CORNELIUS, N.C. — One of NASCAR’s newest faces visits one of the sport’s oldest places this weekend when Travis Pastrana races at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in the K&N Pro East Series.
The 28-year-old driver finished fourth in his last East Series start at Iowa Speedway and is now 10th in the point standings.
Pastrana started at the back of the field in Iowa after smacking the wall during his second lap of qualifying. The 11-time X Games gold medalist charged to the front of the field moving into the top-10 by lap 50. Pastrana continued up the scoring monitor racing into the top three. He made a bid for the lead during a green-white-checkered finish before sliding high, battling winner Chase Elliott in the third turn on the final lap before finishing a career-best fourth.
The Maryland native hopes to continue that momentum Saturday at the quarter-mile track in Winston Salem N.C. Bowman Gray is NASCAR’s longest running weekly race track. The first NASCAR sanctioned race took place in 1949 and the now Sprint Cup Series raced at the 20,000-seat stadium 1958-1971.
PASTRANA ON BOWMAN GRAY: “I am excited to get back to short track racing. It’s a flat track so I think my go-kart background will help me this weekend. The bumping and banging is going to be a lot of fun. I know a lot of the guys cars are completely destroyed by the end of the race. I also hear the crowd at Bowman Gray is just incredible. I am hoping for another successful run this weekend. Greci and the guys gave me a winning car for Iowa and I know they will do the same this weekend.”
NOTES OF INTEREST
· East Race TV Coverage: Saturday’s race will air June 7 on SPEED at 3 p.m. ET.
· Stats: In 13 NASCAR starts Pastrana has one top-five and two top-10 top finishes. He grabbed a career-best finish of fourth last weekend at Iowa Speedway.
· Pit Box: Four-time East champion Mike Greci serves as Pastrana’s crew chief.
· Driving Coach: Longtime NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Matt Crafton will be at Bowman Gray as a tutor for Pastrana.
· Lights, Camera, Action: Pastrana’s Nitro Circus The Movie 3-D will be released August 10. The movie has plenty of NASCAR references. Pastrana199 Racing prepared the school bus that jumped more than 150 feet in the opening scenes. To watch the trailer: Click Here
NASCAR STATS:
Track Start Finish
East
Irwindale 20 6
Phoenix 10 25
Richmond 38 26
Iowa 40 19
Loudon 36 28
Bristol 19 12
Greenville 3 20
Richmond 4 23
Iowa 11 4
Nationwide
Richmond 25 22
Darlington 25 17
Iowa 15 26
Charlotte 42 23
