next year but maybe that it shooting a bit too
high – being a bit too hopeful?

Another interesting possibility is Travis Pastrana, who has
had a fairly awful season in the #199 Boost Mobile Toyota Camry.  While there has been no talk of Pastrana
leaving his Toyota team and going elsewhere, the former X Games phenom has
become increasingly more involved with Dodge and SRT Motorsports over the past
few months.  First, Pastrana left a long
and successful career with Subaru in the rally world to come run Global
RallyCross in the new 2013 Dodge Dart – taking home his first win recently at
the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 
Second, Pastrana has also taken up a position with the Ram/Red Bull
Racing program in the Torc Pro 2WD truck series where he finished second in his
very first start and was taken out of contention in the second race of his
short career with an early crash.

That means that Travis Pastrana has two factory backed rides
from a company who obviously seems to want to run NASCAR but they are without a
regular driver once Penske Racing moves to Ford.  Pastrana has limited experience with almost
no success in the NASCAR Nationwide Series ranks but with so much involvement
with Dodge and SRT Motorsports, could the Chrysler Group be wooing Mr. Pastrana
to run NASCAR in 2013?

The problem is that even if the Chrysler Group can entice
Travis Pastrana to leave RAB Racing and his struggles in the Toyota Camry,
there is still no team ready to take him on for 2013.  Pastrana is heavily sponsored by Red Bull
Racing – a company who pulled out of the NASCAR Sprint Cup ranks after the 2011
season where their company name appeared on the #83 Toyota of Brian Vickers.  Based on that, Travis Pastrana could come to
Dodge’s NASCAR program with a well-known, deep-pocketed sponsor so it could
entice a prospective team owner looking to jump to the Dodge brand in 2013.  Pastrana probably doesn’t have the resources
to start up a new team on his own but with lot of financial help from Red Bull
and Dodge Motorsports – Pastrana could either come up with a ride of his own or
attract a new car owner to the Dodge brand for 2013.

Travis Pastrana likely wouldn’t come into the NASCAR ranks
winning big with the 2013 Dodge Charger but the charismatic rally racer would
make for a great personality in a sport that caters to that sort of racer.  Even if he isn’t winning a ton – Travis Pastrana
would likely generate a great deal of attention and enthusiasm from Dodge
NASCAR fans.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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