Total of 23 Teams Test at Loudon in Advance of June Races

LOUDON, N.H. (May 12, 2008) – 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.

Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on The Southern Motor Racing Forum OR Send the Editor an E-mail!