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| Kyle Benjamin will try to inch closer to Justin Haley in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship standings this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Chris Keane/NASCAR via Getty Images |
When the final checkered flag of the season falls at the end of this month, road course events will have comprised nearly a full quarter of the K&N Pro Series East schedule.
From a development perspective, they’ve become an important step on the NASCAR ladder. Recent NASCAR national series road course winners like Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano all have either an XFINITY Series or Truck Series road course win on their resume, and each spent time on road courses at the K&N Pro Series level to gain experience. From a competition perspective, road course races remain unpredictable and the kind of wild card the championship contenders will need to manage with just two races remaining in the season.
Adding to the plot twists in the JUSTDRIVE.com 125, none of the full-time K&N Pro Series teams have any prior history with New Jersey Motorsports Park. In fact, no NASCAR teams anywhere have experience with the facility, a 2.25-mile road course located near the Millville Airport.
Justin Haley of Winamac, Indiana, has a pair of second-place finishes on road courses this season, and he holds a 27-point lead over the series’ most recent winner Kyle Benjamin of Easley, South Carolina, entering the weekend.
| RACE: | JUSTDRIVE.com 125 |
|---|---|
| PLACE: | New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, New Jersey |
| DATE: | Saturday, September 17 |
| TIME: | 5:15 p.m. ET |
| TRACK LAYOUT: | 2.25-mile road course |
| 2015 WINNER: | Race not held |
| 2015 POLE WINNER: | Race not held |
| EVENT SCHEDULE: | Saturday, September 17 – Garage opens: 8 a.m.; Practice: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.; Qualifying: 3 p.m.; Driver autograph session: 4:15 p.m.; JUSTDRIVE.com 125: 5:15 p.m. |
| TRACK CONTACT: | Marketing/PR Manager, Ashley Freas, (856) 327-7242, afreas@njmp.com |
| TWITTER: | @NJMP |
| EVENT HASHTAG: | #JustDrive125 |
| NASCAR IMC CONTACT: | Brooke Franceschini, (386) 631-6142), bfranceschini@nascar.com. |
The Race: The JUSTDRIVE.com 125 will be the 13th of 14 races on the 2016 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule and the first race in series history at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
The Procedure: The maximum starting field is 26 cars, including provisionals. The first 22 cars will qualify through group qualifying process, while the remaining four spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race will be 55 laps, spanning 126.50 miles, and will be run in two segments with a five-minute break at or near the conclusion of Lap 28.
The Track: New Jersey Motorsports Park has never held a NASCAR-sanctioned event in its long history, as the road course facility has ties to World War II. Located next to the Millville Airport, an airport that was "America's First Defense Airport" in 1941, the track sits on 500 acres and has two separate road course layouts.
Race Winners: Saturday’s winner of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East JUSTDRIVE.com 125 will become the first winner in NASCAR history at the track.
JUSTDRIVE.com 125 Notes:
Clean Sweep: Martin-McClure Racing is going for a clean sweep of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East road course events this season. Austin Cindric won the races at VIRginia International Raceway and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International this season — in his only two career starts in the series — for Martin-McClure, and this weekend Austin Hill will pilot the No. 39. The Winston, Georgia, driver finished third in the 2015 K&N Pro Series East standings and finished sixth in each of his starts at VIR and Watkins Glen.
Benjamin Inches Closer: Kyle Benjamin, from Easley, South Carolina, won the pole and the race in the series’ most recent event at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway to cut into Justin Haley’s lead atop the standings. Benjamin, who has two wins in the last three races, sits just 27 points behind Haley with only two races remaining. Benjamin has been solid on the road courses this season with an average finishing position of fifth in the races at VIR and Watkins Glen.
Haley’s Hot Rod: NASCAR K&N Pro Series East point leader Justin Haley has the point lead for good reason — he’s performed well on every type of track on the series schedule this season. The driver from Winamac, Indiana has only finished outside the top five once this season and he’s never finished worse than ninth. Haley has two short track wins (at Greenville and Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway), posted finishes of third and fourth, respectively, on the speedways at Loudon and Iowa, and was the runner-up to Cindric in both previous road course races this season.
Rookie Rising: Ontario driver Dominique Van Wieringen finished a career-best third at Greenville, marking the second-best finishing position for a female driver in series history. Van Wieringen’s previous best finish was 10th, which she did twice — in the season opener at New Smyrna and again at Iowa this summer. Kenzie Ruston finished second at Iowa in 2014 and holds the distinction of being the highest-finishing female driver in the K&N Pro Series East.
As Good As A Win: Benjamin, second in the standings, took down the top honors in the K&N Pro Series East at Iowa Speedway. Benjamin finished second on the track to Todd Gilliland, but as the highest-finishing East driver, Benjamin picked up the five bonus points for a win toward his championship hopes.
Feels Like The First Time: Through the first 12 races of the season, there have been nine different NASCAR K&N Pro Series East winners — including seven first-time winners. Noah Gragson became the seventh first-time winner added to the list when he won the Stafford 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway in June. Gragson used a bold three-wide move on a green-white-checkered restart to claim his first career win in his 19th career start.
via NASCAR Home Tracks.
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