When NASCAR scheduled its first
national series' dirt race since 1970, it anticipated an all-star cast of
dirt-track specialists. Hines, 40, of New Castle, Ind., brings much more than a
notable dirt pedigree to his ThorSport entry in the July 24 mid-week NCWTS
round at the half-mile speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
"We're excited to have a driver
with Tracy's ability in one of our trucks for a truly unique event that we feel
will really highlight what he's done at that venue as well as what he can do in
the series' first dirt race," ThorSport general manager David Pepper said.
"We're looking at Tracy to be a positive influence on our entire
organization through his experience as a top-level dirt car owner and driver, but
especially through the insight he'll be able to offer his teammates."
"The realization that a major
NASCAR series is going back to dirt is super exciting," Hines said.
"What is it going to be? I don't think anybody knows, until we run under
that checkered flag, what we're actually going to see. So that's definitely
huge."
Hines has 52 career Truck Series
starts -- 48 of them for ThorSport in 2004-2005 -- but he's been an ace on
dirt, where he's won 85 main events across USAC's three primary divisions,
putting him fourth on USAC's all-time wins list. Those victories include Hines'
12th career Eldora win, in a USAC sprint car in September 2012.
Hines' next Eldora start will come in a USAC sprint car on April 20 -- an event
he won a year ago.
Hines won championships in USAC's
two most high-powered series, the 2000 Silver Crown Series and two years later
in the National Sprint Car Series. He started the 2013 season with two USAC
National Sprint Car Series wins at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., in
February.
Hines made his NASCAR debut in 2003,
with four Truck Series starts for owner Jim Smith before he raced two seasons
in trucks with ThorSport. Hines had a best start of fourth for Smith in 2003 at
Texas and fifth for ThorSport in 2005 at Daytona and a best finish of fifth, at
Mansfield, Ohio in 2004 and Richmond in 2005.
In all, Hines has 69 career starts
between the Truck Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where he made 17
starts for four owners between 2004-2006, with a best finish of 13th
at Bristol in 2006, for Armando Fitz.
"(The year's been) pretty good
so far (and) we won both races at Eldora (in 2012) so who knows?" Hines
said while taking a break from car preparation in his Indiana shop. "You
know you're only as good as your last race, so we'll see."
Hines' next race of about 80 he'll
race in USAC this season is a Sprint Car Series event at Lawrenceburg, Ind. --
ironically the same day the NASCAR Truck Series races at Martinsville. April
12-13 Hines races a USAC midget at Kokomo (Ind.) before he's back in a sprint
car April 20 at Eldora.
"We've
had a lot of success over the years at Eldora, in many different types of
cars," said Hines, who has 12 career victories at the fast half-mile,
putting him one win behind legend Jack Hewitt on Eldora's all-time wins list.
"I've ran modifieds over there so I have some bigger car experience and
I'm excited to see how my 52 Truck starts and my wins at Eldora can hopefully
add up to success in the Truck Series."
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