CONCORD, N.C. – The opening half of Tristan Lesik’s Bojangles’ Summer Shootout journey has admittedly not gone how the 15-year-old South Carolina driver hoped it would.
Because of that, Lesik is hoping that the back five races of the Shootout will treat him much better, as he seeks his first Semi-Pro division victory in the 10-race summer series for Legend Cars and Bandoleros.
The teenager knows his Stillwell Racing with PR No. 32 machine has pace, but he hasn’t been able to get the finishes he feels he deserves due to being swept up in incidents not of his own making.
Through five races, Lesik sits 14th in points, with a pair of top-10 finishes to his credit but two races that could have easily been top-10s as well if not for mid-race crashes that took him out of contention.
“We’ve had plenty of speed in race conditions, but we’ve struggled in qualifying and that’s put us behind the eight-ball during the features so far this year,” said Lesik. “When you’re mired back in traffic early, that’s where bad luck has a better chance of biting you and that’s exactly what’s happened to us so far.
“All around, things have been great, despite of everything that’s been fighting us in the first five races. I’ve been able to come from the back to the front a couple of times even with no luck and being involved in a couple of crashes,” Lesik added. “It’s a situation where things have been both wonderful and terrible all at the same time. We just want to finish a race cleanly; then we can worry about the rest.”
A four-year veteran of the Shootout, Lesik has relied a lot on his past experience to help him weather the on-track battle that he’s been faced with so far during this summer’s first five races.
“Experience definitely helps, because you know somewhat what to expect with the track changing and the drivers you’re racing around, but it’s never easy,” noted Lesik. “This has been a particularly weird Summer Shootout, I feel like. Every time we’ve been out on track, the conditions have done a complete 180 and we’ve had to adjust to keep trying to find speed. It’s something we’ve really never been faced with before so we’re working hard on adapting as best we can.”
That adaptation included a recent return to the vehicle that started his Shootout career in 2015 as well, after Lesik took his younger brother Jonathan’s Bandolero out for a Monday night practice to help evaluate his family’s program as well and offer advice to his brother.
“I took my brother’s Bandolero out for practice on the Monday night before round five and it was absolutely crazy,” Lesik recalled. “I forgot how bad the bumps were in those cars compared to the Legend Cars. It was so different than what I’ve gotten used to the last two years. I had a blast, though, and I hope I was able to give him a few things that will help him this summer as well.”
All in all, Lesik is confident that brighter days are ahead for him before the summer winds to a close.
“I’ve been up front often this year before incidents have set us back, but I’ve still been able to drive back to the front, so I feel like we’ve had some things that we can build on in our program,” said Lesik. “It’s just a matter of putting all the right pieces together on the same night to get some finishes out of it. Who knows, maybe we can find the golden pot at the end of the rainbow to help us with that, too.”
He also has some racing outside the Shootout on his radar as well, with a possible start in a Midwest Truck at Wisconsin’s Madison Int’l Speedway on July 27 ahead.
“We’re hoping to run the Midwest Truck at the end of the month …which will be interesting for me, because my family is from Wisconsin, so it’s a home race, but it will also be the first time I’ve been in a full-size car since last year at Hickory. That’s going to be a challenge, knocking the rust off, but I’m excited.
“There’s a lot of good things ahead for us; we’re just focused on chasing wins in everything we can now and having fun while we’re doing it.”
