With
the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East opener just over a
week away – marking the official start to the 2017
NASCAR touring series season – the attention will
return to the exciting on-track action. While there
hasn’t been a race since November, it’s been a busy
offseason.
Beginning in December, NASCAR officials met with the
car owners of all the U.S. and Canadian-based
touring series, a move designed to further the
dialogue between the sanctioning body and the teams.
The conversations included covering some changes as
well as an open discussion of how best to
collectively grow the NASCAR touring series.
“We had overwhelmingly positive and productive
discussions,” said Brandon Thompson, NASCAR senior
director of the touring series. “NASCAR has really
great racing throughout our touring series, but
there are always ways to work to toward cost
efficiency, make the sport more cost-effective and
increase the level of competition for all involved.
As in the case of our national series, we always
strive to have an open dialogue during the race
season, but it’s also a great benefit to meet away
from the track and the daily demands of the race
season. We received a lot of great feedback from all
our owners and look forward to working together.”
Highlights of the 2017 offseason include:
· NASCAR announced today that Cherie Putnam will
take over as the NASCAR Pinty’s Series director.
Putnam, a native of Windsor, Ontario, has been
involved in the sport for over 25 years. She was
part of a Sunset Speedway championship and two
NASCAR Pinty’s Series titles, and has worked the
last five years as a NASCAR official. The NASCAR
Pinty’s Series, the national championship for
racing in Canada, will open the season on its
traditional Victoria Day Weekend (Sunday, May
21) at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
· Chris Wright was appointed to be the series
director of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. Wright,
who has been the director for the K&N Pro East
since 2013, will oversee both the East and the
West. In addition, Andy Mitchell will become the
head technical inspector for both the East and
West, as NASCAR continues to align the top
developmental series. Jimmie Walker was named
the race director for the K&N Pro West, while
Les Westerfield will continue in that position
in the K&N Pro East.
· Following the format change set forth by
NASCAR’s three national series, NASCAR’s four
U.S. and Canadian-based series will switch from
a green-white-checkered finish to an overtime
line for its races. The location of the line
will be determined on a track-by-track basis,
and will typically be entering Turn 3 on ovals.
If the event goes past the advertised distance
due to a caution, on the restart, if the leaders
reach the overtime line before another caution
comes out, it will be considered official. If
the caution comes out prior, the race will have
another restart.
· Starting with the K&N Pro Series East opener
at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway on Sunday, Feb.
19, NASCAR announced the move to group
qualifying on ovals. There will be single-car
qualifying at select events, like the NASCAR
Whelen Modified races at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway. Qualifying groups will be set by
practice times.
· The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West, and
the NASCAR Pinty’s Series schedules will feature
a unique format for one of its events in each
series: Twin 100-lap features. The NASCAR K&N
Pro Series West will be first up at California’s
Irwindale Speedway. The NASCAR K&N Pro Series
East will run twins at Virginia’s South Boston
Speedway, and the NASCAR Pinty’s Series will do
so at Wyant Group Raceway in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. The starting lineup for the second
100-lap race will be determined by the fastest
lap run in the first race.
· The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West doubleheader is
part of four races at three tracks in seven days
to kick off the season that includes a $100,000
NAPA 500 Challenge bonus award if a driver wins
all four races. The season opens at Tucson
Speedway in Arizona on Saturday, March 18.
· Earlier this month, the NASCAR PEAK Mexico
Series announced its 12-race schedule. Made up
of six ovals and six road courses, the national
championship for stock car racing in Mexico will
open on Sunday, March 26 at Autódromo Monterrey,
a 2.1-mile road course in Apodaca, Nuevo León.
The series held an exhibition event in December
following the announcement of a multi-year
agreement with Old World Industries (OWI) to
make PEAK the series entitlement sponsor.
· The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series announced a date
change for its race at the prestigious
Hockenheimring. The American Fan Fest will now
be held July 29-30 and conclude the series’
regular season before its two rounds of
playoffs. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series will
open on April 8-9 at Valencia, Spain. The
series, though, will have a number of drivers
competing in the U.S. during Speedweeks, most
notably two-time champion Anthony Kumpen in the
NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona
International Speedway and 2016 Elite 2 champion
Stienes Longin in the PPG/Tower Sealants Pro
Late Model 100 as part of New Smyrna’s 51st
World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
· NASCAR has implemented mandatory pre-license
drug testing for drivers in all its U.S.-based
touring series as part of NASCAR’s evolving
substance abuse program.
· Earlier this week, Safety-Kleen, the Official
Environmental Services Supplier of NASCAR, was
announced as entitlement sponsor for the first
race of the new unified NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour. The race, at South Carolina’s historic
Myrtle Beach Speedway, will be the Performance
Plus 150 for Safety-Kleen’s new brand of
high-quality, high-performance motor oil.
NASCARHomeTracks.com will
continue to be the digital home of all the NASCAR
touring & weekly series, including Spanish-language
content of the NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series. Fans can
also follow the news and action on Twitter at @NASCARHomeTrack
and through the designated series hashtags: #KNEast,
#KNWest, #NASCARPeak, #NWES, #NASCARPintys, #NWMT
and #NWAAS. |