“Of my three races, we’ve had two strong, strong runs.” This definitely gives Jesse Little something to smile about. (Image: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Young’s Motorsports’ driver Jesse Little has started three of the first five races this season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Sharing a seat in a NASCAR series presents a unique set of challenges. However, Little has risen to the occasion with a smile and a positive attitude.
Little opened the season with a top-10 starting position at Daytona International Speedway and finished P6. A repaved Atlanta Motor Speedway saw him start P34 after qualifying was rained out. His crew worked hard on pit road to get his Chevy Silverado tuned up to Little’s liking, and from there, the driver worked his way through the field to finish P15.
Most recently, Martinsville Speedway was a tough go-round for the North Carolina native. Qualifying was once again rained out and the driver of the No. 02 was forced to start P25. Multiple early cautions, forward drive issues, getting caught in a late wreck, and a pit road penalty all resulted in a P27 finish.
While teammate Kaz Grala will be in the seat for the upcoming Bristol Dirt Race, Little is preparing for a month-long stretch behind the wheel of his Young’s Motorsports machine heading into the start of summer.
In this installment of “Terra Talks”, hear from Little as he opens up about the return of qualifying, reflects on recent races, chooses the one word he would use to describe his 2022 season thus far, and even gives his impressive Martinsville Hot Dog count.
“I’ve always enjoyed qualifying.” – Jesse Little (Image: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Terra Jones: Unfortunately, qualifying has been rained out in two of your three races so far, but in general, how great is it to have practice and qualifying sessions back, especially since it’s been a few years since you were in the Truck Series on a regular basis?
Jesse Little: That’s a good question. I’ve always enjoyed qualifying and the aspect of it. Being able to go out and just see who literally brought the fastest Truck that weekend. I think that’s such a cool thing as a driver, to go out there and showcase what you got. It has definitely been tricky this year getting used to the shortened practices. That’s something that even leading up to Xfinity, I never had to do. That’s almost a lot harder than qualifying itself. We unload and with 20 minutes, you either (laughs) hit it right out of the gate and you run all the laps or you’re in for a long day and you know it. It’s almost like ignorance is bliss! (laughs) But, it’s definitely better than not having any at all.
I’m sure I speak for a lot of guys, when you go to different places and your stuff’s not driving good or you’ve never been there, you get twenty minutes – it is extremely difficult to get in a rhythm and feel out what you need, especially if there’s a caution here or there.
So it’s a challenge. It is tough. And I think that you still see the guys that work the best and hit it right in the shop. They’re still going there and running the fastest. That’s kinda what we’ve told ourselves and we kind of just go to these race tracks and use the practice session as a glorified test and make sure nothing rubs, leaks, or does anything like that.
Jones: The fan-side of me is glad it’s back! Now, I know you’ve only had a handful of starts, but if you could use one word to describe the start of this season for you and the No. 02 team, what would it be and why did you choose that word?
Little: I think the word I would use is encouraging. It’s been a good year. Of my three races, we’ve had two strong, strong runs and one disappointing run. We know why we were bad and I think that’s an important factor – know your failures so you can be successful. And, we’ve taken all that to the chin. We’ve got a good stretch of races coming up that I’m excited about and I think that’s only gonna benefit both myself and the team.
I know Kaz has a handful of races here shortly that are going to be helpful for him as well. So far, we’re where knew we would be. I think we’re knocking on the door right there to where we hope we are.
Jones: You alluded to it. I want to talk a little about the “seat-sharing” you’re doing with Kaz. First, how is the schedule decided as to who races when and where?
Little: That was decided back in January. I had my races that I wanted and honestly, it was a perfect match to the races that Kaz and his sponsors wanted. So, we sat down and there were one or two that needed to be figured out, and Tyler (Young) was there with us and we figured it out. It was pretty seamless.
It helps the team know what races we’re doing so they can be prepared and they can be mentally aware of, “Okay, this is the driver we got going here.”
Kaz is running all the road courses and they can start to build a notebook with him there. I’ve got the four races in May that are back-to-back-to-back, so we’ll have a good notebook there. And, I think it’s best-case scenario that he and I have been able to afford a whole year.
Jesse Little goes short-track racing under the lights in his No. 02 Skuttle Tight machine at Martinsville Speedway. (Image: Teresa Bennink | TLC Motorsports Marketing)
Jones: I’m sure that does help. I also noticed that you haven’t had the same crew chief for each race. Those duties have been swapped between Eddie Troconis and Steven Dawson. With that and the driver seat swapping, I’m sure that makes team communication more difficult than if things were the same every week.
What are some ways you, Kaz, Eddie, and Steven, even your spotter, Frank Deiny, work on making sure everything is communicated effectively given all those changes?
Little: That’s a good question. I think like with any athlete or any professional sport, communication is key and that’s something that we’re learning. A lot. And having different external factors has forced us to communicate even better.
I think it’s allowed us to start to dissect things differently and pick apart certain other things. I talk to Eddie and the spotter and Steven, even after Kaz races. We talk about what did he say? What did he fight? What did he feel? And I know Kaz does as well after mine. It certainly is an open book. And we try to all be as transparent as we can so that if one little suggestion helps, it’ll be delivered.
Jones: Literally a team effort then.
Little: Absolutely!
Jones: Let’s talk about the “new” Atlanta. Knowing that it was being touted as a mini-Superspeedway, how did your team attack that race not truly knowing what to expect?
Little: Yeah! That was a lot of fun! That was the most fun I’ve had at a racetrack in a long time, just simply because it was such an unknown for everyone. No one had been able to do the simulator. No one had been able to test there and no one was able to test with a pack of cars. I think it was really cool walking in the garage. And then of course, qualifying gets rained out and we have a shortened practice.
In getting to feel it right away, I knew within the first lap, “Okay, it’s wide open. It’s going to be a pack race. There’s two grooves, you’re going to have room to move around.”
And I think that was something that a lot of us were worried about before. What’s it going to race like? Is it going to be one single file? Is it going to be hard to pass?
But I think it ended up being a perfect product and showed some really good racing. So after our practice, we sat down and said, “Okay, we know what today’s going to be. It’s going to be survival. It’s going to be a cautiously aggressive kind of race, similar to a Daytona, similar to a Talladega.”
And it played out exactly like that. We had a crazy fast truck. We got a little bit of damage and then we were off and that was one of those races where you’re mad and disappointed with top 15! (laughs)
While it is an organization-wide effort at Young’s Motorsports, Jesse Little focuses on his race. (Image: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Jones: It was very fun to watch, so I am glad to hear it raced well too! Most recently, you tackled Martinsville. Your teammate Spencer Boyd had an electrical issue arise mid-race. Are you keyed into that information from your team, and if so, do you start to worry that it might happen for you?
Little: That’s an interesting question. So, they don’t necessarily, and I don’t really ask, “Hey, what’s wrong with the 12? I see he’s the reason for the caution. I see he stopped on the back straightaway.”
I honestly don’t have any of those thoughts that cross my mind where it’s like, “Oh, is this going to happen to me?” No. Not one bit. I kind of stay focused on my deal and stay communicating to my guys. And I feel like I trust them enough that if they feel like it’ll be an issue, they’ll let me know.
Jones: That’s a great way to look at it. Our Quarterly Question will center around that weekend. We have to know, how many Martinsville Hot Dogs did you have?
Little: I did good. Luckily, I had none.
Jones: What?!
Little: Yeah! I’ve been sticking to my diet. I got to get my summer body back in shape! Lake season is right around the corner! (laughs)
Jones: Then you’re probably the real winner of this weekend if you didn’t eat any! (laughs)
Little: (laughs) There you go!
Jones: Just a few more for you. In our last interview, we talked about season-long goals and you mentioned running in the top 15 consistently. Short of Martinsville, you have done that. After the Bristol Dirt Race, you’re heading into a stretch where you’ll pilot the No. 02 for four straight races. Considering these next four tracks for you are intermediates, what is a more short-term goal for the next month?
Little: Going to these race tracks, I have kind of taken a big step. I 100% want to knock out some top 10s. You know, Darlington, Texas, even Kansas actually, three of those racetracks are very driver-focused and require finesse with close quarters, hard racing.
When asked about heading into the next stretch of races, Jesse Little has a goal: I 100% want to knock out some top 10s. (Image: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
And I think as a driver, I feel like I need to be in the top 10 there. I feel I have the abilities. I have all the laps. I ran Xfinity races well there. And so, to go into those race tracks and have the consistency with going back-to-back-to-back, I definitely think short-term, we should shoot for a top 10 at one or two of those and, at the same time, keep our big picture goal and our points racing goal of the top 15 in our mind and see what happens there!
Jones: Good deal. Now, in recent years, you have focused your efforts on the Xfinity Series. I know you jumped in the No. 34 for Jesse Iwuji at Phoenix a few weeks ago but unfortunately didn’t qualify. After Charlotte, you have about a month where Kaz is in the 02. Any plans to jump in an Xfinity seat during that break, or even later in the year?
Little: I’m always looking and kind of always trying to find where value for myself and my partners are, and if a good opportunity comes up, I’ll certainly look at it closely and see what makes sense and go from there. But I’m certainly not going to chance or take away anything from the truck program and hurt it by any means. So, we shall see!
Jones: That’s fair! I just had to ask. Finally, I spoke with Bayley Currey yesterday and I appreciated his insight and I’d love to hear yours as well. We talked about how underdog teams often catch a lot of flack. Obviously, fans of yours and of Young’s Motorsports will support you through the highs and lows, but what do you wish fans of the sport, in general, understood about racing for a smaller team?
Little: Yeah, that’s a good question. The biggest battle that small teams face is just simply how behind the eight ball we already are, you know? We’re going to a race track, it’s tough to get there. Usually, you’ve had to scrape, claw, and dig to load the car up in the trailer. Then you get there and you’re figuring out how many years old your set of tires is and how are we going to get more during the race. Just the absolute constant uphill grind it is just to try and go knock out a top 15 or top 10.
I think, especially in Xfinity and even so in Trucks, there’s a giant disparity or almost a giant wall, that unless you have these millions of dollars of resources at your disposal, you go to these racetracks and you just hope to have a good finish in the top 20 or top 15. Anything better, and I think I speak for Bayley and I speak for myself, anything better is a win for us.
Jones: Thank you for sharing that. I told Bayley, and I’ll tell you, I’m Team Underdog. My goal with these interviews is to put a spotlight and showcase your efforts and your wins, even if they look a little different than what someone else might consider a win. So, thank you again.
Little: Like you said, it’s a different race for us. We’re going out there and we know we’re not going to win. We know we’re not going to run top five, probably not even top 10. So it turns into how do we manage our day and manage our expectations? And how do we manage sponsors and partners and crew members’ expectations when you know what you got and you’re just trying to make the best and most of it.
A huge thank you goes out to Jesse Little for taking the time to talk candidly about the first stretch of his season and the challenges smaller teams face! Be sure to give him a follow on his social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) for all the latest. Keep an eye on socials for Young’s Motorsports as well for all the team coverage (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).
