Jennifer Coleman/NASCAR
NASCAR’s future is bright. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and all those house hold names won’t be around forever, let’s be realistic. How many people watch every K&N Pro Series race? Yeah, not many. But, there’s a great reason to do so.
The lower rankings of NASCAR are rarely televised and when they are, it’s always “tape-delayed” on the SPEED channel.
Drivers in these series aren’t well known and don’t have sponsors which pay seven digit price tags to sponsor a race, let alone the entire season. The races get pretty aggressive as well. These series usually race at local short tracks across the country with the occassional companionship of a Sprint Cup Series race weekend which is their time to shine.
When the lower series of NASCAR share the race weekend with “the big boys,” they are able to communicate with the larger names in the sport. This is how some of these drivers such as Darrell Wallace Jr. catch the eyes of multi-million dollar teams.
Racing in these series isn’t much different from racing in the Cup Series. Sure, the cup series is by far more competitive, but these guys are racing for not just a trophy, but a chance at the big time. It’s like minor league baseball, or the NBA D-League.
It’s great to see these kids, as young as 15 years old, have the opportunity to showcase their talents at such a high level of motorsports. They have an All-Star race just like the Cup Series does, it’s called the Toyota All-Star Showdown, even though it was canceled this year.
Top drivers such as David Gilliland and Joey Logano amongst others, have made it to NASCAR’s top rankings after winning the all-star showdown between the K&N Series East and West drivers.
Even with all of the talent in these series, there are just a handful of drivers that will likely make it to “the show” and become championship winning drivers.
David Mayhew
Mayhew is well known by avid NASCAR fans. He's probably the most accomplished driver in this list as he's had one start in the Sprint Cup Series, even though it was a start-and-park effort for Phil Parsons Racing earlier this year in Sonoma. He also was able to race for Kevin Harvick Incorporated last year as he finished tenth in his only Nationwide Series start. He may have a shot at a full Camping World Truck Series schedule next year with Brad Keselowski Racing if his MMI Services sponsorship goes with him.
Chase Elliott
Like LaJoie, Chase Elliott is the son of a former driver. Fortunately for Chase, his father is pretty popular so he signed a long-term contract with Hendrick Motorsports when he was just 15 years old. At the age of 16, he has an ARCA Series win along with an East Series win which should help him once he turns 18 and is eligible to race in NASCAR's top three series.
Dylan Kwasniewski
Kwasniewski may have the hardest name to pronounce, but he is one heck of a racecar driver. He probably doesn't get the publicity he deserves since he races in the K&N Pro Series West, but he just won the championship in that series in just his second season. He has sponsorship backed by Rockstar and Royal Purple which could stay with him for a few more years as he continues to work through the NASCAR rankings.
Corey LaJoie
With a lack of sponsorship, Corey LaJoie has produced some great results with his family owned team. LaJoie is the son of a former driver, Randy LaJoie, and it shows as he recently won the K&N Pro Series East championship which says a lot about the young driver. Just imagine if he was in top notch equipment.
Ryan Blaney
"Patience my child patience." Those are the words that Dave Blaney probably tells his son Ryan on a daily basis. Ryan Blaney is a truely talented driver. Originally, he signed a deal to race on a part-time basis with Tommy Baldwin Racing, but everyone realized how good he was when he drove junk equipment to two top 15 finishes including a seventh place effort at Richmond in his Nationwide Series debut. Oh by the way, he won a Camping World Truck Series race in just his third start at Iowa a few weeks ago.
