LOUDON, NH :: NASCAR and New Hampshire Motor Speedway formally announced the Whelen All-Star Shootout for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour today. The invitation-only event is a 40-lap race that is to be run in two segments.
Each segment will be 20 laps. The starting lineup for the first segment will be determined by a random draw. Before the second segment a minimum of four and a maximum of ten positions will be inverted. After the first segment there will be a competition caution used to reset the field. Any laps run during the caution will not count towards the race total.
The field will be a maximum of 20 drivers. Those drivers will consist of current and past champions of the Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour. The 2013 Rookie of the Year from the Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour will have guaranteed starting positions. Any remaining positions will be awarded to the drivers with the most wins from the start of the 2005 season to the deadline entry date of June 20, 2014.
“It’s cool because we only get to race the Southern Modified Tour drivers if we travel down to their series, and only once a year when we go to Bristol – so it’s cool to have them come up and especially here in New Hampshire, it’s basically our Daytona 500,” said Ryan Preece, the defending Whelen Modified Tour champion. “It’s a great event and coming here it’s one of our biggest crowds and there’s a lot of energy going throughout the track, so it’s definitely exciting. I think having the Southern Tour champs and obviously the northern Modified Tour champs is going to make it interesting.
NASCAR also announced that the event will be broadcasted by Fox Sports. The details for the telecast will be announced at a later date.
The Whelen All-Star Shooutout is a part of Oxford Casino Pole Day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, July 11. Also running on Pole Day is the Granite State 100 for NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East as well as Coors Light Pole Award qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
“We take a lot of pride in New Hampshire Motor Speedway being known as the ’Super Bowl’ venue of modified racing,” said Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of the speedway. “With the addition of the Whelen Modified Shootout, a 100-mile NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race and the new NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying format, I truly believe we have the most exciting “pole day” on the circuit.”
