Las Vegas Nevada’s Dylan Kwasniewski is off to another potentially great season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and, for that matter, every other racing series he chooses to visit. He’s now in his second season driving the #03 Rockstar Energy Drink/Royal Purple Synthetic Oil Ford for Gene Price Motorsports.
In his 2011 series debut season, Kwasniewski became the youngest driver in series history to win a race, win a pole position and the youngest driver to win the Rookie of the Year title. He created these stats at the age of 16. However, the fact of the matter is: he’s already a racing veteran with 12 years experience.
His stats, so far this year, clearly indicates that he’s going to be a major force to be reckoned with. In the still early portion of the 2012 season, he has five series starts, two wins, five top five, and top ten, finishes along with an astounding average finish ratio of 2.2. He’s also leading the championship points.
However if you break down Kwasniewski’s stats, in and out of the West Series, so far this year it appears that he’s powering his way through the month of May and the performance levels have been most impressive. Kwasniewski’s first May day came on the fifth of the month at the Stockton 99 Speedway, the site of the Pick-N-Pull 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race. After setting fast time in qualifying, he roared off of the front row to lead the first lap. He followed that up with leading the remaining 149 laps to score his first win of the season. That first win also locked up a starting spot in the prestigious UNOH Battle At The Beach which will be held at Daytona during the 2013 annual Speedweeks.
One week later, May 12th, Kwasniewski was at his home away from home: the Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Bullring. On this night he was driving his family owned car in a 40 lap feature for the speedway’s NASCAR Super Late Model division. It took Kwasniewski all of eleven circuits, around the Bullring’s three-eighths of a mile oval, to make his winning move. During a victory lane interview, he said “I’m pumped, I want to go out and win the next one.”
He didn’t have to wait very long for his next race that night. While he was celebrating in victory lane, his crew was rolling out his open wheel modified. The driver had to literally make a mad dash to the starting grid and strap himself in for the General Tire 75 for the Lucas Oil Modified Racing Series, presented by 1 800 Loan Mart. After leading the first 16 laps of this race, Kwasniewski would eventually finish fourth. All in all, it was a very good night at his home track.
Another week later, May 19th, Dylan Kwasniewski was in the state of Iowa, with his Gene Price Motorsports team, for the running of the Graham Tire 150 on the Iowa Speedway’s seven-eighths of a mile oval. This race was a combined event for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West Series. The 48 car entry list for this race was heavily stacked by the presence of East Series teams that made the competition very stiff for their West Series counterparts.
Kwasniewski finished eighth at Iowa but, because this was a NASCAR series race within a race, he was the highest finisher among the West Series teams. That earned him first place, and the championship points that comes with it, for the West Series. He left Iowa with his second series win of the season and is now the new points leader.
Kwasniewski has one more opportunity to power his way through the month of May. That’s coming up on May 26th in Brainerd-Minnesota where the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will be making its debut at the Brainerd International Raceway. This race might turn out to be one of the biggest challenges of the season for Kwasneiwski and his West Series colleagues. They will be driving 50 laps/125 miles around the raceway’s mammoth 2.5 mile, 13 turns, road course. A win in Minnesota would make a nice birthday present for the young driver who turns 17 on May 31st.
All through the history of motorsports there has been the existence of an old saying that goes: “he’s a real deal.” Essentially that means that the talent of an up and coming driver, with the right sponsorship packages behind him, could create a racing career filled with wins and championships. “Real Deal” is a title that should never be taken lightly.
However, in this case, it certainly applies to Dylan Kwasniewski. He is indeed a real deal and a driver we should all be paying attention to.
