This past weekend, NASCAR made its returns to New Jersey with the K&N Pro Series East race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ. All I can say is WOW. What a turnout for this event. This was my 3rd time attending a racing event at NJMP this year and you couldn’t find a parking spot for this event.
The last time NASCAR raced in New Jersey was at the old Flemington Speedway in Flemington, NJ with the Craftsmen Truck Series from 1995-1998. That too got good crowds for those races.
It’s been almost 2 decades since NASCAR raced in New Jersey and this was a fun event to attend to and I hope NASCAR took notice of New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Over the last 5 to 10 years, if you’ve watched NASCAR on television. Some of the events the Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series events go to these Sprint Cup Series tracks and don’t get a big crowd at these tracks like Dover, Pocono, Richmond, Daytona, and so on.
But when both of these series breakups and do not go to Sprint Cup tracks like Iowa Speedway and Eldora Speedway, they get a really good crowd for those events.
I’ve always wanted to see NASCAR start the year with all three at Daytona and after that separate and go to different tracks and meet again for the July Daytona race, then back to racing different tracks before the 3 series are together for the finale at Homestead. At least this would give people the chance to see up-and-coming or veteran NASCAR stars at their local tracks.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Division has drivers like Harrison Burton, Ali Kern, Kyle Benjamin, and Noah Gragson in this series. Even you got to meet the drivers, talk to them and get autographs from them. I got a bunch of these drivers. Before they took to the track, there was a BMW race, and that was fun to watch too.
It’s neat that you get to watch two races and tickets for this event were $15. You can’t beat that for great entertainment. NASCAR took the stage for qualifying and then after that, you got to meet the drivers, and watch the crews work on the cars in the garages, monster truck rides, and games to win prizes. The NASCAR race got underway a little after 5 pm and the race was fun to watch from start to finish. Noah Gragson was the winner of the race.
I hope NASCAR continues to bring this event to NJMP for years to come and hopefully bring the Camping World Truck Series or Xfinity Series in the future.
