The University of North Carolina Charlotte senior made the announcement live on SiriusXM Speedway with host Dave Moody on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.
Lupton will drive the No. 93 Chevrolet Camaro as a teammate to Ryan Sieg in the No. 39 Chevrolet Camaro this weekend at Las Vegas, next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway and the following weekend at Auto Club Speedway.
A native of Wilton, California,
Lupton is poised to make his ninth career XFINITY Series start and first since
Kentucky Speedway last September. Last season, Lupton competed in eight races,
delivering a top-10 finish in his road course debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course. His ninth place effort is an XFINITY Series best for Athenian
Motorsports, now a part-time team.
“I’m incredibly thankful for
this opportunity to partner with RSS Racing,” said Lupton. “I met with the Sieg
family on several occasions last year and we’ve been working ever since to
partner for some races. Hopefully, we can do well on this three race stretch
and do more this season.”
Reuniting with Lupton for the
“West Coast Swing” is crew chief Mike Ford. A longtime industry veteran, Ford
led the 22-year-old to several impressive outings last season in the No. 25
Chevrolet Camaro. In over 450 starts as crew chief in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series, Ford won 21 races, most recently in 2011 with driver Denny Hamlin.
“Having Mike (Ford) with us
during this stretch should be very beneficial,” added Lupton. “Mike and I
worked together last season, so we are very comfortable with each other and he
knows what I’m looking for in a racecar. We know that performance is going to
be important for these three races and I feel like with Mike’s addition, our
chances are as good as any to meet our goals.”
The 22-year-old kicked off his
2016 racing season by competing in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards
opener at Daytona International Speedway. Lupton drove the No. 82 Ford
Fusion in a partnership between Empire Racing and Win-Tron Racing. Considered
one of the pre-race favorite after turning fast laps during the test in
January, Lupton was in contention for a top-10 finish before engine issues
thwarted his charge late in the race.
Shifting his focus back to
NASCAR, Lupton feels at home with the Sieg family and is eager to make most of
the opportunity presented.
“The Siegs have been able to
do a lot with the tools they have to work with and together, we want to
showcase that they can do more with a two-car team. Together, we feel that this
is a great opportunity and look forward to putting both cars in position for
good, strong solid finish the next three weeks.”
After finishing second in the
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West championship in 2014, Lupton advanced to the
NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2015 in a partial schedule with Athenian Motorsports.
Additionally, Lupton has been elected twice to the NASCAR Next program. An
evolution of the Next9 initiative that began in 2011, the NASCAR Next program
is an all-embracing industry initiative to help spotlight the sport’s rising
stars – and boost fan recognition around talent that will grow into NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series mainstays.
In particular, Lupton has been
an advocate for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
project where he has spent time informing students about the fundamentals of
NASCAR and how each subject applies.
Lupton will graduate in May
with a bachelor’s degree in finance from UNCC Charlotte.
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