Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson plan emotional tributes for Bryan Clauson

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Memories of the late Bryan Clauson are still fresh on the minds of his longtime friends Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Larson.

The two drivers will honor Clauson at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend in a couple ways. Stenhouse is running the same Fastenal paint scheme once driven by Clauson, and both drivers will wear customized pink Clauson tribute helmets with a personal photo on the back.

Stenhouse’s photo is a shot of he and Clauson sitting back to back; Larson has a photo of Clauson holding Larson’s young son, Owen.

Clauson, 27, died Aug. 7, a day after being injured in a crash during the Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas.

“He won a lot of big races with some pink helmets,” Larson said. “It’s cool to come here and show our support to Bryan and his family. I know Lauren (Stewart, Clauson’s fiancée) and her family are on their way here. That is going to be fun to hang out with them.

“He was a great person, awesome race car driver; we have both finished second to him quite a bit. I hate to see him go, but we are going to do our part to support him.”

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Stenhouse said he considered Clauson to be an older brother figure – even though Clauson was actually younger – because the driver “did everything before I did.” When Stenhouse moved to North Carolina, he moved in with Clauson.

“He showed me the ropes of stock car racing and then obviously he was the best there was running sprint cars,” Stenhouse said. “So to be able to run his paint scheme, his family is super excited and we are too at our team.”

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After racing with the helmets, Stenhouse and Larson said they plan to auction them off for a charity that will benefit autism research (a favorite cause of Clauson’s).

Last week, Stenhouse drove Clauson’s car to pace the field at the Knoxville Nationals.

“There was not a dry eye in Knoxville when we took that car around,” Stenhouse said. “As Bryan always said, we ‘parked it’ in victory lane for him and it was super emotional.”

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