OREGON, Wis. — Stephen Nasse will see yet another track for the first time when he heads to Madison International Speedway for the Joe Shear Classic on May 7.
The 2023 season is bringing new elements to Nasse racing program. He is back to racing under the Stephen Nasse Racing stable, bringing a new crew chief with him. However, the goal for the defending Winchester 400 and All-American 400 winner is the same – win races.
Watch the Joe Shear Classic on SPEED SPORT affiliate MidwestTour.tv.
The ASA STARS National Tour opener at Five Flags Speedway did not go as planned after an incident took him out of the race just before the halfway point. That result isn’t deterring Nasse from a potential shot at the ASA STARS championship.
“It’s always exciting to go to a new place but there’s always a bit of worry. I think the locals there will be really good, but we deal with that everywhere we go. It’ll be another race in a way, just hope that we’re going to be on our A-game and have a good run, maybe even contend for a win.”
Nasse has made a home at the Slinger Nationals, having made the trip for the event every year since 2019. He has gotten progressively better with each trip to the quarter-mile, with his best finish being a sixth in last year’s race.
He then added a second track in the Badger State in August last year, teaming up with Steve Apel to run the Gandrud Auto Group 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway. Coincidentally, Nasse also finished sixth in that race after starting on the pole.
Additionally, he has sponsorship from WABAM, owned by Slinger Elite 8 Super Late Model driver Ryan DeStefano.
“I really enjoy racing up there,” Nasse said. “The people are really great, I made a really great friendship with the Apel’s, with Ryan (DeStefano) and WABAM and all those people.
Just a lot of good fans and a lot of fun in that area not just in the race car, but out of the race car as well. I get along with a lot of people and it’s always fun to make the trip up there.”
Admittedly, Nasse’s knowledge of Madison International Speedway is at a minimum. But from what he’s seen of the facility so far, he thinks it will be a track he can get comfortable at quickly.
“I’ve watched a couple videos on it, it looks like any racetrack I think I could be pretty good at,” Nasse said. “It doesn’t look like a track I’d struggle at, in my opinion. It has a little bit of banking, a little bit of speed. It should be pretty good.”
Nasse races about as close as to year-round as you can get in Super Late Model racing, consistently averaging one of the higher race counts in the discipline. He says that’s a big difference between racing in the Southeast and racing in the Midwest, something that he enjoys anytime he gets to go to Wisconsin to race.
“The Apel’s and those guys, they only get to race a certain time of the year,” Nasse said. “I feel like it’s almost like how racing kind of used to be back in the day. It’s family-oriented and local, I think that’s how to describe it. At the same time, they’re all really good and competitive. At our local tracks in the Southeast they struggle, and we struggle when we go up there to race.
“They don’t mess around and when they’re not able to race, they’re working hard and only thinking about getting back out there and being able to race.
“We, being able to race all year, it gets tough because it never stops,” Nasse continued. “You can say on one hand it’s really good, but on the other hand we never get the time to sit back and relax and think on things the way we should because we’re always trying to get a car ready for the next race. We can race every weekend out of the year really if we wanted to, it seems like. I really like that atmosphere. They race together, they drink together, eat together, do everything together. I enjoy that.”