The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is in full swing and for the first time since 2019, the series is landing in the Netherlands for the highly anticipated race at Raceway Venray. Located close to the German and Dutch borders, Venray is the only oval on the Euro Series schedule and adds another twist to this exciting NASCAR series. Unlike the rest of the Euro NASCAR weekends, we won’t have all four races split over two days, instead seeing NASCAR 2 take centre stage on Saturday and NASCAR Pro having its moment to shine on Sunday. This has led to several drivers deciding to race in both Pro and 2 this weekend.
Ryan Vargas is the big favorite to top the podium heading into this weekend, and the former Xfinity driver announced that he will be racing in NASCAR 2, as well as his regular Pro Series race, for the first time this year. season. Vargas, of course, grew up competing on short tracks and has worked hard in the road course-dominated series with a string of good results throughout the season so far. Ryan has been keen to point out that the Euro Series cars are very different from those he grew up racing in the United States, but he jokingly said in a post-race interview at Brands Hatch that “I’m going to take it to the wall.” .
The NASCAR 2 series has been dominated by the Dutch team Hendriks Motors with Martin Doubek and Gil Linster; having finished on the podium in every race so far this season; in fact, Martin Doubek has won all but two races; the others were won by his team-mate Gil Linster and British driver Jack Davidson, who won Sunday’s thrilling race at Brands Hatch last time. The Hendriks pair will feel confident heading into the 70-lap opening race. Linster would be forgiven for feeling more confident having tested and raced in ARCA at Daytona earlier this year. He won’t be the only one who has raced on ovals before, as Thomas Krasonis also has experience on this type of track. This race will start the weekend on Saturday at 2:55 PM European time and 8:55 AM EST.
All eyes on Sunday will be on the 20 Pro Series drivers as they take centre stage in their 100-lap race. This also kicks off at 14.55pm European time and 8.55am EST time. The Pro Series has been dominated by Italian Vittorio Ghirelli who has won 4 of the first 6 races, with the other 2 won by Dutch driver Liam Hezeman who will have experience racing at Venray in other series to call upon this weekend. Hezeman will be joined on the starting grid by fellow Dutch driver Sebastiaan Bleekemolen who, along with Ryan Vargas, are the only drivers with extensive short track experience to call upon when it comes time to race.
The Euro Series is always a great spectacle and every race weekend presents one of two surprises when raced on the more well-known European-style circuits, but racing on an oval will be a new experience for a large majority of the drivers and teams heading to the south of Holland this weekend and should make for a wild weekend of NASCAR racing across the Atlantic.
Egg is a British NASCAR, Euro NASCAR and motorsport fanatic. He has been creating content across a number of sports for a number of years but moved into motorsport in early 2024 after rekindling his love for the sport. As well as being part of the writing team here, he also produces and hosts one of the only NASCAR podcasts in the UK, “The Double Duty Pod”, which also covers all of US and European motorsport.
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