The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East visits its first of two road course races at Watkins Glen International this weekend. The Bully Hill Vineyards 125 will be the 13th race of 16 on the 2014 schedule.
Last weekend at Iowa saw a first time winner in Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) driver Brandon Jones. Jones had two ARCA wins at Winchester Speedway and Lucas Oil Raceway before taking the checkered flag in last Friday’s Autolite Iridium 150.
This weekend could see another first-time winner in the series, especially his teammate Scott Heckert. The Connecticut driver claims that road course racing is in his background.
Heckert came close to winning at Columbus Speedway a few weeks ago, until being caught up in a late-race spin while battling for the lead with Cameron Hayley.
Hayley hasn’t found victory lane in the East Series yet, but a road course could be the perfect opportunity. The 17-year-old driver was the runner-up in the K&N West Series standings last year before migrating to the East Series in 2014.
The driver who came out on top at Columbus was Sergio Pena and scored his first win in the series since 2011. Pena is returning to his road course roots at Watkins Glen and his second win of 2014.
Another driver with road course prowess is Australian-born Brodie Kostecki. He won the pole in the first Iowa race in May and led laps before being caught up in an accident. It could be a big weekend for Australia if Kostecki can pull off the win as fellow Aussie driver Marcos Ambrose is running both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series race at the Glen this weekend.
Cole Custer was on the cusp of another K&N win at Iowa before being passed late by Jones and Kenzie Ruston, who achieved her best career finish of second for the Ben Kennedy Racing team. Ruston will be sponsored by Bully Hill Vineyards for the race which is also sponsoring Friday’s race.
There are also two NASCAR Whelen Euro Series drivers competing in Friday’s event. Ander Vilarino and Frederic Gabillon both made the trek from Europe to the Finger Lakes region of New York. Vilarino is the two-time defending champ in the Euro Series and Gabillon was the runner-up to Vilarino in 2013.
Another driver entered for Friday’s race is Andrew Ranger. The Canadian-born driver scored a win in the ARCA series at New Jersey Motorsports Park in June. Ranger has visited victory lane before in the East Series at the Connecticut road course, Lime Rock Park, in July 2010.
K&N will run at the 2.45 mile road course in upstate New York for the first time since 2009, when Ryan Truex prevailed as the victor with a last-lap pass of Patrick Long. This is the 15th time the series has run at Watkins Glen International since 1993.
The Bully Hill Vineyards 125 will also be the first of back-to-back races for the East Series as the circuit is headed to Virginia International Raceway next weekend. The green flag for Friday’s race will drop at 6:15 p.m. ET and will be shown on TV on Sunday, August 17 at 9 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
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