Austin's Ride in Limbo After Funding Issues
04.22.09 - Eudora, KS -- When 19-year-old NASCAR driver Chase Austin threw out the first pitch at last Tuesday night’s Kansas City Royals home game against Cleveland, little did he realize that less than a week later he’d be facing an impossible-to-hit knuckle ball of his own. Austin was informed in a team meeting this past Tuesday that his Trail Motorsport team’s entry in this Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series “O’Reilly Auto Parts 250” will be withdrawn due to funding issues.
“We set a deadline of Monday for the Truck to be ready to ‘shake down’ at Rockingham, and that didn’t happen,” 
said a surprisingly upbeat Austin. “So I knew what we were going to hear in the meeting. I’m really more disappointed for the team than for myself. I really want to race, but the guys in the shop have families to feed, and they need steady work and a steady paycheck.”
In an arrangement with MRD Motorsports, Trail fielded Trucks for Austin at Daytona and California, but has not entered Austin in an event since. In his first ever Camping World Truck Series start at Daytona, Austin finished an impressive 13th, despite a mandate that he was to run at the back of the lead draft and ‘stay clean’ until 20 laps to go.
Pegged as a future superstar after winning more than 100 racing events by age 14, Austin signed with Hendrick Motorsports in 2004. But the native of tiny Eudora, KS (population 4,900) has been on a proverbial roller coaster ride, both career and emotional, ever since. It began with the tragic plane crash that cost the lives of several key Hendrick personnel, effectively ending Hendrick’s Driver Development Program and Austin’s contract.
Austin’s future at Trail Motorsport is tenuous at best. “I don’t have a clue what Trail plans to do moving forward; I don’t have a contract at this point. I’ll just keep praying, keep digging and make the most out of any seat time I can get until the right opportunity comes,” says Austin. “And I definitely still believe it will come.”
“They say that every cloud has a silver lining, and I really believe that,” concludes Austin. “There are a lot of other talented young drivers out there, and some of them will give up on their dream when times get really tough. With my faith in God, and with the faith that others continue to have in me, the only way I can fail is if I quit. And I can promise you that’s not going to happen.”