As reported first by RaceDayCT, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is heading to Lime Rock Park in Lakeville in 2025.
NASCAR announced Thursday that the Craftsman Truck Series will run for the first time at Lime Rock Park on Saturday June 28, 2025.
“Lime Rock Park has been working closely with NASCAR leadership over the last two years to ultimately propel the incredible opportunity to host the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the Park in 2025,” Lime Rock Park CEO Dicky Riegel said in a release. “To say that we are excited about this announcement is a major understatement, as this will surely be the biggest event in Lime Rock Park’s history. The combination of the incredible NASCAR fan base in New England with the spectacular beauty of Lime Rock will create motorsports magic in Connecticut.”
On June 5 RaceDayCT reported that it was likely that the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series would schedule a race at a Connecticut track for the 2025 season. On Monday RaceDayCT reported that sources were indicating that would indeed be happening.
A release from Lime Rock Park stated: “Lime Rock Park will undergo several updates during the off-season, including an extension to pit lane and additional safety features.”
The event will mark the first NASCAR national series race in Connecticut since 1970. The NASCAR Cup Series ran three races at Thompson Speedway in 1951, 1969 and 1970. Bobby Isaac won the last Cup Series event at Thompson on July 9, 1970.
The 1.53-mile Lime Rock Park road course opened in 1957. Lime Rock Park hosted the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (formerly Busch North Series) 18 times from 1993 to 2010. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour raced at Lime Rock Park twice, in 2010 and 2011.
Andrew Ranger won the last series K&N East Series event at the track on July 3, 2010. Dale Quarterley (2010) and Todd Szegedy (2011) won the Whelen Modified Tour events at Lime Rock Park.
Over the years Lime Rock Park has regularly hosted the top levels of sports car divisions in North America including the Trans Am Series, the IMSA Sports Car Championship, the Pirelli World Challenge and the Rolex Sports Car Series.
“We are proud to bring the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to historic Lime Rock Park for the first time,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President, Chief Venue and Racing Innovation Officer. “Thanks to Dicky Riegel and the Lime Rock Park team for their commitment with NASCAR to bring an event to our passionate race fans in the northeast. We look forward to showcasing the intense competition of the Craftsman Truck Series at one of the most historic road racing circuits next season.”
Aww man, when I heard they were going to a Connecticut track I was really hoping for Thompson
I would like to see ACT late models added as an undercard event. With their rules mandated symmetry in chassis components and centered engine mounting, the basic design can accommodate a right turn biased course. The down fall may be transmissions they use and any forced expense if they were to allow dog box versions for a possible one time usage.
Dr. Robert Neville,
I don’t think that would happen as a companion event at Lime Rock. I have a feeling there will be an ARCA Menards or ARCA Menards East Series race as a companion event.
Probably right on ARCA, but neither division has any local flavor except for KLAS, or the ability to pull in friends, families, sponsors, and teams having large numbers of crew members like ACT. An ACT tour event is usually directly responsible for an added 500 people minimum attending in pits and grandstands. Having ARCA won’t bring in a single additional fan.
when was the last time Whelen Modifieds had a road course event? I know it was a pain for the teams to covert the car but Nascar never let cost to teams get in the way of scheduling a race.
Thompson would never make the upgrades needed , they should have safer walls for modifieds