Kyle Weatherman at 9:30 pm ET on Thursday, May 19, 2016
Photo – ARS
Kyle Weatherman is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 9:30 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @beberly18 with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.
Kyle Weatherman made a name for himself in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards last season. Driving for Cunningham Motorsports, Weatherman competed in 15 of the 20 races on the series’ schedule and earned his first series victory at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Weatherman also recorded runner-up finishes at Salem, Iowa, Springfield, DuQuoin and Kansas en route to earning the 2015 SCOTT Rookie of the Year award and the Calypso Lemonade Short Track Challenge championship.
Weatherman changed teams during the off-season, singing with Lira Motorsports to pilot the team’s No. 58 Ford and compete for the championship.
The series-opener at Daytona International Speedway saw Weatherman make his superspeedway debut. A blown engine in practice forced the 18-year-old to miss qualifying and start at the rear of the field, but he avoided the calamity typically seen at Daytona to earn a third-place finish.
“With the incident on lap two, I definitely had to keep my eyes open for the rest of the race,” Weatherman said after Daytona. “Luckily there was only one more wreck for the rest of the day. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and for us starting in the back allowed us to miss that wreck.”
Weatherman qualified third and was fast in the second race of the season at Nashville, but finished 24th after suffering a broken right-front ball joint while battling for the second position.
The Wentzville, Missouri native was strong once again at Salem, finishing fourth before once again avoiding trouble at Talladega for a 12th-place result.
Weatherman credits crew chief Sam Schram for a lot of his success in 2016 with the new team.
“Sam and I worked really well together this weekend, and we are ready for Toledo,” Weatherman said via a team release.
“Every race Sam and I run together, we grow, learning from each other and trusting each other on calls and other strategies. I can’t thank him enough for being such a great crew chief and good mentor. My success wouldn’t be without him.”
With an average finish of 10.8 through the first four races in 2016, Weatherman is fifth in the championship standings heading into the weekend at Toledo Speedway.