NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Returns For Reschedule​d Greenville Date

Following the postponement at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway on March 23 due to rain, a number of NASCAR K&N Pro Series East teams took advantage of the bonus time to go the extra mile in preparation for the rescheduled Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 presented by G-Clean on April 6.

Two of the three drivers that Turner Scott Motorsports has entered for the second race of the 2013 season are true rookies at GPS: Austin Dyne and Kenzie Ruston. The third – Dylan Kwasniewski – has just one race under his belt at the historic half mile.

The director of competition for TSM’s K&N Pro Series East program, Mike Greci, said an extra week gave the team another shot to get some experience. They took Dyne and Ruston back to test on March 27.

“This was the second time we tested at Greenville in the last couple of weeks,” Greci said. “The main purpose of this test was to get Austin some laps at Greenville and try some things we learned from the first test. Kenzie also wanted to go back and get some more seat time at the short track.

“Overall, I feel like it was a beneficial test for TSM, where we were able to build on new things from the first test, and I think we’ll be ready to go for the race.”

Dyne, who came to the East Coast to race this season following a 2012 campaign in which he earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, said that the extra practice time at GPS will have him ahead of the game compared to his first K&N Pro Series East experience in the opener at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

“Any time you are able to turn some laps at a new track before a race weekend, it’s going to help,” Dyne said. “I felt like at Bristol I spent the first half of the race just learning the track, so it’s nice to be able to test at Greenville ahead of time and get the learning started early. I will feel more comfortable when we come back here, and my KMC Wheels team was able to learn a couple things that we can use this weekend.”

Like Dyne, Ruston made her series debut at Bristol. Her 11th-place finish was the best by a female driver in K&N Pro Series East competition since Danica Patrick crossed the line sixth in her only series appearance in 2010. Ruston hopes the extra practice at GPS can help her to keep the momentum to start her rookie campaign.

“As a team, we felt the extra track time would only help,” Ruston said. “We had a list of things we wanted to change during practice last week so we went ahead and tried those, and I think we found exactly what our AccuDoc Solutions team needs for the makeup race date. I don’t have a lot of experience in the K&N Pro Series car yet, so every lap counts.”

TSM wasn’t the only operation to take advantage of the extra week, however. Jesse Little took his No. 97 NASCAR Technical Institute Chevrolet out of the Coulter Motorsports shop down to test at GPS on March 29. Little recorded his best finish in eight career K&N Pro Series East starts in last fall’s event in Greenville, and the team took the opportunity to hone in the setup.

“The additional laps allowed us to try some things we usually don’t have time to try,” Little said. “The weather played a role in last year’s qualifying so we spent some time finding a good balance between short and long runs. It’s difficult to pass at Greenville Pickens and we want to start up front. I also had my best finish at Greenville in 2012 and we want to improve upon that.”

When the K&N Pro Series East returns to Greenville on April 6, the raceday schedule will stay the same as it was on March 23. The Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 presented by G-Clean is set to go green at 8 p.m. ET.

NASCAR PR