Lebanon, Mo.- St. Louis driver Jake Piel is quietly making his presence known in his rookie season in the NASCAR Whelen Series in the top level Pro Late Model division by ranking 2nd in the track point standings and ranked 2nd in the NASCAR Missouri State standings only 4 points behind State and track point leader Mike Slone of Rolla.
Piel, who was a front runner while running kart in the St. Louis area moved from the Sportsman class to the top tier class at The Lebanon I-44 Speedway.
Securing sponsorship for the 2nd season in a row from Dobbs Tire And Auto Company, Piel and the team purchased a former Pro Late Model from Sterlin Marlin and have been turning alot of heads with consistant qualifying runs and feature finishes with 3 top 5 finishes out of 3 features this season.
The Dobbs Sponsorship and partnership has been a wonderful experience as Jake and the family team are often found on Saturday’s at the area store during fan appreciation outings and then head down the road to compete at Missouri’s only active Asphalt short-track and NASCAR sanctioned oval.
“We enjoy the Asphalt racing and last year won 3 features in the Sportsman class. The track made the decision to eliminate the class and we decided to make the move-up. It has been alot of fun and a learnin experience for sure. On openig night, the redraw placed us on the front row and we learned really quick as they fell s far as 12 place and then started settling-in to finish in the top 5 in the 50 lap feature. This past weekend, Piel qualified 4th quick and got the taste of running with the leaders in contention for the win as Jake gained ground on winner Brian Brown and runner-up Mandy Chick. About halfway, we were right in the mix as the feature went caution free but we fell back just a bit in the last 3 laps as point leader Slone was challanging him for 3rd place.
Piel not only is ranked 2nd in the State and track point standings but is the top ranked rookie in the class, which could mean a trip to awards banquet in November as each State track and point champion and Rookie of the Year is honored as only NASCAR Awards Banquets do.
Jake Piel Motorsport can be found on Facebook along with I44 Speedway on socail media and Facebook.