Jennifer Coleman Dsc 3957
The Pork Be Inspired 150 in August of 2012 was the second visit of the season for the East and West to Iowa Speedway. (Jennifer Coleman/NASCAR)

Setting the Scene: 2012 East-West Redux from Iowa

www.arcaracing.com April 16, 2020

It was shaping up to be an intriguing season in East and the West when the series rolled into Iowa in on Friday, August 3, 2012, for the Pork Be Inspired 150.

The then-NASCAR K&N Pro Series had been traveling to Iowa Speedway for an annual combination race since 2007. Past winners had included Joey Logano’s breakthrough winner in the inaugural event, and Chase Elliott’s first NASCAR victory earlier in 2012.

This was the first season that the two series would make two visits to Iowa.

RACING-REFERENCE: 2012 East Schedule/Results | 2012 West Schedule/Results

In the East, Brett Moffitt had built a 21-point lead over Chase Elliott.

But behind Elliott, there was a logjam. Only 25 points seperated Elliott from Eddie MacDonald in eighth. The group of contenders included Kyle Larson, Corey LaJoie, Brandon Gdovic, Ben Kennedy and Bryan Ortiz.

Cale Conley was coming off his first career win – a dominating 150-laps led at his home track of Columbus Motor Speedway in Ohio.

The parity was evident in Victory Lane as well, as Conley was also the seventh different winner through nine races. Only LaJoie (Bowman Gray Stadium and Langley Speedway) and Moffitt (Richmond International Speedway and Pennsylvania’s CNB Bank Raceway Park) had multiple wins.

Moffitt had nine wins from 2009-12, finishing third (2009), second (2010) and third (2011) in the championship race.

Out West, it was an even closer margin between two teammates with Gene Price Motorsports.

Veteran Greg Pursley, a previous NASCAR Weekly Racing Series national champion and the 2011 West champion, held a slim three-point lead over teenager Dylan Kwasniewski.

Kwasniewski, a Las Vegas native, had taken the series by storm in 2011 with a pair of wins en route to a fifth-place finish in points despite missing the sason opener due to age restrictions. In the process, he became the youngest race winner in West history and a legitimate championship contender.

Victory Lane had seen a similar variety as the East, though. While Pursley had a trio of wins – Colorado Speedway, on the road couse at Utah Motorsports Campus and at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – there was a litany of other winners.

David Mayhew, Derek Thorn, Kwasniewski, Michael Self, David Gilliland and Eric Holmes all had wins. Kwasniewski was technically credited with two as the highest finishing West regular in first Iowa race, where he was eighth overall – one spot ahead of Pursley.

Coming out of Iowa, the West had four races remaining: the road course in Portland, Oregon, followed by NAPA Speedway in Albuquerque, New Mexico; All American Speedway in Roseville, California; and the finale back at Phoenix Raceway.

Similarly, the East was heading to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, South Carolina’s Greenville Pickens Speedway and the finale at North Carolina’s Rockingham Speedway.

The Pork Be Inspired 150 provided an opportunity for championship hopefuls to assert themselves heading into the home stretch.

In addition to the series’ regulars, notable names like Travis Pastrana, Chad Boat, Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto and Brennan Newberry were making appearances in the Iowa event.