Hailing from Greenwood, Ind., Brayton Laster made his racing mark in 2022 with his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut on the dirt at Knoxville Raceway. He also competed in two ARCA Menards Series races on the superspeedway tracks of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
With a pizza-themed driving helmet, Laster hopes to get a slice of success in 2023 with at least two ARCA starts with Mullins Racing.
Frontstretch‘s Jared Haas caught up with Laster before the ARCA race at Daytona. You can watch the interview on YouTube or read it below.
Jared Haas, Frontstretch: On Twitter, you’re “@TheOnePizzaMan.” Where did this nickname come from? Is there a craving for pizza every time after a race, or what’s the deal?
Brayton Laster: Yeah, that’s pretty close. Growing up, I’ve always been known for having a pizza slice in my hands, whether I’m at school, at the track, after school or at the gym.
I was always kind of like that nerdy, chubby kid, growing up, that was eating pizza. Kids started calling me “the pizza man” or “the pizza kid” growing up, and this is like when I was like 10-12 years old.
At the track, I’d always be seen eating pizza. It’s, “Pizza kid, get over here,” and it kind of became my personality. I had shoes, pants, backpacks, pizza shirts, pizza jackets, bucket hats, underwear and I’ve had pizza everything. Then, I got the helmet.
I [thought] people have trouble kind of relating to drivers nowadays. When you look at drivers, [you] don’t really know much about them. You look at me, see my pizza helmet, [you’re] like, “I like this kid; this kid is goofy.”
Because everybody can relate to pizza. Everyone [has] had an experience at least once with pizza. By having something that people can easily relate to it, I think one takes something that I would like and something I am very passionate about, pizza, and moves it to the more professional and business side of things. It’s pizza kid. We can work with this guy known for this thing [who’s] got a brand behind him. […] It started out as a joke, and now it’s become a very serious thing.
Haas: You started your racing career mainly in dirt racing around Indiana. How was the transition from dirt racing to pavement racing, and what are the similarities and differences between those two?
Laster: Twelve years ago, I was running a flat…
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