In a combined session today a total of 23 teams from the NASCAR
Camping World Series East and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour tested at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Camping World Series East had a strong contingent
of teams taking advantage of the test opportunity with a total of 18
cars. The garage featured a mix of New Hampshire veterans like Steve
Park and Matt Kobyluck, as well as a host of rookies such as Austin
Dillon, winner of the season-opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway
on April 19.
The test session was held in advance of races for both series
in June at the New Hampshire . The NASCAR Camping World Series East
will run at the 1.058-mile track in the Heluva Good! Summer 125 on
Friday, June 27 while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will take to
the track for the New England 100 the next day.
For Dillon, the test was all about getting familiar with the
track layout. “I’m getting used to the type of track it is — the
paper clip,” Dillon said. “Being able to drive into the corner is
what I’m getting used to. We’ve been at big tracks before, but
they’ve had banking to hold you. It’s tricky, but I’m getting there.
We’re just trying to get as much experience as we can, because we’re
a little behind on that right now.
Other drivers to test from the NASCAR Camping World Series
East on Monday included Jeff Anton, James Buescher, Ricky
Carmichael, Byron Chew, Dustin Delaney, Max Dumarey, Patrick Dupree,
Craig Goess, Jamie Hayes, Eddie MacDonald, Joe Masessa, Mike Olsen,
Peyton Sellers, Jonathan Smith and Alan Tardiff.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had five teams participate in
the test on Monday, including 2003 champion Todd Szegedy and
defending NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour titlist L.W. Miller.
Also in attendance from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour were James
Civali, Rowan Pennink and Glen Reen.
For the rookie Reen, it was his first time around the “Magic
Mile” in a Modified after previously running the track in shifters
early in his racing career.
“It’s definitely different,” Reen said. “Todd [Szegedy] and
James [Civali] were both saying that when you’re going into the
corner, and you think you need to lift, that you count five seconds.
By the time you count five seconds you think, ‘I should have
lifted.’ It’s absolutely insane going in there, but the car sticks.”
Next up on the NASCAR Camping World Series docket is a
combined race with the NASCAR Camping World Series West this Sunday,
May 18, at Iowa Speedway in Newton , Iowa . The NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour will be back in action on Friday, May 23 at Stafford
(Conn.) Motor Speedway.
THE END