The excitement has been building all season as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West heads to Las Vegas this week to compete on a dirt track for the first time in nearly 40 years.
The Star Nursery 100 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track on Thursday has attracted a lot of attention since it was first announced when the 2018 series schedule was released.
Bill McAnally Racing will field five entries for the race, with two stars of NASCAR returning to the series for this special event. Christopher Bell and Brendan Gaughan will join BMR’s current lineup of drivers – Derek Kraus, Cole Rouse, and Hailie Deegan.
Bell, who competed with BMR in two K&N West events in 2015, will drive BMR’s No. 60 NAPA Belts & Hoses Toyota Camry at Las Vegas. The Norman, Oklahoma native made a name for himself as a teenager racing sprint cars on dirt tracks across the country. He has quickly made his way up the ranks in NASCAR, winning the championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2017 and battling for this year’s championship in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
Gaughan, who hails from Las Vegas, won back-to-back K&N West championships with the Bill McAnally-led team in 2000 and 2001. He went on to compete in all three national divisions in NASCAR. Gaughan will be driving the No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Toyota Camry at Las Vegas, as many members of his championship team return with him for the race.
Kraus, who drives BMR’s No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, is coming off a major win as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series made its inaugural visit to Gateway Motorsports Park last month for an East-West combination race. The 17-year-old from Stratford, Wisconsin is third in the K&N West championship standings, 29 points out of first. He has three wins, four poles, six top fives, and eight top 10s in 10 starts this season.
Rouse, driver of the No. 99 NAPA Filters Toyota Camry, finished in the runner-up spot at Gateway to give BMR a 1-2 finish in the combo race. The 21-year-old Fort Smith, Arkansas driver is fourth in the standings, three points behind Kraus. He has five top-five and nine top-10 finishes this season.
Deegan – a 17-year-old rookie from Temecula, California – is second in rookie standings and seventh in the overall championship standings. She has three top-five and eight top-10 finishes behind the wheel of the No. 19 Mobil 1/NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota Camry.
Kraus, who won last year’s rookie title in the series, and Deegan are members of the NASCAR Next program that spotlights NASCAR’s rising stars.
Activities with NAPA AUTO PARTS at the track on Thursday include the NAPA Los Angeles Distribution Center bringing a group of guests through incentive programs. They will be treated to a VIP experience – with dinner at the track, a meet-and-greet with the BMR drivers, and an opportunity to attend the drivers meeting.
Thursday’s event in Las Vegas is the 11th event on a 14-race schedule. It’s scheduled to be televised on NBCSN on Sept. 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT.
The K&N West race is part of big weekend of NASCAR racing at LVMS, that includes competition on the 1.5-mile speedway with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on Friday, a NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Saturday, and the South Point Hotel & Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event on Sunday.
The K&N West last raced on a dirt track at Ascot Park in Gardena, California in 1979.
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