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Austen Wheatley - Heading to Vegas

Inside Line Promotions, LAKE STEVENS, Wash. (Feb. 27) – A year later and a year wiser, Austen Wheatley is ready for redemption.

And it begins at the same place – The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the World of Outlaws. The 18-year-old from Lake Stevens, Wash., kicks off this season at the half-mile track this Wednesday and Thursday.

“We just gotta get this year off to a cleaner start and be more consistent,” Wheatley said.

Wheatley finished 22nd in the opener last year in Las Vegas after crashing, the first of multiple wrecks throughout the season that wound up destroying a handful of race cars for the third-year racer.

“We were really fast there last year,” Wheatley said. “It was the first race last year, too.

“We’re kinda getting a late start (this year). That’s the only thing I’m kinda nervous about.”

Wednesday’s event will be the sixth this season for the World of Outlaws, one of two series Wheatley will likely race with a lot this season. Although he isn’t committing to chasing points with any series or track, Wheatley said his team’s focus is to hit up as many World of Outlaws and ASCS National Tour events as possible.

From Las Vegas, the team will follow the World of Outlaws to California with races in Chico (March 12), Hanford (March 18) and Tulare (March 19). Wheatley then closes out the month with ASCS National Tour events in Mesquite, Texas, on March 25-26.

“It’s tough coming off of the year we had, but this is a new year,” Wheatley said. “I’m looking forward to working on consistency and making every move on the race track count, which hopefully will turn into some wins in 2011.”

Wheatley would like to thank his sponsors, including Redlined Welding, WolfWeld, The Oil Medics, Speed Mart, Fire-Down Graphics, Advanced Racing Shocks, Astro Titanium, DMI, BMRS and Goodyear.

For more information, visit www.austenwheatley.com and www.insidelinepromotions.com.

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