Justin LaDuke

Justin LaDuke (born June 25, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for Sam Hunt Racing.

Biography
LaDuke made his only start of the year and to-date of his career at Winston-Salem. Hunt returned for two races at tracks in his home state of Virginia: Langley and Richmond.

The Lee College of Engineering has awarded its Alan Kulwicki Memorial Scholarship to Justin LaDuke. A formal presentation was made in October, at Charlotte Motor Speedway prior to the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

The four-year Kulwicki Scholarship, established in 1994, is one of the highest honors within UNC Charlotte’s motorsports engineering program. It is awarded in memory of late NASCAR Winston Cup points champion Alan Kulwicki, who lost his life in a plane crash in 1993. Kulwicki, an engineer, was a strong supporter of engineering and science education. The Lee College of Engineering presents the scholarship to a high school senior who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement and who has an affiliation with auto racing.

A freshman who started this fall, LaDuke is the son of Elizabeth and Dane LaDuke of Whitakers. He said his goal is to keep driving short track cars and with the intent to move to bigger teams, which is why he came to UNC Charlotte.

“I wanted to come to UNC Charlotte to pursue my dreams of working for teams if I couldn’t drive for them. I also wanted to be closer to the racing community and some of my friends who are in racing here,” said LaDuke. “So far it’s been a great experience here. I like the people that I’ve met in the motorsports engineering community, and my professors are awesome.”

LaDuke started his racing career at age 8 in go-carts. At age 12, he moved into the VMCRA mini cup series where he finished second in points and became the youngest series winner. At age 14, he began racing in the Allison Legacy Series, which he won his third year. For the 2013 season, he has won 9 races in the Allison Legacy Series and is the current points leader.

Plenty of speed but an untimely accident in a Last Chance Qualifier forced the Woodman Racing #27 and Justin LaDuke to miss the Easter Bunny 150. A mistake in qualifying forced a car that was fifth fastest in practice to qualify 24th which forced Justin to the second of two qualiying races. Justin ran most of the fifteen lap race in second until a mid-race caution forced a restart. On the restart Justin got stuck in the outside groove as he fell back to third, as Justin entered turn 1 on lap nine he was spun by a competitor. Justin was sent back to ninth place on afterwards and was unable to make his way back into transfer positions.

Laduke has started his super late model career testing the Dickie Woodman's car at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday. It was be the first time Justin has sat behind the wheel of a super late model and the team is excited to see what Justin can do with this opportunity. More announcements will follow as Justin is planning to race multiple super late model events in March.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led. )