(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)
Tyler Ankrum celebrates victory in the K&N Pro Series East King Cadillac GMC Throwback 100 last July at Thompson Speedway
The green flag will wave just miles from the birthplace of NASCAR and will culminate at “The Monster Mile,” and in between, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will test drivers at historic venues, high-speed short tracks and a challenging road course.
The result is a 2019 calendar that will spotlight some of the sport’s rising young stars and series’ veterans in a mix of high-profile events.
The season will get underway Sunday, Feb. 10, at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway as headliner of the track’s 53rd running of its week-long World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, just south of Daytona. The high-banked half-mile has opened the K&N Pro Series East championship points season each of the past five years.
Featured on the 13-race slate will be six combination race weekends with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series, including a pair of visits to the “World’s Fastest Half Mile,” Bristol Motor Speedway. In addition to its traditional early season trip to Bristol Motor Speedway, the series will return in August.
“The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule features an itinerary of race tracks that really serve the drivers well to progress to the next level as well as an opportunity to perform in front of national series teams,” said Brandon Thompson, NASCAR managing director for regional racing. “The Cup championship by Joey Logano this season was really a culmination of a wave of talent that started in the K&N Pro Series 10 years ago and has continued. We look forward to seeing the next crop of drivers prove themselves on the big stage clash with those who will become cornerstones in the series.”
The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion (Logano), NASCAR Xfinity Series champion (Tyler Reddick) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion (Brett Moffitt) all scored their first NASCAR wins at the K&N Pro Series level. Five of the last six NASCAR Xfinity Series champions trace their NASCAR roots to the K&N Pro Series.
A pair of historic short tracks are fixtures on the first half of the schedule.
South Boston Speedway will host two 100-lap twin features on Saturday, May 4, the second consecutive year the venerable Virginia .400-mile track is the site of the championship points doubleheader. Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, which was an integral part of the old NASCAR Busch North Series – the predecessor to the current series– will host the third annual NASCAR Throwback on Saturday, June 15.
Other schedule highlights include:
- New Hampshire Motor Speedway, long a staple of the series’ calendar, will host a pair of races: Saturday, July 20, as part of the Cup weekend and Saturday, Sept. 21, in the Second Annual Full Throttle Fall Weekend.
- Memphis International Raceway will welcome back the series on Saturday, June 1. Ruben Garcia Jr. scored his breakthrough win in 2018 there en route to a third-place finish in the championship standings in parallel to his second NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series title run.
- Twice the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will go head-to-head with its West counterparts. The first is the annual stop at Iowa Speedway, on Friday, July 26, and the second as part of a doubleheader with the INDYCAR Series on Saturday, Aug. 24, at Gateway Motorsports Park, just outside of St. Louis.
- The championship will conclude at Dover International Speedway on Friday, Oct. 4. It will be the 10th time in the last 13-years the concrete mile will serve as the coronation of the series’ champion.
2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Schedule
(Date, site, laps)
Sun., Feb. 10: New Smyrna Speedway New Smyrna, Fla. – 175
Sat., April 6: Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tenn. – 150
Sat., May 4: South Boston Speedway * South Boston, Va. – 100’s*
Sat, June 1: Memphis International Raceway Millington, Tenn. – 150
Sat, June 15: Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thompson, Conn. – 100
Sat., July 20: New Hampshire Motor Speedway Loudon, N.H. – 70
Fri., July 26: Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa – 150
Fri., Aug. 2: Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, N.Y. – 41
Thur., Aug. 15: Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tenn. – 150
Sat., Aug. 24: Gateway Motorsports Park Madison, Ill. – 120
Sat., Sept. 21: New Hampshire Motor Speedway Loudon, N.H. – 125
Fri., Oct. 4: Dover International Speedway Dover, Del. – 125
* Twin 100-lap championship points races
I hope they show up with more than 13 cars this year.
I bet NASCAR is basically giving this show to Thompson for next to nothing as these taxi cabs do not draw a crowd anymore. Last years race was a joke with slightly more than a dozen cars and a crowd that was dismal at best. Ever since NASCAR in their wisdom decided to do away with the old BUSCH North Series and turn it into the Camping World East Series the series has sucked. No longer are there any local racers that the local fans know and have seen race at their local short tracks. Gone are the days of Matt Kobyluck, Phil Rondeau, Tom Fox, Andy Santerre (sp?), Brad Leighton and many others that used to compete in the series. Now days its all about spoiled rich kids spending daddy’s money to fill the drivers seat.
We can all admit this division is a joke right? Our tracks should stop wasting their efforts in bringing in the Kids & Nephews Series.
Not much competition for sure. After about 10 or 12 laps, the race is basically over with the leader about a half a lap ahead of everyone else, and the rest of the field scattered all over the the track.
2019 is pretty much a throwaway season so they can combine the K&N East and West partially with ARCA in 2020.
I really liked the Bush Series also- but unfortunately money and NASCAR ruined it. I have to admit watching the Thompson show on tv was good…only had to invest about a half an hour in front of the tube, saw maybe 50 laps of racing and an exciting finish.