Statistical Advance: New England 125
Selected Driver Highlights:
Alex Bowman (No. 59 Toyota)
• Is seventh in points with four top 10s in his first seven NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races.
• Best finish, third, came in the opener at Greenville Pickens Speedway
• Is the Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader, three points ahead of Andrew Smith.
Clay Campbell (No. 08 Chevrolet)
• Has made five starts in his NKNPS East rookie season with a best finish of 13th in his debut at South Boston Speedway.
• Is the president of Martinsville Speedway.
Matt DiBenedetto (No. 15 Toyota)
• Has three wins, four poles and 11 top 10s in 14 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is second in points, 17 behind Max Gresham, with top 10s in six of the season’s seven races.
• Led 39 laps and won in his only previous race at NHMS in June, 2009.
Chase Elliott (No. 9 Chevrolet)
• Is 15th in points with three top-10 finishes in his first seven career NKNPS East starts.
• The son of Bill Elliott, he became the first 15-year-old to compete in a NASCAR touring series race in the opener at GPS, where he finished fourth after starting 26th.
Ryan Gifford (No. 2 Toyota)
• Has a pole and 10 top-10 finishes in 21 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is 12th in points with three top 10s through the season’s first seven races.
• Has finishes of fourth, fourth and 28th in three starts at NHMS.
• In his second season with Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity.
Max Gresham (No. 18 Toyota)
• Has three wins, four poles and 11 top 10s in 20 career NKNPS East starts.
• Thanks to his sixth-consecutive top-five finish, he took the season points lead last time out.
• One of just two drivers to complete all 1,060 laps the series has run so far this year.
• Has finishes of ninth, 21st and 24th in three starts at NHMS.
Cody Hodgson (No. 03 Chevrolet)
• Has recorded four top 10s in his first seven career NKNPS East starts.
• Finished eighth at Bowman Gray Stadium, the best result of his rookie season.
• Is fourth in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings.
Robert Johnson (No. 11 Chevrolet)
• Made NKNPS East debut – and only prior start – at BGS and finished 24th after qualifying third.
• Son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson.
Ben Kennedy (No. 96 Chevrolet)
• Has made eight career NKNPS East starts with a best finish of third at BGS.
• Is 14th in the standings during his first full season in the series.
• Is the son of Lesa France Kennedy and great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.
Corey LaJoie (No. 07 Ford)
• Has eight top 10s in 14 career NKNPS East starts.
• Has improved from 16th to eighth in points with top-10 finishes in the three previous races.
• Has finishes of 31st, eighth and 13th in three starts at NHMS.
• Is the son of Randy LaJoie, a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion who won the NNS race at NHMS in 1996.
Eddie MacDonald (No. 71 Chevrolet)
• Has six wins, two poles and 58 top 10s in 139 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is ninth in the standings with a pair of top 10s.
• Has three wins, nine top 10s and an average finish of 18th in 21 career starts at NHMS.
• The longest-tenured driver on the pre-entry list. This is his 11th year in the series.
Brandon McReynolds (No. 42 Chevrolet)
• Made NKNPS East debut in the opener at GPS and finished eighth.
• Finished 16th in his only other start this year at Richmond International Raceway.
• The son of former crew chief and current television analyst Larry McReynolds.
Brett Moffitt (No. 00 Toyota)
• Has six wins, four poles and 20 top 10s in 28 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is fourth in points with a pair of wins and four top 10s through seven races.
• Has led 355 laps this year, nearly double the total of every other driver.
• After finishing 27th in his NHMS debut, he has posted finishes of second, fifth and second since. He earned both poles at NHMS in 2010 and set the track qualifying record at the September race.
• Is in the car that won both NHMS races last year with Ryan Truex.
Travis Pastrana (No. 99 Toyota)
• Made NKNPS debut in the 2011 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, where he finished sixth.
• Finished 33rd at RIR and 22nd overall in the East-West combo race at Iowa Speedway.
• Also competed in the NKNPS West race at Phoenix International Raceway and finished 25th.
Sergio Peña (No. 4 Toyota)
• Has two wins and seven top 10s in 17 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is up to sixth in points with four top 10s and wins at South Boston and Langley Speedways.
• Recorded finishes of 15th and 16th at NHMS during his 2010 rookie season.
• In his second year with Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity.
Dale Quarterley (No. 32 Chevrolet)
• Has six wins, four poles and 65 top 10s in 145 career starts. Has made spot starts since 2004.
• Has a win, a pole, 14 top 10s and an average finish of 17th in 27 career starts at NHMS.
• Has made two starts this year while sharing the No. 32 seat with Derek Ramstrom.
Andrew Ranger (No. 35 Toyota)
• Has four top 10s in eight career NKNPS East starts and two in four NKNPS West appearances.
• A road course specialist, his two NKNPS wins have come at Lime Rock Park (East) and Infineon Raceway (West).
• Finished ninth and seventh in his first two races at NHMS a year ago.
• Will also attempt to make the field for Saturday’s NNS race at NHMS.
• A two-time NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion, he has 13 wins and 38 top 10s in 44 career races in the series.
Andrew Smith (No. 62 Chevrolet)
• Has three top 10s in 14 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is 10th in the overall standings and three points out of first for Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
• Finished 22nd in this race a year ago, his only prior start at NHMS.
Daniel Suárez (No. 16 Toyota)
• Has a best finish of 14th in his first four NKNPS East races as a rookie this year.
• Was 11th in the 2011 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.
• Earned 2010 NASCAR Mexico Series Rookie of the Year honors with four top-10 finishes. Is 17th in the current season standings with a pair of top 10s in six races.
Darrell Wallace Jr. (No. 6 Toyota)
• Has three wins, a pole and 14 top 10s in 17 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is third in points, 27 out of first, with a win and seven top 10s.
• Is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all seven races and is one of two drivers to complete all 1,060 laps the series has run so far this year.
• Finished third and ninth at NHMS a year ago during his Sunoco Rookie of the Year season.
• Competes for Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity.
At New Hampshire Motor Speedway:
History
• Groundbreaking for New Hampshire International Speedway was Aug. 13, 1989.
• The official opening was June 5, 1990 and the first NASCAR event was a NASCAR Nationwide Series race on July 15, 1990 in which NASCAR K&N Pro Series East drivers competed in combination.
• The first NKNPS East stand-alone race was held on Sept. 2, 1990.
• The track was renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2008.
• The largest racing oval – and the largest sports facility overall – in New England.
Notebook
• There have been 54 stand-alone NKNPS East races at NHMS, 20 more than any other track.
• There have been 23 different race winners, led by Brad Leighton’s eight.
• There have been 27 different pole winners, led by Kelly Moore’s six.
• Ryan Truex became the third driver in the last four years to sweep the season at NHMS when he won both events in 2010.
• Among the 43 drivers on the entry list for the New England 125 only Matt DiBenedetto (1), MacDonald (3) and Dale Quarterley (1) have wins at NHMS to their credit.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway Data
Race: #8 of 12 overall, #1 of 2 at NHMS
Track Layout: 1.058-mile oval
Banking: Variable between 2-7 degrees in the turns
Race Length: 125 laps/132.25 miles
EVENT SCHEDULE | ENTRY LIST
Qualifying/Race Data
2010 pole winner: Brett Moffitt (125.471 mph, 30.358 sec.)
2010 race winner: Ryan Truex (89.813 mph, 1:28.21)
Track qualifying record: Brett Moffitt (127.542 mph, 28.863 sec., 9-17-10)
NKNPS East Win Leaders at NHMS
Brad Leighton … 8
Ted Christopher … 5
Kelly Moore … 5
Mike McLaughlin … 4
Four drivers with … 3
NKNPS East Pole Leaders at NHMS
Kelly Moore … 6
Jamie Aube … 3
Tom Carey Jr. … 3
Dave Dion … 3
Andy Santerre … 3
Martin Truex Jr. … 3
Up to Speed:
• The 2011 season is the 25th for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. The inaugural event was a combination race with the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Darlington Raceway on March 28, 1987. The first stand-alone race was held at Oxford Plains Speedway on April 26.
• The opener at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway was postponed from March 26 to April 2 due to rain. Once raceday arrived, Brett Moffitt dominated as he earned the pole and led flag-to-flag for his fifth career victory.
• Like the first race, the second event of the year at South Boston (Va.) Speedway was postponed by rain to April 17. Revolution Racing took center stage as Darrell Wallace Jr. earned his first career pole and Sergio Peña took his first checkered flag.
• The third race of the season saw Wallace cruise to the win in the inaugural event at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on April 28. Max Gresham earned the pole.
• In the fifth annual East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway on May 21, Matt DiBenedetto was the pole winner and early race leader, but Moffitt wound up in Victory Lane for the first time in three tries at his hometown track in Newton, Iowa.
• DiBenedetto broke through for his first win of the 2011 season in the series’ inaugural event at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on June 4. His teammate, Coleman Pressley, earned the pole.
• Gresham was dominant at his family’s track, Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga., when he took the pole and checkered flag on June 11.
• Last time out on June 18, Pressley earned his second pole and Peña was also victorious for the second time in 2011 in the inaugural NKNPS East event at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.
Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR PR