Brent Crews dialed in for inaugural World Series of Asphalt season
Brent Crews has grown quite familiar with New Smyrna Speedway to open the 2023 season.
Just over a month after finishing second in the facility‘s Red Eye 50, the 14-year-old prospect from Denver, North Carolina is back with Donnie Wilson Motorsports for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, where he is set to run six Pro Late Model events at New Smyrna over nine days.
The grueling schedule has not intimidated Crews in the slightest, who enters his inaugural World Series of Asphalt with the goal of gaining experience and finding consistency that will help him add his name to a long list of champions in the prestigious event.
“Everything has been going good so far,” Crews said. “I know [Donnie Wilson Motorsports] has put together a great car for me [for the week], but we just have to keep the nose clean.”
RELATED: Follow the World Series of Asphalt on FloRacing
Despite his young age, Crews brings both a mature and versatile reputation to the week-long festivities.
In his first year of competing in the Trans Am 2 Championship, Crews quickly adapted to a diverse set of road courses and ended up tallying three victories against established series veterans like Mike Skeen, Rafa Matos and eventual champion Thomas Merrill.
Crews has been at his most efficient on dirt tracks. Already a proven winner in dirt midget racing, Crews put his skills to the test in his second Chili Bowl Nationals attempt in January, where he successfully qualified for the A Main over hundreds of other drivers but finished 24th after an early crash.
The experience on dirt tracks has enabled Crews to transition more seamlessly into pavement racing over the past year, particularly when it comes to compartmentalizing the differences in speed between the two disciplines and how to get the most out of his equipment.
“[Dirt racing] really helps with car control,” Crews said. “The speed on dirt is definitely very different to asphalt. Racing a 410 [Sprint Car] with 960 horsepower on a dirt track is the fastest thing you will ever get in. That makes everything else feel slower and a lot simpler.”
What has impressed Crews‘ car owner Donnie Wilson the most in their limited races together is the composure he displays on and off the track.
Having helped develop many drivers in his career, including the most recent World Series of Asphalt Super Late Model champion in current NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sammy Smith, Wilson said it is not uncommon for young prospects to face some apprehension when they climb into a full-bodied car for the first time.
Wilson has not seen Crews‘ mentality get shaken by any obstacle. He expects the young driver to still face a learning curve with both Pro and Super Late Models but is confident Crews‘ exceptional race craft will result in a long, successful racing career.
“Brent possesses a lot of knowledge,” Wilson said. “He‘s already got a lot of racing experience. He‘s fast, he knows what he wants in a car and provides really good feedback. No matter what car you put him in, Brent has a great feel for it and that‘s hard to come by for people his age.”
For the World Series, Wilson explicitly wants Crews to understand how track conditions at New Smyrna are going to change every night.
A myriad of factors will influence how the Pro Late Models handle throughout the week along with Wilson‘s race-to-race strategy, ranging from the shifting Florida weather conditions to the amount of rubber put down by all the different divisions.
With Crews being used to changing track conditions in dirt midgets, Wilson does not expect him to face too many challenges in that regard but wants his young driver to stay focused on starting up near the front so he can consistently contend for the top spot.
“The goal is for Brent to get a couple of wins,” Wilson said. “With the way the format is, you have to qualify inside the Top 5 every night and see how the dice rolls [with the inverts]. Then we‘ll go from there.”
Only one World Series of Asphalt Pro Late Model race lasts longer than 35 laps in the division‘s season-ending Hart to Heart 100 on Friday, so Crews understands great qualifying runs are imperative to have a chance at clinching the title.
Crews knows Wilson‘s equipment is amongst the strongest at New Smyrna this week but adding another World Series of Asphalt championship for the organization will come down to him utilizing all his experience at the track to be efficient up until Friday‘s finale.
“[New Smyrna] is its own animal,” Crews said. “You can run two different lines [in both sets of turns] and that makes it much different than everywhere else. Our expectations are high, but it would be incredible to win a [World Series] championship with this team since they all work so hard.”
Should Crews manage to pull off a title, he would join a stellar list of World Series of Asphalt champions that include Mark Martin, Dick Trickle, Ted Christopher, David Rogers, Matt Hirschman, Ryan Preece and many more.
Crews‘ career still has many chapters left to be written, but a World Series of Asphalt championship at one of Florida‘s toughest short tracks would continue a strong start to his story.
