Bryan Clauson

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Bryan Clauson
File:Bryan Clauson - 500 Festival Parade - 2015 - Stierch.jpg
Clauson with his dog at the 2015 Indianapolis 500
Born (1989-06-15) June 15, 1989 (age 34)
Carmichael, California, United States
Achievements 2-time USAC National Midget Series Champion (2010, 2011)
3-time USAC National Drivers Champion (2010, 2011, 2012)
2-time Turkey Night Grand Prix Winner (2009, 2010)
2-time USAC National Sprint Car Series Champion (2012, 2013)
Non-winged Driver of the Year (2013)[1]
Chili Bowl winner (2014)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
26 races run over 2 years
Best finish 27th (2008)
First race 2007 Emerson Radio 250 (Richmond)
Last race 2008 Ford 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 2 1
IndyCar Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Team(s) No. 88 (Jonathan Byrd's Racing)
2015 position 39th
Best finish 33rd (2012)
First race 2012 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Last race 2015 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of October 10, 2015.

Bryan Clauson (born June 15, 1989) is an American auto racing driver. Best known for his achievements in dirt-track open-wheel racing, Clauson has also competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Indy Lights and the IndyCar Series and was a former development driver for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Career

Born in Sacramento, California, Clauson made his USAC National Sprint Series debut just two days after his 16th birthday on June 17, 2005 at Limaland Motorsports Park, Ohio garnering a third place podium finish. On October 8, 2005, Clauson won the Open Wheel Oktoberfest Midget race at Columbus Motor Speedway, Ohio, becoming the youngest driver in USAC history to win a National feature event, aged Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.. On August 12, 2006, Clauson recorded a historic USAC Sprint/Midget doubleheader "sweep" at Salem Speedway, Indiana winning both the 30-lap Midget race and 50-lap Sprint race held the same night, only the 24th such sweep in USAC history.

On August 31, Clauson scored his first career ARCA win at the Gateway International Raceway. Two months later he began competing in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving the No. 41 Memorex Dodge Charger for Chip Ganassi. He competed full-time during the 2007 season in the USAC National Sprint and Midget Series as part of the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable.

Clauson (40) racing Marcos Ambrose at Nashville in 2008

Despite his move to NASCAR, Clauson returned to his dirt-track roots on January 12, racing in the Chili Bowl, an indoor Midget race in Tulsa, Oklahoma, featuring some of the top names in racing, such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Jason Leffler, Gary Scelzi, Cruz Pedregon, Bobby Santos III, Brett Hearn and Tim McCreadie. After starting the feature mid-pack, he finished fourth overall.

In 2008, Clauson started the season in the No. 41 Polaroid/Texaco Havoline Dodge for Ganassi in the Nationwide Series, but was replaced by Kyle Krisiloff. He then drove the No. 40 Fastenal entry for Ganassi, filling in for Dario Franchitti in select races. He won his 1st pole at Daytona in July, but was replaced full-time by Franchitti the week after.

He was set to make his Cup debut at the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway driving the No. 40 Target/MotorStorm: Pacific Rift Dodge but qualifying was rained out and the team, which did not have enough owner points, did not qualify. His second attempt at his Cup Series debut ended the same way at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Qualifying was rained out for the race on October 26, 2008; he would have driven the No. 40 Guitar Hero World Tour Dodge. In his first actual attempt at Texas, Clauson failed to qualify.

Clauson was supposed to drive the No. 40 in the Nationwide Series full-time in 2009, but the team shut down after Fastenal left the team. He won the Turkey Night Grand Prix in November.

Clauson joined the Tony Stewart Racing Silver Crown team in USAC 2010. During this season he was successful in winning the USAC National Midget championship for his own team, as well as the first-ever USAC National Drivers championship. Clauson earned a $300,000 scholarship to compete in all 6 Indy Lights oval races in 2011.[2]

Clauson ran the 2012 Indianapolis 500 with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, but finished 30th with mechanical problems.

Clauson won the USAC Sprint Car Championship in 2012, and repeated in 2013.[3]

Following the 2013 season, Clauson replaced Jerry Coons Jr. in the Joe Dooling/Rusty Kunz number 63 Westin Packaged Meats Esslinger powered Midget. On January 18, 2014, he won the Chili Bowl Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Center,[4] while teammate Michael Pickens, driving the number 63 Dooling Machine, Esslinger powered midget, flipped with 11 to go. Later that year, the Gold Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway were postponed after a 5 hour rain delay, the next day they resumed racing and he led all 25 laps of the race for his first Gold Crown Midget win, holding off Christopher Bell in the No. 71 KKM midget.

Clauson's damaged car returning to the garage, at the 2015 Indianapolis 500

Clauson returned to the Indy 500 in 2015, driving for the KV Racing Technology/Jonathan Byrd's Racing team, finishing 31st after an accident while moving out of the way for a faster car.[5] He also competed in the "Kokomo Classic" at Kokomo Speedway later that evening, where he finished 2nd to Kevin Thomas, Jr. in a photo finish.[6]

Personal life

Clauson attended Noblesville High School in Noblesville, Indiana.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

Indy Lights

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points
2011 Sam Schmidt Motorsports STP ALA LBH INDY
5		 MIL
4		 IOW
3		 TOR EDM1 EDM2 TRO NHM
7		 BAL KTY
5		 LVS
13		 12th 170
2012 Fan Force United STP ALA LBH INDY DET MIL
10		 IOW
10		 TOR EDM TRO BAL FON 18th 40

IndyCar Series

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points
2012 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Dallara DW12 Honda STP ALA LBH SAO INDY
30		 DET TXS MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO SNM BAL FON 33rd 13
2015 Jonathan Byrd's Racing Dallara DW12 Chevrolet STP NLA LBH ALA IMS INDY
31		 DET DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MDO POC SNM 39th 10

Indianapolis 500

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team
2012 Dallara Honda 31 30 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
2015 Dallara Chevrolet 33 31 Jonathan Byrd's Racing

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Nationwide Series

References

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External links

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