Photo Credit: Christian Koelle/OnPitRoad.com
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series heads to Thunder Valley this weekend for the Zombie Auto 125 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. It will be the fifth time the K&N East Series has raced at Bristol with a different winner coming all five seasons. Nelson Piquet Jr. won the inaugural race back in 2012. Dylan Kwasniewski, Eddie MacDonald, Kyle Benjamin, and Chad Finchum join Piquet Jr. as winners at the Worlds Fastest Half Mile. The race has been extended twice with Green-White-Checkered finished in 2012 and 2014.
Points leader Ronnie Bassett Jr. will make his 42nd start in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and his fourth start at Bristol. Bassett was able to secure his first career victory earlier this season at New Smyrna and enters the Zombie Auto 125 eight points ahead of second-place driver Harrison Burton. Dillon, his brother, will make his 24th start in the series and his third start at the Worlds Fastest Half Mile. He hasn’t visited victory lane since Motordrome Speedway in 2015.
Chad Finchum returns to the venue of his first career K&N East victory and will look to repeat this season behind the wheel of the No. 39 Emory & Henry College Toyota Camry for Martin-McClure Racing. Though Finchum is making his first start of the season, his teammate Hunter Baize is competing for the NK&NPSE championship and will look to gain his first career victory in the series.
Three drivers have already raced in Tennessee earlier this month when the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards visited Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville a few weeks ago for the Music City 200 presented by Azure Foundation. Sheldon Creed, Vinnie Miller, and Zane Smith all raced in the ARCA Race in Nashville and will look to use the seat time to their advantage tomorrow in Bristol. Out of the three, Sheldon Creed led the charge finishing a career best finish of sixth.
It’s all about family tradition to some drivers racing in the Zombie Auto 125. Two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Champion Ryan Truex makes his return to the series for the first time since 2010. Truex is the brother of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex, Jr.
Joining Truex are young guns Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland and Jesse Little, who all represent the next generation of drivers whose fathers raced in NASCAR. Each of these three drivers go into Bristol looking for their first wins at the Tennessee track.
