NASCAR Releases 2018 K&N Pro Series West Schedule
- Jan 17, 2018
The K&N Pro Series West season starts on March 15 at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California. The series returns to Kern County for the season finale on Oct. 27. The 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick said he will race in the season opener in Kern County. He won the K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma Raceway in California last year. “It’s a really cool opportunity. You are able to have such a very obvious learning experience,” said K&N Pro Series West driver Julia Landauer. “There were quite a few laps at Sonoma last year where I was behind Kevin Harvick. I was able to see how he took the lines, see where he was conserving and where he wasn’t. That’s really cool to learn. From a confidence perspective, if you’re able to hang with the top level pros, then it gives you as a driver a big boost to think, all right, I can make it.” Harvick won the K&N Pro Series West championship in 1998 and drives for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. In September, the K&N Pro Series West will race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. The dirt track race on Sept. 13 coincides with the start of the playoffs for the three national NASCAR touring series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “It will be my first time on dirt ever,” said K&N Pro Series driver Derek Kraus. “It will be a big learning experience, learning what the car will do on the dirt, how the track changes. So it definitely will be a big learning experience.”
“I think it’s really cool to incorporate dirt,” said Landauer, a two-year veteran of the K&N Pro Series West who was seventh in the K&N Pro Series West standings in 2017. “I’ve never driven on dirt. It would definitely be a learning curve if I was to race it.” In July, the drivers and teams from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East will race against each other at Iowa Speedway. Two-time K&N Pro Series Todd Gilliland won the K&N Pro Series race at Iowa Speedway last year. Kraus, Gilliland’s Bill McAnally Racing teammate, won the pole for the race at Iowa Speedway. This year’s race is on July 27. The teams from the K&N Pro Series West and East will meet again at Gateway Motorsports Park, in Illinois on Aug. 24. The K&N Pro Series West will race at Sonoma Raceway in California on June 23. It is the only road course race on the schedule. The K&N Pro Series West will race on the same weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma. “I really loved the road courses,” Landauer said. “I have a road course background, that’s how I started. That was always really cool. I really like Kern quite a bit, I thought you could do a lot of really cool racing, lots of different lines. I had a lot of success on the short tracks. Meridian and Douglas were my favorites.” The K&N Pro Series West will make plenty of familiar stops. The race at Tucson Speedway in Arizona on May 5 will be a twin 100-lap event. “I am really looking forward to Kern, I really like Kern,” Kraus said. “I really like Tucson. It fits my driving style with all it is.” The K&N Pro Series West will also visit Orange Show Speedway in California, Colorado National Speedway, Douglas County Speedway in Oregon, and All American Speedway, in California. “The NASCAR K&N Pro Series features a strong roster of race tracks designed to bring out the best in the drivers and teams,” said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. “Many of the tracks have historic ties to the West Series, and we’re excited about the new venues that have been added to the schedule. The fans are going to get a fantastic opportunity to watch these drivers battle it out over the season.” 2018 K&N Pro Series West Schedule March 15 Kern County Raceway Park Bakersfield, California May 5 Tucson Speedway Tucson, Arizona May 19 Orange Show Speedway San Bernardino, California June 9 Colorado National Speedway Dacona, Colorado June 23 Sonoma Raceway Sonoma, California June 30 Douglas County Speedway Roseburg, Oregon July 15 Spokane County Raceway Airway Heights, Washington July 27 Iowa Speedway Newtown, Iowa Aug. 11 Evergreen Speedway Monroe, Washington Aug. 24 Gateway Motorsports Park Madison, Illinois Sept. 13 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track Las Vegas, Nevada Sept. 29 Meridian Speedway Meridian, Idaho Oct. 13 All American Speedway Roseville, California Oct. 27 Kern County Raceway Park Bakersfield, California |
