A victory can mean the world to a driver, but their first victory means just that much more. Jesse Little got to experience that feeling at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when he scored his first career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory.
“It was a very special feeling,” Little commented. “I didn’t have a car that was capable of winning the last couple laps, but the first- and second-place cars were racing very hard, and I saw that, and then I saw the move the second-place driver made on the last lap, and I knew there was a good chance that I was in good contention, and when I saw them wreck, I had a big sense of relief, and once I crossed the checkered flag, I felt like all the pressure was lifted off of my shoulders. It was a really special feeling pulling into victory lane and finally getting everybody that supports me and sticks behind me their first win.”
Little added that with the win, he feels that the pressure is lifted off his shoulders and thinks that it’s a big win with having the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series guys there watching the event.
“I put New Hampshire as one of our biggest races of the year, and to get the win there, I think it couldn’t have came at a better place,” he continued. “It was right in our mid-season where we had just started to build back and had some good top 10 finishes, and to go out and get the win, it definitely gave my guys a ton of confidence, including myself, and it was really gratifying the way we did it. We ran up front all day, and the teams know how hard we work, and even though we’re underresourced and underfunded, it’s just really gratifying that we can go out at a track like that and prove ourselves and I can prove to other people that myself as a driver, I’m there to contend and I want to win.”
Now with the win under his belt, Little gets set to tackle the next event – which is on the Virginia International Raceway road course. While a different form of racing, Little says that he enjoyed it last year as it was a lot of fun to do something different.
“It was my first time on a road course, and I had a blast,” he said. “I’m looking forward to going back this year, and hopefully we can build a little bit on our finishing. I’ve got an idea of it now, so I think going in I’m a lot more confident in myself, and it should be a lot of fun.”
RT @OnPitRoad_: Jesse Little hoping to carry momentum following New Hampshire victory by @ladybug388 http://t.co/XIlJOHmP3u