HAMPTON, VA :: In the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East – where competitors hail from places ranging from California, Massachusetts, Mexico and Puerto Rico – it’s not often that a driver gets to cruise just two miles down the road from his residence to go racing. Brandon Gdovic will look to make the most of his opportunity to do just that in the Visit Hampton VA 175 at Langley Speedway on June 22.
The term “home track” most certainly applies to Gdovic, who originally hails from nearby Yorktown, Va., and now resides even closer to the .396-mile facility in Hampton, Va. With the hometown crowd in attendance, and more experience at the track than his fellow K&N Pro Series East competitors, Gdovic hopes the home cooking will be a recipe for success.
“I’m really looking forward to racing at Langley Speedway,” said Gdovic. “Since this is my home track I would really like to win in front of my friends, family, and sponsors.”
One year before making the leap to NASCAR’s top development series, Gdovic earned Rookie of the Year honors at Langley competing in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model division. The 21-year-old has shown improvement in each of the three years since at the regional touring level. That improvement culminated in his first K&N Pro Series East victory earlier this season at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway, and he enters Langley ranked fourth in the standings with three top-fives in six races.
Gdovic’s rising stock in the development ranks has not gone unnoticed. Prior to the season he was among FoxSports.com’s list of “NASCAR Drivers 25 and Under to Watch” and last week he was ranked as the 20th-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series prospect by MotorsportsAnalytics.com.
With neither of the previous Langley winners – Sergio Peña, Corey LaJoie – expected to enter the 2013 Visit Hampton VA 175, Gdovic stands among the favorites to add their name to the track’s K&N Pro Series East winners list.
| Race: | Visit Hampton VA 175 |
|---|---|
| Place: | Langley Speedway, Hampton, Va. |
| Date: | Saturday, June 22 |
| Time: | 8:30 p.m. ET |
| TV Schedule: | SPEED, June 27, 3 p.m. ET |
| Audio: | NASCAR Home Tracks Radio by Speed51, live at nascarhometracks.com |
| Track Layout: | .396-mile, slightly-banked asphalt oval |
| 2012 Polesitter: | Chase Elliott |
| 2012 Winner: | Corey LaJoie |
| Event Schedule: | Practice 12-12:45 p.m., Final Practice 1:15-2 p.m., Qualifying 4:30 p.m., Driver Autograph Session 5:30 p.m. |
| Track Contact: | Chuck Hall, 757-865-7223, [email protected] |
| Track Twitter: | @LangleySpeedway |
| Event Twitter Hashtag: | #VisitHamptonVA175 |
FAST FACTS:
The Race: The seventh of 15 races on the 2013 schedule, the Visit Hampton VA 175 will mark the third year in a row the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East has contested an event at Langley Speedway. It will be the second of three races on the series’ calendar in the state of Virginia.
The Procedure: The starting field is 30 cars, including provisionals. The first 26 cars will qualify through two-lap time trials. The remaining four spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race will be 175 laps (70 miles).
The Track: On property that was originally a .8-mile horse track, the racing distance was cut in half and made exclusively an auto racing facility in 1950. The track, which played host to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from 1964-70, was converted to asphalt in 1968 and currently runs as a slightly-banked .396-mile oval.
Race Winners: Sergio Peña was the inaugural Visit Hampton VA 175 winner on June 18, 2011 while Corey LaJoie was last year’s victory.
Pole Winners: Coleman Pressley turned the fast lap to take the inaugural pole at Langley in 2011 and Chase Elliott became the youngest pole winner in series history – at the time – when he captured last year’s top qualifying honors with a track record lap of 16.400 seconds (86.927 mph).
LANGLEY RACE NOTES:
Langley Resurfaced: Prior to the start of the 2013 racing season, Langley Speedway’s .396-mile asphalt oval was resurfaced. Due to the track’s racing surface update, NASCAR has waived its standard regional touring series testing policy and will allow teams to participate in an open practice at Langley on Friday, June 21, the day before the Visit Hampton VA 175. Teams are generally not allowed to test at a track in the seven days preceding a race weekend at that same facility.
Virginia Drivers Looking for Home Track Victory: A trio of Virginia natives will look to the Visit Hampton VA 175 as an opportunity to land in Victory Lane in their home state. The previously-mentioned Brandon Gdovic from nearby Yorktown has the closest commute to the Hampton short track. Meanwhile, greater Richmond area drivers Gray Gaulding (Colonial Heights) and Sam Hunt (Midlothian) will look for their first K&N Pro Series East victory at Langley. If either of the trio was able to register the win at Langley, they would join Sergio Peña (Winchester) as Virginia natives who have won at the track.
Quite the Opening Weekend for NASCAR Next Drivers: The 2013-14 NASCAR Next lineup of drivers was unveiled the last time the K&N Pro Series East raced on June 7 at Iowa Speedway. That weekend the group’s 13 members racked up six victories, including: Jeb Burton (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway), Chase Elliott (ARCA at Pocono Raceway), Dylan Kwasniewski (NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Iowa), Ryan Preece (NASCAR Whelen All-American Series at Riverhead Raceway) and Michael Self (NASCAR K&N Pro Series West at Iowa and Lebanon I-44 Speedway). This week there will be seven of the 13 NASCAR Next drivers competing at Langley: Gaulding, Ryan Gifford, Ben Kennedy, Kwasniewski, Brett Moffitt, Kenzie Ruston and Daniel Suarez.
HOME TRACKS: Falk Leads at Langley
A charter member track of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program, Langley Speedway is a staple of East Coast short-track racing. The current resident master of the .396-mile oval is C.E. Falk III, who is looking for his fourth track title in the last five seasons out of the Late Model division. Third place in last year’s national standings, Falk not only holds the division points lead at Langley this season, but he also tops the NWAAS Virginia state points as well on the strength of to seven wins in 15 starts through the latest national points update on June 9.
LAST TIME OUT: Iowa
The sixth event of the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season took place at Iowa Speedway on June 7 with the first of two combination races this year with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Here are some highlights:
• Michael Self took the checkered flag to mark the first instance in eight all-time East-West combination races at Iowa that a West driver was the overall top finisher.
• Dylan Kwasniewski finished second overall and was credited with an East victory. As a West driver in this same race a year ago, he was that series’ highest finisher.
• Representing the East, Grimes, Iowa’s Brett Moffitt finished third overall to mark the sixth top-five finish in seven career starts at his home track.
• In his series debut, Anderson Bowen was the overall 21 Means 21 Pole Award by Coors Brewing Company winner.
NEXT TIME OUT: Columbus
Following the Visit Hampton VA 175 at Langley Speedway, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action on July 13 with the NAPA 150 at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway. Cale Conley earned his first and only K&N Pro Series East victory at Columbus a year ago after Ben Kennedy captured his first Coors Light Pole Award at the venerable .333-mile oval.
