March 4, 2014 — Audio and story by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online — photo courtesy Jesse Little Racing — MOORESVILLE, N.C. — 16-year-old Jesse Little is no stranger to the world of motorsports.
From the time he was young, Little has had a unique and all-access view of the racing world due to his family’s long history in NASCAR racing. His father Chad drove for what is now Roush-Fenway Racing from 1997 to 2000 and finished in the top three of the now-NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings twice, including a second-place finish in 1995.
Due to his family’s heritage in racing, Little hopes to carry on the tradition in his own right as he works his way through the NASCAR ladder system.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve either been at a race or in a race car,” Little said in a recent interview with Race Chaser Online. “It’s what I know and what I love to do.”
Little began his competitive racing career when he was seven years old and left his marks immediately, finding success at each level of competition he raced at. Starting in Quarter Midgets, the North Carolina native progressed through Bandoleros, Legend Cars, Midgets and NASCAR Late Models, capturing the 2010 USAC Eastern Focus Midget Championship and becoming the youngest driver to ever start the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 late model race at Martinsville Speedway in 2011.
Little continued to climb the ranks and progressed into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (KNPSE) in 2012, running a partial schedule for his family-owned team and driving a number synonymous with his family name, the No. 97. He also became the youngest driver to start a KNPSE race in 2012, scoring two top five finishes and leading laps at Rockingham Speedway before jumping up to a full-time schedule in 2013 with powerhouse Coulter Motorsports.
The results didn’t come immediately, but when they did come, they were impressive. Little added four top-five finishes to his resume in the East series last season (Langley, Iowa, Bowman-Gray and Dover) including a career best second-place finish in the Iowa East-West challenge race, to finish ninth in the points standings and claim the 2013 KNPSE Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award.
“Winning the Rookie of the Year battle in the East Series this year was a huge accomplishment for me personally,” Little said of his efforts. “It was my main goal throughout the season, just finish races, finish laps and the results would come. We had some tough luck in the beginning but the numbers started to finally fall our way and from there, our goals just worked themselves out.”
For 2014, Little returns to the KNPSE ranks looking for a chance to better his finish from the 2013 campaign. His father Chad won Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (KNPSW) in 1986 and followed that up with the KNPSW championship in 1987.
Young Jesse wants to join his father in the champion’s ranks in 2014 and become the part of the first father-son tandem to win Rookie of the Year and the championship in a NASCAR-sanctioned series in successive seasons.
“It would be a huge honor to win the championship this year and join my dad as a K&N Series rookie of the year and champion,” Little expressed. “I know we have a team capable of making it happen. My dad has always told me, ‘to finish first, you must first finish. Learn how to race, when to race and who to race against’. If we can finish all the laps this year and not tear up our equipment, the results should fall in our favor, and we should have a shot at realizing that ultimate goal when we get to Dover in September.”
Little also hopes to run select races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season as well, but says his focus is on scoring his first career K&N Pro Series victory in 2014 en route to a championship run.
“We were so close at some of these short tracks last year. Bristol, we ran strong; Greenville, we had a great car an just didn’t have enough to get all the way forward at the end, and we had an awesome car at Iowa as well. I feel like that first win is right there, and I’m ready to get after it this season.”
Despite two runs in Florida that were below the teams’ expectations, Little says his confidence is not shaken going into the rest of 2014.
“Florida was tough, I’ll admit that. But it doesn’t mean we don’t have what it takes to get back in the hunt. We had some bad luck, but there’s still 14 races remaining in this season.”
“The battle is far from over. We’re ready to fight back.”
Listen in as we caught up with Jesse Little to discuss his expectations for the 2014 season, his rising career and his family ties to the motorsports world, including what he has learned from his father Chad:
