World of Outlaws Late Model Series veteran and Iowa native Tyler Bruening is dropping off of the tour, he announced Thursday.
In an interview with Always Race Day, Bruening cited his family, travel and tire costs as reasons for the move – as he becomes the latest driver to split off from the series.
Bruening, however, confirmed he had no discrepancies with the World of Outlaws whatsoever.
“I would never say any one bad thing about the World of Outlaws,” Bruening said. They’re the main reason why I switched (to run their tour) – their people are the best people that I’ve ran up and down the road with. It has nothing to do with the World of Outlaws and how they run their series. They’re great.”
Bruening attributed wanting to be there for his family more as the biggest reason for the move – which is becoming more and more common across all of the late model tours, not just the World of Outlaws.
With the amount of money available on the national and regional levels, without needing to be affiliated with a series all season, it’s easy to spot the pros for drivers and teams of not being attached to a points series.
“The main reason is my family and my kids,” Bruening said. “That’s first and foremost. This will be my third year going up and down the road and unfortunately, the people that pay the biggest sacrifice are your loved ones – girlfriends, wives, kids, family… they have to endure us being gone and on the road.”
The increase in fuel prices paired with the Hoosier tire shortage don’t help matters either.
“Other than that, the diesel fuel – we don’t have somebody that helps us pay for diesel fuel, so that’s doubled or tripled our cost,” Bruening said. “Every time we get a bill from Hoosier, it’s price increase after price increase. If we’re going to survive and make it through this expensive point in our racing career, we’ve got to do what’s best for our team and that’s what we think it is.”
Bruening and his team plan on racing more around home in the Midwest and state of Iowa, along with as many national tour events that make sense for him to travel to.
The crown jewels like the Eldora Million and Dirt Late Model Dream in June are a no-brainer.
“We’re going to race around home as much as we can,” Bruening said. “We’re going to hit all the big money races, like everybody will. Usually the crown jewel events are on (standalone dates). I’ll just try and get back and try to have some fun. It’s not that I didn’t have fun, I had a lot of fun. It’s just going up and down the road is just brutal. I need to concentrate on what’s important to me in my kids and my girlfriend. They’ve been paying the sacrifice for too long.”
Bruening’s next race will take place this Friday with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, which holds its annual Truck Country 50 at Farley, Iowa’s 300 Raceway.
“One of our biggest sponsors on the car is Truck Country and that’s their big race at Farley on Friday,” Bruening said. “They support the hell out of us and we want to be there for them.”
The team will then stay in Iowa and head Burlington to race at 34 Raceway with the tour, before making any commitments on where to go from there.
