Racing in the Corn Fields…The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) returns to the 0.875-mile oval of Iowa Speedway for the second of two events in 2013. The last time out at Iowa Speedway, Dylan Kwasniewski finished second overall but captured the NKNPSE win, earning his second of three wins this season. When the green flag falls on the Pork Be Inspired 150, the NKNPSE will once again take on the stars of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (NKNPSW) in the combination event.
Last time Out…Last time out for the NKNPSE, Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) made a trip to the short track of Columbus Motor Speedway. Austin Dyne was forced to retire early from the event when he got tangled up in an accident in the early going. Kenzie Ruston was able to secure her fourth top-10 finish of the season while Dylan Kwasniewski continued his season of highs, collecting his fifth top five of the 2013 season.
Austin Dyne…After coming off their best finish to date at Langley Speedway, Dyne and his KMC Wheels team were unable to finish the race at Columbus after being caught up in an early-race accident. Dyne returns to Iowa Speedway, a race track that he is very familiar with. Dyne will be looking for his second top-ten finish of the season.
“I am ready to get back to Iowa. We had a hard time adjusting to the track last time, but I think now that we have raced there once together, we should be ready to go. I’m just looking for my team and I to have a good day and get our momentum back.”
Ben Rhodes…Returning to the NKNPSE for the first time since his third-place finish among the East cars last time out in Iowa, Rhodes has been running in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series across the southeast region. This will be Rhodes’ second trip to Iowa, and he looks to use his previous track time to his advantage and score the Alpha Energy Solutions team another top-five finish.
“We had a great race at Iowa Speedway back in June. Since it was my first time there, I spent a lot of the practice sessions working on my line. Once I got that down, Lee McCall and my Turner Scott Motorsports team worked on getting the car up to speed and handling through the corners. I qualified a bit back from where I wanted to, but we were able to work our way up to finish fifth. Now that we have some great notes, we are looking forward to a strong run Friday in the Alpha Energy Solutions Chevy and hope to contend for the win.”
Brandon Jones…Much like his TSM teammate Ben Rhodes, Jones returns to the NKNPSE series for the first time since the last time the series visited the 0.875-mile oval of Iowa Speedway. Jones is continuing to hone his skills in the UARA-Stars series where he sits fifth in points. Overcoming his previous misfortunes in the NKNPSE, Jones brought home a solid top-10 finish amongst the NKNPSE competitors.
“I am really looking forward to returning Iowa and the K&N series this weekend. My Rheem team really prepared a great car for me last time here, and I feel like we have a great opportunity to back up that result with another solid finish.”
Dylan Kwasniewski…Kwasniewski continued to show why he is a favorite to win every time out in his No. 98 Rockstar Energy/Royal Purple machine, as he led 64 laps en route to his fifth top-five of the NKNPSE season last time out at Columbus Motor Speedway. In the process, he maintained his points lead with just seven races left in 2013. He returns to Iowa Speedway where he has been credited with two wins, last year in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and earlier this season in the NKNPSE, but has never visited victory lane.
“I really, really want to win at Iowa We always run well there and I’ve gotten the credit for two wins, but I have never actually been to victory lane, so it’s kind of frustrating. I’m very confident in my Turner Scott Motorsports team and in our cars. I plan on being in victory lane at the end of this race.”
Kenzie Ruston…After a rough couple of weeks, Ruston was able to get back on track at Columbus Motor Speedway with a top-10 finish in her AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet. Ruston returns to Iowa Speedway looking to continue her stellar rookie season, as she currently sits on top of the Rookie of the Year standings heading into Iowa.
“I’m really looking forwarded to returning to Iowa. We had some bad luck last time but I also believe we learned a ton since our last visit which I hope will allow us to capitalize on our experience this time around. We are taking a completely different racecar to Iowa this time and we haven’t ran it since Richmond where it had solid a performance, so I’m excited to see what it will do at Iowa.”
