NASCAR: 60-year-old driver set for long-awaited return

60-year-old Bill Lester is set to return to NASCAR for today’s Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, marking his first NASCAR start since August 2007.

Set to compete for David Gilliland Racing behind the wheel of the #17 Ford in this afternoon’s NASCAR Truck Series race, the Fr8Auctions 200, at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a driver who hasn’t competed in any NASCAR race in well over a decade.

Bill Lester has 145 starts to his name among the three NASCAR national series, the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series. Of those 145 starts, 142 came in the Truck Series, and he recorded career-high finishes of fifth place at Kansas Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway in the 2005 season.

The 60-year-old Washington, D.C. native’s most recent NASCAR national series start came in the Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway in August 2007, when he finished in 20th place. But that is set to change this afternoon.

Here is what Lester had to say about his return to the sport, according to NASCAR.com.

"“I just always in the back of my head kind of wondered what it would be like to go back and compete again. It just was something that was percolating, nothing that was really actionable that I felt I was really going to make any strides towards, but once I started writing my memoir, I started to get more of … I don’t know if you’d call it an itch, but more of an interest.“Just feel like all of the stars have aligned, so here we are. I’ve always felt like I was in good enough shape to do it. I always felt like I had the desire to still race and be competitive and be fast, and we’re just going to find out whether or not that’s all true.”"

But his return to the sport is special in more ways than one.

Back in March 2006, Lester attempted to compete in a Cup Series race for the first time, and he did so at the same location where he is set to return to the sport later today: Atlanta Motor Speedway.