K&N Pro Series East News & Notes: Bristol

DAYTONA BEACH, FL :: With half of the top 10 drivers in the 2012 final NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standings moved on – including the series champion – the 2013 season will open this week at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway with a number of new faces and challengers ready to step into the spotlight.

Last year’s champion Kyle Larson has moved up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season and runner-up Corey LaJoie also has his foot in the door for competition at the national level in 2013. That leaves Brett Moffitt – who was half a mile away from actually capturing the K&N Pro Series East title a year ago – as one of the frontrunner’s to stand at the champion’s podium this season.

Moffitt, from Grimes, Iowa, has finished in the top three in points in each of his four seasons in the series. With nine wins and eight poles to his credit since 2009, the 20-year-old has little else to accomplish in the K&N Pro Series East other than to take home the championship trophy.

Moffitt will have plenty of challengers, however. Last year’s K&N Pro Series West titlist Dylan Kwasniewski, from Las Vegas, Nev., has come east to compete full-time this year and looks to become the first driver to win a championship in both the K&N Pro Series West and K&N Pro Series East. Following Kwasniewski east and joining him at Turner Scott Motorsports is Malibu, Calif., native Austin Dyne, who captured K&N Pro Series West Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 and finished eighth in that series’ standings despite missing a race.

After finishing fifth in points as a rookie a year ago, Rev Racing’s Bryan Ortiz – from Bayamon, Puerto Rico – figures to factor in to the championship picture in his sophomore season. Ortiz’s new teammate, Daniel Suárez, will also be a driver to watch with this being his first full-time season. The Monterrey, Mexico native posted six top 10s in 16 races the two previous seasons.

Rookies usually have an impact on the championship picture as well. In five of the previous six seasons, a rookie has finished on the championship podium, and three won the series title. Jesse Little might just have the inside line on continuing that trend. Although the Sherrills Ford, N.C., driver made seven starts a year ago, his Sunoco Rookie of the Year status was preserved for this season. Little, who won’t turn 16 until mid-April, hopes to follow Larson’s path and contend for both the rookie and overall championship titles this year with Coulter Motorsports.

It all starts this week with the DRIVE4COPD 125 at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” where there are 43 anticipated entries that will vie for 36 starting positions.

EVENT SCHEDULE  |  ENTRY LIST

FAST FACTS
The Race:  The DRIVE4COPD 125 will mark the opening of the 15-race 2013 regular season schedule for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.

The Procedure:  The maximum starting field will be 36 cars, including provisionals. The first 32 starting positions will be based on two-lap time trials and the remaining four will be filled through the provisional process. The race will be 125 laps (66.625 miles) with a five minute break at or near the conclusion of Lap 70.

The Track:  Known as the “World’s Fastest Half Mile,” Bristol is a .533-mile concrete oval with banking between six and 10 degrees on the straightaways and 24-28 degrees in the turns.

Race Winners:  Nelson Piquet Jr. won the inaugural NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Bristol in 2012 in his series debut. Piquet led 63 laps en route to the checkered flag.

Pole Winners:  As the pole winner of the inaugural series event at Bristol, Piquet established the track qualifying record at 118.811 mph (16.150 seconds).

BRISTOL RACE NOTES
New Faces at Bristol:  Of the 43 drivers on the pre-entry list for the DRIVE4COPD 125, 15 will attempt to make their official NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut. There are a total of 26 Bristol entries that will be eligible for Sunoco Rookie of the Race and Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors as they’ve had seven or less starts in the series prior to 2013.

Diversity on Display at Bristol:  A year after the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East made its debut at Bristol with a total of 13 minority and international drivers among the 35 in the field, the second edition of the event will feature plenty of diversity as well. This year’s 43 entries include: three Latinos (Enrique Contreras III, Bryan Ortiz, Daniel Suarez), two females (Mackena Bell, Kenzie Ruston) an African-American (Ryan Gifford) and an additional three international competitors (Ray Courtemanche Jr. and Martin Roy – Canada, Alx Danielsson – Sweden). Danielsson would become the first Swedish driver to participate in a K&N Pro Series East race while Bell and Ruston will look to become just the third pair of women to start a race in series history.

National Series Team Influence Remains:  A number of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organizations have placed teams in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in the last decade, most notably Joe Gibbs Racing, which got its start in the series in 2007 with Joey Logano and Marc Davis. Others that have participated in the series at one time or the other include Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. As the 2013 season gets underway at Bristol Motor Speedway, there won’t be any Sprint Cup Series development teams in the garage, but the national series influence remains. Coulter Motorsports will be back for a second season, and after fielding a car at Dover International Speedway last year, Turner Scott Motorsports has joined the K&N Pro Series East in 2013 with three full-time teams and two additional part-time efforts. Ken Schrader Racing – which first participated in the series in 2008 with Ricky Carmichael – will return with a pair of entries at Bristol while Derrike Cope’s CCR Racing will also have a pair of cars at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.” Joe Nemechek’s NEMCO Motorsports is also expected to field a car this year.

LaJoie Assumes Different Role:  While he pursues options in NASCAR’s top three series, last year’s K&N Pro Series East championship runner-up Corey LaJoie has moved to a different role in the development series. After racking up a series-leading five victories in 2012, LaJoie’s has vacated his seat for rookie Austin Hill. Hill will run a No. 13 Ford out of the LaJoie Racing shop in 2013 and LaJoie will serve as the team’s crew chief at Bristol. LaJoie has not completely closed the door on his K&N Pro Series East driving career, however, and could turn up behind the wheel of the No. 07 for select races this coming season.

HOME TRACKS: Kingsport Title Up For Grabs
Nate Monteith, who captured the last two NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track championships at Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway, has moved out from behind the wheel in 2013 and vacated the Late Model throne in Tennessee. That opens up competition at the .375-mile banked concrete oval operated by former NASCAR national series driver Robert Pressley. Monteith has moved into a driver development role, and as the owner of the team he drove to consecutive Volunteer State titles, he’s put Blake Jones behind the wheel of his No. 44 this year. Chad Finchum, who has competed part-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in the two previous seasons, won the season-opening Late Model feature at Kingsport on March 9.

LAST TIME OUT: Daytona
The 2013 racing season was launched with the inaugural UNOH Battle At The Beach on the short track at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Feb. 19. Here are some highlights:
•    The NASCAR K&N Pro Series contested a combination race between its East and West series as part of the event.
•    Cameron Hayley, who competes in the K&N Pro Series West, took home the checkered flag after a last-lap pass of East rookie Gray Gaulding.
•    It was an event dominated at the front by K&N Pro Series West representatives as Greg Pursley and Michael Self were the only other two drivers to lead laps in addition to Hayley. In the end, the top 10 finishers consisted of five East and five West cars.

NEXT TIME OUT: Greenville
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to the track next week for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 on Saturday, March 23 at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway. It will mark the first of two events at GPS in 2013 and the 10th at the historic half mile since 2006. Darrell Wallace Jr. won this event a year ago, but the competition will be wide open for the 2013 checkered flag with Wallace graduated to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Brett Moffitt, who won the spring race at GPS in 2011, is the only previous victor at the track expected to enter the upcoming event.