Travis Pastrana delays Nationwide Series debut

Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Extreme sports star Travis Pastrana, who broke his ankle and foot back on July 28 when attempting a motorcycle trick at X Games 17, has postponed his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut until 2012.

Pastrana was originally going to run seven races this year, starting last week at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. After his accident, his Pastrana-Waltrip Racing (PWR) team hoped he’d be able to make his debut at his next scheduled race, which was Sept. 3 at Richmond International Raceway.

Pastrana had surgery early this week, and has had to put the plans to run in the Nationwide series on the shelf after botching a “corked 720” that he had been working to improve for almost four years. His leg will remain in traction for at least a month, and he’ll be unable to bear any weight on his right leg for at least two months.

In a statement released on Saturday, Pastrana said, “I probably could have been ready for the final couple of races in 2011, but it just makes more sense to start fresh in 2012. We are already starting to talk about testing, and what I need to do to prepare for next season. My sincere apologies go out to my NASCAR team, fans, and sponsors for this delay. Thanks for all of the support. This will be a fun ride … eventually.”

As you will recall, the original play for Pastrana, who was giving up his motorcycle performing career to focus on NASCAR, was to run a total of 7-8 NNS races in 2011 and then at least 20 races in 2012.

When asked last week about Pastrana, team co-owner Michael Waltrip said, “The main thing is Travis’ health and that he gets his foot fixed. We are going to give him four wheels for a while, we hope, and he probably won’t fall over in the dirt on four wheels.”

PWR has one remaining race left on the 2011 schedule. Patrick Carpentier will handle driving duties at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Motreal in two weeks.