Driver Blog: March 28, 2018

Hello, Onpitroad.com readers. My name is Salvatore Iovino. I race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. To help create awareness on how I got involved in racing. I have decided to write a blog on this website to help inspire those that wish to fulfill your racing dreams too. There are so many of us that didn’t have the opportunity to start racing at a young age or have wealthy families like most NASCAR Drivers. I aim to share my experiences to you on how I have been able to embrace the opportunity to be a race car driver and how I started from scratch. I believe in encouraging others to help them reach their goals, hopefully I can help you in some way to reach your as well.

I will also be writing about upcoming races, post-race recaps and new sponsors. I’d like to go into my most previous race where I had the honor to race alongside Kevin Harvick. Even though the race wasn’t by any means one of my fastest efforts. Having the ability to race with Champion taught me a lot and helps give me inspiration that hopefully one day I can keep advancing. As you may know, Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series Championship in 1998. Personally, myself and my team set out one goal for our last race at Kern County Raceway. We wanted, needed too, finish the race in one piece and get the additional seat time and experience for a long season. It was the first time I ever sat in this new Kayton Travel sponsored Ford and we didn’t have much time, any time actually to make sure the seat was positioned in portion to my height. Long story short, I couldn’t quite reach the throttle all the way, not that I would finished in the top 10 if I could reach it, but definitely could have had a better racing effort on lap times and speed on my behalf. But the goal wasn’t to go out there and try and be the fastest. I needed to get comfortable in this car because this will be the car I’ll be racing at Bristol Motor Speedway on the 14^th of April…We’ll have the seat fixed by then.

Being at a disadvantage from the beginning of the race didn’t damper my spirits, being blessed to even sit in the seat is more than I could ever be thank for. My qualifying time was terrible, last actually, but the car handled and felt great, ran perfect lines, turned nicely going into the corners and came of the exits just as expected. Just couldn’t get the speed up on the straights and back stretch. But we didn’t finish last, we finished 17^th out of 24. Looking to make huge improvements at Bristol and have some new sponsors backing me that are definitely going to help the process. Be on the lookout for Kayton Travel, Hardcore Hammers and Denrich Apparel.

Next blog I will go into with interested upcoming drivers on how I can help you improve your marketing strategies to get you the sponsors you need to help reach your racing goals.