RELATED: NASCAR Home Tracks | More on Sargeant
At 17, Dalton Sargeant is a little old for the school-time tradition of “show and tell.” But when he returns to Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale just a week or so after entering his first NASCAR national series race, he should have a whale of a story to tell about what he did during summer vacation.
Wauters Motorsports announced Tuesday that Sargeant, a member of the 2015-16 NASCAR Next development class, is scheduled to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Aug. 19 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He’ll drive the No. 5 GALT Toyota in the UNOH 200 presented by ZLOOP (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).
“This is a huge opportunity to go up against some of the big guys in the series,” Sargeant said. “I think going into Bristol, it’s going to be a tough race track, but definitely a good place to start with it only being half a mile. Looking at the team’s experience, (team owner) Richie Wauters has a pretty good background at Bristol, so definitely looking forward to being able to go and run there for my first truck series start. Just looking to go out there and learn as much as I can really, and just try to have the best result.”
Since Wauters Motorsports will have no championship points as the team makes its first truck series effort of the season, Sargeant will need to qualify on speed for the 32-truck field or hope that 32 or fewer trucks are entered in the midweek 200-lapper. He tested the No. 5 Toyota at the .533-mile track Aug. 4 in preparation for his debut.
Familiarity with Wauters’ operation may help, too. Sargeant, a regular in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, first paired up with Wauters for an impressive runner-up finish last December in the prestigious Snowball Derby. Since then, the partnership has grown as Sargeant has gained experience wheeling Wauters’ Super Late Model cars.
“Richie’s a really good crew chief and he’s taught me a lot while I’ve been driving for him,” Sargeant said. “Every time I feel like I’m in a car with Richie, I learn more and more, so it’s really cool to be able to make my first truck start with him.”
Sargeant prevailed in the K&N West opener at Kern County Raceway Park to start the season on an up note. In his full-time ride with HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks on the K&N East circuit, he’s finished second or third in half of the season’s 10 races, logging “definitely too many runner-ups than I’d like to have,” he said.
Though he’s come oh-so-close to victory, Sargeant said he’s learned plenty, both on the driving side and through the NASCAR Next program.
“I think the Next program, really what it’s done is given me an opportunity to meet all the other NASCAR Next drivers and see what it’s going to be like as you make the transition up through the multiple levels of NASCAR,” Sargeant said. “It’s just opened up my eyes and given me a perspective maybe some of the other drivers aren’t able to see, just being able to work with some of the NASCAR media group as well as just being with some of the other drivers.”
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Though he’ll soon be dipping his toe into the national series waters, Sargeant still has designs on making a late charge for a championship in K&N East, where he ranks fourth with four races remaining. But soon, his other focus will be centered on hitting the books for his final year of high school.
Even though his racing schedule often takes him far away from his Florida home, Sargeant said he’s learned to balance the demands of school and his racing career. It’s also helped to have a built-in rooting section of classmates offering support when he returns.
“It can only help you more on the racing side of things to be able to have a good education,” Sargeant said. “Whenever I’m at the race track, I’m always super-focused on just racing. I never really worry about the school side of things, but as soon as I’m away from the track, I give my attention 100 percent focused on my homework and my schoolwork aspects of everything, just to get all that done. Whatever I’m doing, it’s one or the other — I never try to mix the two because I always feel like it hurts me.”
Photos: Sargeant Motorsports