Stephen Nasse

Stephen Nasse is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East, driving the No. 09 Ford for Jett Motorsports. He also competes in various super late model events. He is nicknamed Classy Nasse.[1]

Stephen Nasse
Nasse in 2019
Nationality American
Born (1995-05-05) May 5, 1995
Pinellas Park, Florida
CARS Super Late Model Tour career
Debut season2015
Current teamJett Motorsports
Car number51
EngineChevrolet
Starts23
Championships0
Wins3
Poles2
Best finish5th in 2019
Previous series
2012, 2020ARCA Menards Series East
Championship titles
2019
2018
2017		Short Track Nationals
World Series of Asphalt
Southern Super Series
Last updated on: March 26, 2020.

Racing career

A third-generation racer, Nasse started his racing career in the go-kart ranks at age four.[2] He won a national karting championship.[3] He grew up watching racing at his hometown track Suntime (now Showtime) Speedway. As a 13-year-old, he moved up to Florida's FasTrucks.[3][4] Nasse had his first late model win as a 14-year-old in the 2009 New Smyrna Speedway's World Series of Asphalt Racing,[3] and moved up to full-time late model racing in 2010.[5] He and his family team eventually made two NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts in 2012.[6] Nasse won the Red Eye 100 late model race in 2012 and 2013.[7]

Nasse was running in the Pro Cup Series in 2013 when he caught pneumonia, keeping him off of the track for two-plus months. After he recovered, Nasse ran in the Pro Cup Series' successor, the CARS Super Late Model Tour, teaming with DLP Motorsports.[8]

In 2015, Nasse spun leader Anderson Bowen on the first lap of the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway. Nasse took responsibility for the incident but called it an accident, claiming that Bowen took an irregular line into corner entry, braking earlier than Nasse was expecting.[9] During a Pro All Stars Series South contest at South Boston Speedway, Nasse was spun from the lead by Brandon Setzer and retired from the race.[10] 2016 saw Nasse take checkered flags in various events, including the Baby Rattler 125 and races sanctioned by the Bright House Challenge Series and the CARS Tour.[11] Multiple run-ins with Dalton Sargeant led to a brief rivalry between the two.[12] In the 2016 Snowball Derby, Nasse wrecked William Byron under caution in retaliation for an on-track incident;[3] Nasse later called out Byron, Johanna Long and Todd Gilliland for moving up by writing checks and not moving up by talent.[13]

Nasse won the 2017 Southern Super Series championship and also claimed a victory in the CARS Super Late Model Tour season finale.[4][14] The SSS championship came after Nasse started the season unsure of whether he would run the full season, as he had never done so in the past.[15]

He switched teams from DLP Motorsports to Jett Motorsports in 2018 and followed the championship up with an early 2018 championship in the World Series of Asphalt.[16][6] In April 2018, Nasse punched rival Donnie Wilson while Wilson was still in his car after an on-track incident at Five Flags Speedway.[17] Nasse later controlled the last third of the race to win the Mobile 300 at Mobile International Speedway.[18] At the Snowball Derby in December, Nasse wrapped his car in a Fortnite-style winter paint scheme.[19] He also spent $5000[3] to hire what he thought was a Roush Fenway Racing development pit crew for the race but had myriad problems with the crew during the day, losing spots on pit road and eventually returning to the track twice with a loose wheel, ending his day in a crash.[3] Nasse, infuriated by the smirks he saw on the rented pit crew's faces, charged the crew after exiting his car over an estimated $40,000 loss.[20]

Nasse's No. 51 super late model in 2019

Nasse switched to a freelance schedule in 2019 instead of running for any one particular points championship.[21] He won the super late model portion of Short Track Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway in May, prevailing over Casey Roderick.[22] At Winchester Speedway, Nasse led all but eight laps en route to a Winchester 400 win.[23] After leading laps in the All American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway, brake issues dropped Nasse from contention.[24] He also finished first in the Snowball Derby in December, but was stripped of the win during post-race technical inspection for having titanium piston caps in the braking system, something that was explicitly disallowed in the rulebook. Nasse claimed that his former brake supplier, PFC Brakes, told technical inspectors to check the brakes, and the claim was not immediately refuted by PFC employees, although the company later released a statement denying involvement.[25] Nasse also blasted PFC for playing favorites within their customer base.[26]

Nasse at New Smyrna Speedway in 2020

To start the 2020 season, Nasse debuted a new Rowdy Manufacturing super late model chassis, switching from a Fury Race Cars-built entry.[27] After winning the pro late model portion of SpeedFest in January, he spun Bubba Pollard with fifteen laps to go in the super late model portion of the event. Pollard later dumped Nasse, leading to an exchange of words between the two culminating in Nasse calling Pollard "the biggest crybaby in this pit area."[28] In February, Nasse was asked by his team owner to run the ARCA Menards Series East race at New Smyrna Speedway in an aim to get into the driver development program arena.[29] In his first race at Five Flags since the Snowball, Nasse scored a win at a Blizzard Series race there.[30] After a potential late model stock car debut at the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 was cancelled, he returned to the Short Track Nationals.[31] Nasse also won two Southern Super Series races, claiming a $5,000 bonus for his win at Crisp Motorsports Park in August.[32]

Other racing

Nasse has said that he originally aspired to be a high-level NASCAR driver, but that the organization lost its luster for boring racing, empty stands and vanilla personalities.[4] As an alternative, Nasse said that he would like to run in a World of Outlaws Late Model with personalities like Scott Bloomquist.[4]

Personal life

When not racing, Nasse works as a foundation builder for residential construction.[2] He is a casual iRacing player.[33]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series East
ARCA Menards Series East results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 AMSEC Pts Ref
2012 DLP Motorsports 51 Toyota BRI GRE RCH
20		 IOW BGS GRE
22		 LGY CNB COL IOW NHA DOV GRE CAR 48th 46 [34]
2020 Jett Motorsports 09 Ford NSM
6		 TOL DOV TOL BRI FIF 29th 38 [35]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References
  1. "PFC Short Track Draft Scouting Report: Stephen Nasse". Speed51. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  2. "10 Questions with…Stephen Nasse". Slinger Speedway. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  3. Beck, Jason (October 2019). "No Bad Attention". Speedway Illustrated.
  4. Allen, Richard (May 7, 2019). "Stephen Nasse Choosing His Own Path in the Racing World". Inside Circle Track. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  5. Sullivan, Connor (March 29, 2018). "PFC Short Track Draft Scouting Report: Stephen Nasse". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  6. Smith, David (March 24, 2020). "To short-tracker Stephen Nasse, 'classy and nasty' appeals more than NASCAR fame". The Athletic. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  7. Traylor, Elgin (December 22, 2014). "A Look at the History of the Red-Eye 100". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  8. Marquis, Andy. "Stephen Nasse Determined to Win". Short Track Scene. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  9. "Rattler 250 Notebook: Nasse Sets the Record Straight". Race22. March 16, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  10. Traylor, Elgin (August 16, 2015). "Smith Capitalizes on Late Tangle for SoBo Conquest". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  11. Speed51. May 10, 2017 https://speed51.com/top-10-late-models-drivers-in-the-2017-short-track-draft/. Retrieved October 4, 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. Blount, Rob (October 12, 2016). "A Racing Rivalry is Born: Stephen Nasse vs. Dalton Sargeant". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  13. Marquis, Andy (December 7, 2016). "Stephen Nasse Holds Nothing Back in Epic Twitter Tirade Following Snowball Derby Crash". Race22. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  14. Evans, Zach (October 15, 2017). "Nasse is Last Man Standing in Wild CARS Tour Finale". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  15. Newhouse, Hannah (September 19, 2017). "Nasse, Smith to Settle SSS Championship Battle at Five Flags". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  16. Paul, Brandon (February 9, 2018). "Nasse Wins First Race With New Team at New Smyrna WS". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  17. Corder, Chuck. "After settling things with fists, Wilson-Nasse rematch set for 5 Flags". Pensacola News Journal. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  18. McCollough, Ryan (October 29, 2018). "Nasse Silences Critics With Dominating Mobile 300 Victory". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  19. Vining, Daniel (November 30, 2018). "Nasse goes to a Backup, then Back to the Primary". Pixelated Speed. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  20. Walters, Shane (December 10, 2018). "Stephen Nasse explains why he tossed his helmet at his pit crew". RacingNews. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  21. Geyer, Koty (March 8, 2019). "Nasse Planning to Mix Things Up With 2019 Schedule". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  22. "Skinner, Nasse Claim Major Victories at 3rd Annual Short Track U.S. Nationals". Tri Cities Sports. June 1, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  23. Evans, Zach (May 3, 2020). "Should Stephen Nasse Have Been Drafted Higher?". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  24. Geyer, Koty (November 4, 2019). "Leftovers from the All American 400 at Nashville". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  25. Weaver, Matt (December 10, 2019). "The reason Stephen Nasse was disqualified from his Snowball Derby win". Short Track Scene. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  26. Seelman, Jacob (December 10, 2019). "Inside Stephen Nasse's Snowball Derby Disqualification". Speed Sport. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  27. Geyer, Koty (January 22, 2020). "Getting Rowdy: Nasse Debuting New Car at SpeedFest". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  28. Paul, Brandon (January 25, 2020). "Pollard & Nasse Trade Blows in Closing Laps of CRA SpeedFest". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  29. Weaver, Matt (February 10, 2020). "Stephen Nasse Returns to NASCAR with ARCA East Start". Autoweek. Hearst Digital Media. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  30. Geyer, Koty (June 27, 2020). "Nasse Gets Redemption in First Trip Back to Five Flags". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  31. Geyer, Koty (August 28, 2020). "Nasse to Defend Bristol Sword After Martinsville Cancels". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  32. Evans, Zach (August 9, 2020). "Nasse Collects $10,000 Victory on Smooth Night in Georgia". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  33. Evans, Zach (April 2, 2020). "Nasse Getting Adjusted to Sim Racing During Break". Speed51. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  34. "Stephen Nasse – 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  35. "Stephen Nasse – 2020 ARCA Menards Series East results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
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