For the moment, the NASCAR Cup Series is on a hiatus and will resume next weekend. The break is largely because of the ongoing 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
As a result, many drivers are taking advantage of the hiatus to unwind, and the team personnel are doing the same. However, JR Motorsports employee Tyler Paige does not have that luxury.
Apparently, Paige is competing in the Olympic Games, particularly in the Sailing discipline. Paige is representing American Samoa in the Men’s Two Person Dinghy and partnering Adrian Hoesch. It is worth mentioning that Paige is an engineering intern at JR Motorsports, who works part-time.
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Good luck to our employee, Tyler Paige, who will partake in his first Olympic race tonight as he sails for American Samoa 🇦🇸 pic.twitter.com/pAyNrXTy2G
— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) July 27, 2021
According to reports, he is hoping to work with the outfit on a full-time basis after the Olympics. The 25-year-old has been helping the American Samoa sailing program for a long time.
This program has been in the process of rebuilding and Paige wanted to make sure that the athletes were ready for the Olympics.
When did Paige join JR Motorsports?
It is worth noting that Tyler Paige began his NASCAR Xfinity tenure at the start of the 2020 season. In his capacity as an intern, he joined JR Motorsports’ engineering department.
However, he was forced to delay his NASCAR plans to continue training in order to make the cut for the Olympic team.
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Paige is pretty passionate about sailing, as he has been doing it since his childhood. He even ranked as high as 20th in the world in 2015 in the 470 category. On an interesting note, he represented the United States at the 2018 Junior 470 world championship.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, everything came to a standstill, including sailing. As a result, the officials were forced to reschedule, and it gave Paige time to work for JR Motorsports.
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However, he has officially taken a leave of absence in order to compete in the Olympics.
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