K&N Pro Series East News & Notes: Richmond

DAYTONA BEACH, FL :: The modern-day NASCAR K&N Pro Series East is certainly no stranger to successful rookies. In fact, three of the last six champions were first-year drivers, and many more made their mark. Early returns on the 2013 season have proved to be no different.

Through three points races, a pair of true rookies are holding strong in the top five of the series standings: Gray Gaulding and Kenzie Ruston. The season may only be one-fifth of the way complete, but the pair is showing signs of staying power.

Gaulding, a 15-year-old from Colonial Heights, Va., has recorded finishes of sixth, 10th and second in his three K&N Pro Series East races. Add to that a runner-up finish in the non-points UNOH Battle At The Beach on the short track at Daytona International Speedway and a sixth-place result in the K&N Pro Series West opener at Phoenix International Raceway in February, and the youngster has had quite the solid start to his NASCAR career.

Meanwhile Ruston, from El Reno, Okla., is making a name for herself as well. After a series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway that saw her finish 11th, the 21-year-old was third at Greenville Pickens Speedway and fifth last time out at Five Flags Speedway. Her third-place marked the best race finish by a female in the series’ 27-year history and the back-to-back top-fives are also a series first.

Aside from first year champions Joey Logano (2007), Ryan Truex (2009) and Kyle Larson (2012), there have been plenty of other first-year drivers that have made some noise in the championship standings in recent seasons. Austin Dillon and Trevor Bayne in 2008, Brett Moffitt in 2009, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Cole Whitt in 2010 and Bryan Ortiz in 2012 all finished in the top five in points while Alex Bowman ranked sixth in 2011.

They still have a long way to go, but Gaulding and Ruston are positioning themselves in the early going to join some elite company.

EVENT SCHEDULE  |  ENTRY LIST

FAST FACTS:
The Race:  The 2013 Blue Ox 100 will mark the third year in a row the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East has traveled to Richmond International Raceway. It will be the first of two events for the series in the state of Virginia this season.

The Procedure:  The starting field is 36 cars, including provisionals. The first 32 cars will qualify through two-lap time trials. The remaining four spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race will be 100 laps (75 miles). The tire rule is 12: eight for practice and four for qualifying and the race.

The Track:  Nicknamed “America’s Premier Short Track,” Richmond is a .75-mile banked, D-shaped asphalt oval. The track opened in 1946 and held its first NASCAR-sanctioned race in 1953.

Race Winners:   Darrell Wallace Jr. won the inaugural Blue Ox 100 on April 28, 2011 and Brett Moffitt took the checkered flag from the pole in 2012.

Pole Winners:  Max Gresham took the inaugural series pole at Richmond in 2011 with a fast lap of 21.948 seconds (123.081 mph), which remains the series’ track record. Moffitt was last year’s pole winner.

RICHMOND RACE NOTES:
He’s Back:  Last year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship runner-up Corey LaJoie is set to make his first appearance of the year with the series for the Blue Ox 100. LaJoie, who recorded a series-high five victories in 2012, will be chasing his first at Richmond International Raceway where he has third-place finishes in each of his two previous starts. LaJoie has certainly enjoyed success on the series’ bigger stages with two wins and 13 top 10s in 18 career starts at tracks which play host to NASCAR’s three national series.

Daytona Winner Headed East:  NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and Next9 driver Cameron Hayley is set to make his first K&N East appearance the this week at Richmond. Driving this year for Gene Price Motorsports, which has captured the last two K&N West championships, Hayley won the non-points UNOH Battle At The Beach K&N race on the short track at Dayton International Speedway during 2013 Speedweeks. He finished second in the first K&N West race of the season at Phoenix International Raceway.

Large Gathering:  There are expected to be 43 K&N Pro Series East cars at Richmond this week. Should there be no change to that number, it would be the largest field of entries since the June 29, 2007 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which also had 43. The last time there were more than 43 cars that attempted to compete in a K&N Pro Series East stand-alone event was on Sept. 16, 2006 when there were 46, also at NHMS. The starting field for this week’s Blue Ox 100 will be 36 cars.

Double-Duty Drivers:  At least four K&N Pro Series East rookies are expected to compete in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown on Thursday following the Blue Ox 100. Leading K&N Pro Series East rookie contender Gray Gaulding, a Virginia native, is among the celebrity invitees while part-time competitors Ben Rhodes, Austin Hill and Austin Wayne Self are also among the invited participants.

HOME TRACKS: Virginia at the Forefront
The state of Virginia is a key battleground when it comes to NASCAR Whelen All-American Series competition at the highest levels. The state has produced at least four drivers in the top 10 of the national standings in each of the previous three seasons, and four of the last five national champions, including Lee Pulliam a year ago. Langley Speedway in Hampton, Motor Mile Speedway in Radford and South Boston Speedway all feature Late Models as their premier Division I classification, which allows drivers like Pulliam, CE Falk III and four-time national champ Philip Morris to compete multiple times a week.

LAST TIME OUT: Pensacola
The third event of the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season took place at Five Flags Speedway on Saturday, April 13 in Pensacola, Fla. Here are some highlights:

• Ben Kennedy captured his first K&N Pro Series East victory when he led wire-to-wire in the NAPA Auto Parts 150. Prior to the race Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., earned his second career pole.

• Rookie Gray Gaulding turned in his best result yet when he finished as the race runner-up.

• Johnny VanDoorn finished third in his K&N Pro Series East debut.

• This was the inaugural series event at Five Flags, and the first points race in series history in Florida.

NEXT TIME OUT: Bowman Gray
Following the Blue Ox 100 at Richmond International Raceway, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will have a five-week break before its next contest at historic Bowman Gray Stadium. The tight, quarter-mile confines in Winston-Salem, N.C., will welcome in the K&N Pro Series East on June 1 for the third season in a row. Last year’s race served as a coming-out party for Corey LaJoie, who earned the first of his series-high five wins in this event. Kyle Larson also earned his first NASCAR pole at The Stadium a year ago.