SPARTA, Ky – On the heels of their second career NASCAR XFINITY Series win last weekend at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Biagi-DenBeste Racing announced Friday that Nelson Piquet Jr. will drive the team’s No. 98 Ford Mustang at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course next month.
Piquet, a former winner in Camping World Truck Series and XFINITY Series competition hasn’t competed in NASCAR since the 2014 race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.), where he finished 26th in a car owned by Randy Humphrey.
The former Turner Scott Motorsports driver will make his XFINITY return since the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in November 2013. During his 37-race tenure in XFINITY, he scored his first career win at Road America road course in 2012. In addition to the win, Piquet has 1 pole, one top-five and seven top-10 finishes in four years of competition.
In his only full-time year of XFINITY racing, the Brazilian finished 12th in points three years ago.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be racing in Mid-Ohio next month,” said Piquet in a press release. “NASCAR has been a huge part of my career and it is one of the best championships I’ve ever raced in. My first top-tier NASCAR victory was at a road course, at Road America, and so I’m grateful to Biagi-DenBeste for giving me another road course opportunity.
“The XFINITY series is seriously competitive so I’m looking forward to getting there and seeing what we can do.”
Since his experience in NASCAR, the former Formula 1 driver became the first FIA Formula E champion, won a Global Rallycross event and recently competed in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Rebellion LMP1 privateer team, where they won their respective class.
Piquet became the first Brazilian to win a NASCAR in the sport’s top-three divisions with a triumph in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway on August 18, 2012.
Overall, the 30-year-old has three career NASCAR victories including an additional win in Trucks at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in Sept. 2012.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
