By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Today in NASCAR’s regional Camping World East Series, a bunch of stuff happened. Aric Almirola won the race his first time in as a substitute driver, and owner-driver Matt Kobyluck clinched the season championship, becoming the first Native American ever to do so in any NASCAR series. Congrats all around! Also, our beleaguered No. 15 team suffered an unfortunate wreck and finished last, and I believe the No. 26 car got tagged on both ends in an even more violent tangle. East Series is rough! Get full coverage here and here.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Here’s a few snaps of the Camping World East Series cars on their practice run, and in the pits afterwards. The front left tire on the No. 16 car, the final two pics below the jump, was rubbing so bad that the heat burned a hole in the paint on the outside of the fender. That’s car owner and former East Series champion driver Mike Olsen helping his team weld it up and beat it out so the car could run in the final practice without having the tire blow up. I can’t think of many Sprint Cup car owners you’d see working on their own cars!

Continue reading "East Series Cars Hit The Track At Dover" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

There are actually three NASCAR series that are racing at Dover this week: Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and the regional/developmental series Camping World East. From what I’ve come to understand by talking with some of the teams here, "East Series" is kind of like what Nationwide used to be before it became dominated by Sprint Cup luminaries: a proving ground for the freshest NASCAR talent. From what I could see, these teams work as hard as any of the big dogs, and it was really interesting to be able to wander through their open-air work area today as they thrashed on the cars prior to practice. The cars run bias-ply tires and a variety of engine setups, but just like in NASCAR’s higher divisions, they have a stringent set of specs they must conform to. I watched them tweaking ride height, gunning motors, and adjusting bashed-up body panels to keep the tires from rubbing. The No. 15 team had to fabricate a whole new fuel-cell setup on the fly to raise their tank an inch and a half after the inspectors decided they didn’t like their existing configuration. See more pics after the jump, watch my videos of the cars taching up here and here, and check out complete series coverage at EastSeries.com.

Continue reading "Camping World East Series Cars Prepping for Afternoon Practice" »