One Era Ends, Another Begins with NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Finale at ISM Raceway

When Ty Gibbs took the checkered flag in Saturday’s Arizona Lottery 100 at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, and Derek Kraus celebrated as the 2019 series champion, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series era officially came to an end.

The two regional touring series, on each side of the country, both have long, rich histories that go back decades. The K&N Pro Series East has had 565 races dating back to 1987, while the West dates to 1954 with the Phoenix race being the series’ 960th event.

Both series have launched careers of drivers that have gone on to successful careers in NASCAR’s top three national touring series: the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, the NASCAR XFINITY Series, and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

In the East, champions include inaugural champion Joey Kourafas, Jamie Aube, Ricky Craven, Dick McCabe, Dale Shaw, Kelly Moore, Dave Dion, Mike Stefanik, Brad Leighton, Mike Olson, Andy Santerre, Joey Logano, Matt Kobyluck, Ryan Truex, Max Gresham, Kyle Larson, Dylan Kwasniewski, Ben Rhodes, William Byron, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Tyler Ankrum, and 2019 titlist Sam Mayer.

West champions dating back to 1954 include Lloyd Dane, Danny Letner, Eddie Gray, Bob Ross, Marvin Porter, Ron Hornaday, Bill Amick, Jack McCoy, Scotty Cain, Ray Elder, Chuck Bown, Bill Schmitt, Jimmy Insolo, Roy Smith, Jim Robinson, Herschel McGriff, Chad Little, Bill Sedgwick, Rick Carelli, Mike Chase, Doug George, Lance Hooper, Butch Gilliland, Kevin Harvick, Sean Woodside, Brendan Gaughan, Eric Norris, Scott Lynch, Mike Duncan, Eric Holmes, Mike David, Jason Bowles, Greg Pursely, Dylan Kwasniewski, Derek Thorn, Chris Eggleston, Todd Gilliland, and Derek Kraus.

The West series, which started as the Pacific Coast Late Model Division, has raced up and down the west coast from southern California to Washington state since its inception. In recent years, the series ventured over the Rocky Mountains on a regular basis, trekking to places like Iowa Speedway, Elko Speedway in Minnesota, and even to the eastern banks of the Mississippi for conjunction races with the East series at WWT Raceway at Gateway.

The East, which started as the Busch North Series in the northeast corner of the country, eventually expanded to the eastern seaboard. In recent seasons, the series reached out into the Midwest with races in Ohio and Michigan, as well as conjunction races with the West at Iowa and WWT Raceway.

The two regional series are not ending in 2020. Rather, they will continue on. Their rich histories are still in place, but the series will race under a new name and a new sanction.

The two series known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series will be rebranded the ARCA Menards Series East and West for 2020, combining forces with another series with a rich history that dates to 1953.

The East series has announced a seven-race stand-alone schedule, while the West series is expected to announce its schedule with a similar number of races in the coming weeks. Combined with the ten ARCA Menards Series Showdown races, those teams will have at least seventeen races to run and two championships to compete for. Teams interested in running for both East and West titles should find the daunting challenge slightly less daunting as series officials have worked to prevent races scheduled on the same weekend. In theory, a team could run all twenty ARCA Menards Series races, every East race, and every West race with no conflicts.

Sam Mayer will be officially crowned the 2019 East champion and Derek Kraus the West champion on November 23 at the NASCAR Regional, International, and Local Awards Ceremony at the Convention Center in Charlotte, adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, on Saturday, November 23.