Kingsport Speedway in Tennessee and Lonesome Pine Raceway in Virginia will continue to run as sister tracks in 2015, under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series (NWAAS) banner, and will remain under the management of promoter and general manager Karen Tunnell.

Tunnell is entering her second year as the promoter of both tracks, which are located within an hour of each other.  While Tunnell has grown up around the sport, she felt she learned a lot in her first season as an event promoter.

“I’ve been in this now for 15 years and been associated with it all my life,” Tunnell said.  “The only thing that was any different than years previous was that I was the one that had to make the decisions instead of someone else making them.

“As far as my relationships with people, my experienced helped me a lot last year.  I know pretty much each and evrey person and I’ve known them for years.  I didn’t feel I was getting into something I know nothing about.  I’m married to a racer and worked at the tracks.  I’ve been involved with my friends and family. I’ve been around this all my life.  I learned a lot from the promoter’s aspect of it and that helps a lot going into this year.”

The 2015 season will make the 50th birthday of Kingsport Speedway, though the track has not been open for all 50 years.  Tunnell plans to take Kingsport back to its roots this year by running a Dirt Late Model race on the concrete surface at Kingsport Speedway as well as running vintage cars and more.

Kingsport Speedway will also run on the Thursday night, April 16th, prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.  Along with those races, the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) and the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series will both visit Kingsport Speedway on May 8th for a doubleheader event.

“We are very excited to have that,” Tunnell stated.  “I’ve talked with Alan Dietz and Randy Myers last year and I really think the fans at Kingsport are really going to like both.  We’re really excited about the Modifieds.  It’s been a long time since the Modifieds have been at Kingsport.”

Last year, Lonesome Pine Raceway was sanctioned by NASCAR.  Tunnell said the sanctioning, along with the unprecedented partnership with Kingsport, helped Lonesome Pine in multiple areas.

“I think NASCAR really helped Lonesome Pine.  You got a lot of press feeds that ran in the NASCAR stuff.  We had Chad Finchum run at Longsome Pine.  We were very proud to have the caliber of Late Models we had at Lonesome Pine.  A lot of these guys ran both tracks and it helped with national points.  We want Lonesome Pine to excel as high as we can take it.

Kingsport and Lonesome Pine will again have an Independence Day Weekend doubleheader with a Friday night race at Kingsport and a Saturday night race at Lonesome Pine.  And when the drivers and fans roll up to both tracks, they will see a new generation of a racing dynasty take the track.

“Davey Allison’s son, Robbie, will be racing with us.  We’ll have Bobby Allison on hand about 90 percent of the time this year.  He’ll be in my pits at both tracks.  Allison fans will get to watch this kid learn to drive.  We did a test with him three weeks ago at Lonesome pine and he has talent.  He’s a good kid level-headed.  Bobby was with him at the test.”

Tunnell has also dismantled the Street Stock division and begun building a new Modified Street Stock division, which is similar to the Charger division some of the tracks on the Mid-Atlantic coast run.

““We have dismantled our Street Stock division and rebuilt it as Modified Street Stock division that older Late Model chassis can run,” Tunnell explained.  “The Street Stock count was down so we brainstormed a little bit and came up with this deal for the Modified Street Stocks.  We’re adding weight so we can run street stocks and the old Late Models together.  More cars mean more fans so we have to generate more cars to produce more fans.”

Kingsport Speedway’s season will start on Saturday, March 21st although the track normally runs on Friday nights throughout the summer. Lonesome Pine Raceway will open on Saturday, April 4th and will run on Saturday nights during the summer.

KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY: Website | Facebook | Twitter

LONESOME PINE RACEWAY: Website | Facebook | Twitter

2015 Kingsport Speedway Schedule

March 21st: Late Model Stock Car
March 28th: Late Model Stock Car
April 3rd: Late Model Stock Car
April 10th: Late Model Stock Car
April 16th: Late Model Stock Car
April 24th: Late Model Stock Car
May 1st: Late Model Stock Car
May 8th: Pro All Stars Series South/KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series
May 15th: Late Model Stock Car
May 22nd: Late Model Stock Car
May 29th: Late Model Stock Car
June 5th: Late Model Stock Car
June 12th: Late Model Stock Car
June 19th: Late Model Stock Car
June 26th: Late Model Stock Car
July 3rd: Late Model Stock Car
July 17th: Late Model Stock Car
July 24th: Late Model Stock Car
July 31st: Late Model Stock Car
August 7th: Late Model Stock Car
August 14th: Late Model Stock Car
August 28th: Late Model Stock Car

2015 Lonesome Pine Raceway Schedule

April 4th: Late Model Stock Car
April 17th: Late Model Stock Car
April 25th: Late Model Stock Car
May 2nd: Late Model Stock Car
May 16th: Late Model Stock Car
May 30th: Late Model Stock Car
June 13th: Late Model Stock Car
June 27th: Late Model Stock Car
July 4th: Late Model Stock Car
July 18th: Late Model Stock Car
August 8th: Late Model Stock Car
August 15th: Late Model Stock Car
August 29th: Late Model Stock Car
September 5th: Late Model Stock Car