Star rally driver Travis Pastrana has left Subaru to instead join Michael Waltrip Racing in NASCAR.
During his time with Subaru, Pastrana racked up over 150 stage wins, 40 podiums, and 22 event victories, as well as four consecutive Rally America National Championship titles, from 2006 to 2009. He is the youngest person ever to win the championship.
But now, Pastrana is joining the ranks of Michael Waltrip Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. While an official announcement has not yet been made, a Twitter account was recently created, featuring a picture of Travis Pastrana next to his NASCAR ride (Shown at the beginning of the article), as well as a URL for his upcoming website. Moreover, Mike Nelson tweeted the following message:
@highmileage @queers4gears NASCAR announcement is tomorrow. It’s a done deal. See @pwr99
This was in response to someone asking for confirmation of a rumour that Pastrana is moving to NASCAR. “@pwr99” is Pastrana’s NASCAR Twitter account, so it all appears to make sense. We’ll be awaiting the official announcement.
Press Release
Subaru Bids Farewell to Travis Pastrana
— Driver departs after 5 seasons —CHERRY HILL, N.J., Nov. 10 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Subaru of America, Inc. today bid farewell to Travis Pastrana as the company’s lead driver. Travis began his relationship Subaru in 2004 from the world of supercross and freestyle motorcross and officially joined Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) in 2006 having run abbreviated development seasons with Subaru in 2004-2005. During his career as an SRT USA driver, Travis piloted his Subaru Impreza WRX STI to 150+ stage wins, 40 podiums, and 22 event victories en route to earning four consecutive Rally America National Championship titles (2006-2009) and becoming the youngest-ever U.S. Rally champion in history. Within the ESPN X Games Rally Car Racing format, Travis went on to win two gold, one silver and one bronze medal with Subaru Rally Team USA.
Tim Mahoney, CMO of Subaru of America said, “Travis brought Rally to a whole new audience through the rally championship and of course through his spectacular appearances at X Games. We wholeheartedly thank him for his outstanding performances with Subaru Rally Team USA and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Subaru recently celebrated breaking its all-time sales record for the brand in the US. The company surpassed its previous record set in 2009 with two months of 2010 remaining and expects to top 250,000 sales for the year.
Source: Subaru and Twitter via MotorAuthority