Tuesday, May 15, 2012

News & Notes - Graham Tire '150'


Fast Facts:

Race: This event marks the sixth year for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway. This year, however, the track is hosting two combination races, with a return engagement set for Aug. 3.

Procedure: The starting field is 36 cars, including provisionals. The first 28 cars will qualify through two-lap time trials. The remaining eight spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race will be 150 laps (131.25 miles).

Track: Iowa Speedway is a .875-mile paved oval with the turns banked 12-14 degrees, four degrees banking in the backstretch and 10 degrees banking in the frontstretch.

Records: Qualifying: Kyle Busch, May 17, 2009, 135.484 mph, 23.250 sec.; Race: To be established at this distance.

16-Year-Olds Return To Iowa As Title Contenders
 Last year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination event at Iowa featured a late-race battle between two 15-year-old rookies, racing for a top-10 finish. Those two teens return to Iowa this year, each leading their series in the championship standings.

Dylan Kwasniewski is coming off a win at Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway that vaulted him to first and gave him a six-point lead in the standings for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.

In the most recent race for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, meanwhile, a second-place finish by Chase Elliott at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway gave him a four-point lead in that title hunt.

Kwasniewski, who won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award last year in the K&N West, is a teammate at Gene Price Motorsports to defending series champion Greg Pursley.

Elliott, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, is a teammate at Hendrick Motorsports on race weekends to Ben Kennedy, who is second to him in the standings.

Race Notes

Defending Winner, Hometown Favorite:
Not only is he the most recent NASCAR K&N Pro Series East winner this season, but Iowa native Brett Moffitt is also the defending winner of the East-West combo event at Iowa Speedway. From Grimes, Moffitt secured the victory at his home track in 2011 with an impressive performance that saw him lead 138 of the 175 laps. Moffitt turned in a similarly-dominating performance on April 26 of this season when he led 92 of 103 circuits at Richmond International Raceway for his eighth career East victory.

Three Straight Weeks of Racing For West: The East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway marks the first of three consecutive weeks of racing for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Following Iowa, the series heads to Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway on May 26 and a week later the series visits The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on June 2.

Milestones: Two series champions from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will hit career marks at Iowa. Three-time series champion Eric Holmes is set to make his 80th career series start there, driving the No. 20 NAPA Toyota. It will mark the 58th consecutive start for the Escalon, Calif., driver – who made his initial series debut at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., on Oct. 11, 1997. Defending series champion Greg Pursley is slated to make his 60th career series start at Iowa. The driver of the No. 26 Gene Price Motorsports/Star Nursery Ford made his first series start at Mesa Marin Raceway on Oct. 17, 1999.

East: Final Notes From Richmond

Moffitt Tops Field:
Brett Moffitt earned his eighth career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory in the second annual Blue Ox 100 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on April 26. Moffitt edged Chase Elliott in a thrilling last-lap battle to the checkered flag. Moffitt garnered his fifth career pole prior to the event and led 92 of 103 laps.

Career Mark For Elliott: The runner-up effort was the best in 15 career starts for Chase Elliott.

Youth Movement Continues: Jesse Little became the youngest driver in K&N Pro Series history at 15 years and 11 days. Little finished 11th in his series debut.

Wallace Slips: Defending race winner Darrell Wallace Jr. finished 28th and slipped from first to 11th in the season standings.

West: Final Notes From Stockton

Wire-To-Wire Win: Dylan Kwasniewski started from the pole and led wire-to-wire to win the Pick-N-Pull 150 at Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway on May 5. The win vaulted the 16-year-old Las Vegas driver into first in the championship standings, making him the youngest in the history of the series to lead the title hunt.

50th Top-Five Finish: Eric Holmes notched his 50th career series top-five finish with a runner-up finish at Stockton. He also has 16 wins and 13 poles, along with 63 top-10 finishes, in 79 series starts.

First Top 10s: Two drivers registered their first career series top 10s at Stockton. Jessica Brunelli finished ninth, while making her fifth series start and Ronnie Jay finished 10th, in making just his second start.

Up Next – East:  NASCAR Hall of Fame 150
 The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will next compete at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on June 2 with the NASCAR Hall of Fame 150. This will mark the second visit for the series to the tight and flat quarter mile that saw Matt DiBenedetto lead wire-to-wire in the inaugural 2011 event.

Up Next – West: Brainerd International Raceway

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West heads to Minnesota for its inaugural visit to Brainerd International Raceway. It marks the second of four road course events on this year’s series schedule.

SCHEDULE | ENTRY LIST


Source:  NASCAR HomeTracks

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