Jordan Taylor savors 'much different vibe' in return to Lime Rock for Truck Series debut

Yahoo

9 hours ago

LAKEVILLE, Conn. — Jordan Taylor estimates he's been coming to Lime Rock Park since he was a kindergartner, coming here to watch his father, Wayne, drive Ferraris in sports-car events back in the mid-1990s. He first raced here as a 16-year-old in Skip Barber competition, his first driving experience in what he's called a bullring with a Colloseum feel as fans watch down from the hillside grass.
'A lot of memories, but it's the same old Lime Rock,' says Taylor, now a 34-year-old veteran. The four-time IMSA champion will be adding a new layer to that 'same old' feel at the 1.478-mile road course this weekend, making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in Saturday's LIUNA 150 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). That feel he got from trips here in his youth? That's getting a new wrinkle, too.
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'It's a much different vibe, obviously, in the garage area,' Taylor told NASCAR.com, noting how even the paddock layout has changed. '… Definitely has a NASCAR feel, which is unnatural for me being here in Lime Rock, but it's cool to have that NASCAR vibe here. I think this track brings a great fan base of sports-car fans, but I think they're road course fans, whether it be NASCAR or sports car. So I think there's going to be a huge turnout. People are gonna love it.'
RELATED: Weekend schedule: Lime Rock | Truck Series standings
Taylor had his preliminary hesitations that his sports-car skill here would carry over to the heavier trucks, but he put his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet atop the 34-truck field in Friday's opening practice. Qualifying is set for 9:35 a.m. ET Saturday (FS1), with the 100-lap race to follow in the afternoon.
Taylor has raced on Lime Rock configurations that use chicanes at a couple of places on the course, designed to create another braking zone and slow the potential for high-speed lift on the track's hilly passages. The Truck Series will not use those chicanes, which Taylor says may limit some of the chaos and temptation of late-race dive bombs in those sections.
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Taylor has stock-car experience on road courses, making his Cup Series debut at Circuit of The Americas in 2023 while subbing for an injured Chase Elliott at Hendrick Motorsports. He added a pair of Xfinity Series starts that season for Kaulig Racing (Portland, Charlotte Roval), making this his first NASCAR foray in nearly two years. Eventually in Friday's session, that Lime Rock familiarity began to kick in.
'The flow of the track was obviously natural,' Taylor said, 'like the lines are very similar to a sports car. The brake zones aren't. The amount of speed you carry through the corners is different. So just the flow of the lines came to me quickly with the truck, but where I was braking, how much speed I could carry, how much I kind of had to compromise some corners for the next corner was more than a sports car. So I'd say my first four laps, I was lost — especially with 35 trucks on such a short lap. You're trying to get a clear run, and I'm looking in the mirror all the time. But as soon as I kind of got into a couple-lap rhythm, it did feel pretty natural, and I felt like I could attack corners like I would a normal car or truck. Yeah, it was just about kind of finding the limits.'
MORE: Lime Rock practice results
Taylor's partnership with Spire came through a shared connection with TWG Global, Spire and the IMSA team he drives for, Wayne Taylor Motorsports. Should more opportunities arise on the NASCAR side, Taylor said he'd be eager to participate.
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'I mean, I would definitely love to do more,' Taylor said. 'Right now, it's just Lime Rock and then go from there. But with the TWG relationship with Spire, there's also [the] relationship with Wayne Taylor Racing, so we're kind of in the same family. And at Daytona this year, (TWG executive) Doug Duchardt approached me and asked if I would be available for Lime Rock, just because they had the clash with the company's Xfinity races. So yeah, I jumped at the opportunity. I'm super excited to do it. I love NASCAR road course races. I think they're all a blast to drive.'
While Taylor — just two weeks removed from the team's trip to Le Mans — says he hopes to bring some sport-car flavor to the NASCAR crowd this weekend, there's some cross-pollination on the other side of things as well. The name 'Rodney Sandstorm' — Taylor's stock-car loving, DuPont-era alter-ego — is above the door on Taylor's No. 7, there's a 'Rainbow Warrior' vibe to his racing helmet and the social media news drop gave a strong nod to his split personality.
Taylor thought this weekend might just be a Sandstorm watch instead of a Sandstorm warning, but said that the forecast has changed.
'I was only planning on bringing the jacket,' Taylor said, 'and I've been asked to do so many content pieces with it, I had to ask my girlfriend to fly up the rest of the gear with her. So, yeah, it's crazy. What it is, I'm happy to do it most of the time. I told the team, like, we can have fun with the announcement, but when I get to the track, I like to focus on the driving aspect. But yeah, if we've got some time now to have some fun, I'll try to be a good sport and make some content with everybody.'