{"id":20584,"date":"2016-05-13T09:21:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T13:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=20584"},"modified":"2016-05-13T09:21:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T13:21:00","slug":"ronnie-bassett-jr-looking-forward-to-nascar-150-kn-pro-series-east-race-at-stafford-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2016\/05\/ronnie-bassett-jr-looking-forward-to-nascar-150-kn-pro-series-east-race-at-stafford-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronnie Bassett, Jr. Looking Forward to NASCAR 150 K&N Pro Series East Race at Stafford Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"STAFFORD-TRACK-LOGO\"Ronnie Bassett, Jr. Looking Forward to NASCAR 150 K&N Pro Series East Race at Stafford Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—When the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East returns to Stafford Speedway on June 17 for the NASCAR 150, the vast majority of drivers will be seeing the Connecticut half-mile for the very first time. For 20-year old Winston-Salem, NC native Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and the #04 Bassett Gutters team, the NASCAR 150 represents a prime opportunity to pick up their first K&N Pro Series victory. The road to NAPA Victory Lane for Bassett will begin on Thursday, June 16 as he and the rest of the K&N East Series drivers will partake in a test and tune session followed by a fan and media meet and greet during the WEEI 105.5FM Fan Experience.
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to coming to Stafford,\u201d said Bassett. \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve seen, Stafford kind of reminds me of a smaller Loudon. I really enjoy racing at Loudon and with flat corners and some long straightaways to it, I think the race at Stafford is going to be a blast. It\u2019s going to be pretty neat to go back to a style of track that I grew up racing on. I\u2019ve raced Late Models at Hickory, Tri-Country, Caraway, which are a bunch of flat short tracks. The Thursday practice will be good because it\u2019ll give everyone an equal opportunity to be able to learn the track and learn what the car will need for the race the following day.\u201d
\nBassett is also excited for the opportunity to interact with fans prior to race day, \u201cThe biggest thing in the sport is the fans because without them, we wouldn\u2019t be racing. The fans are what makes the sport what it is and you\u2019ve got to be able to interact with them and I\u2019m looking forward to meeting all the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2016 season has gotten off to a good start for Bassett and the #04 team. Through the first five races of the 2016 season Bassett has recorded 3 top-5 and 4 top-10 finishes and currently sits third in the points standings, 24 points behind co-leaders Justin Hayley and Kyle Benjamin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe season has been pretty good so far,\u201d said Bassett. \u201cWe\u2019re sitting third in points right now and we\u2019ve had some really good top-5 runs but have come up a little short the last few times to get a victory but we\u2019re knocking on the door and we\u2019ll get one soon. We\u2019ve been working really hard in the shop to get the cars better and have been able to bring them home without tearing them up so we can make them better. Coming to a place like Stafford is a good thing for me because I\u2019m used to racing on a different track every week and I\u2019m able to adapt pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bassett looked to have scored his first win in the season opener at New Smyrna Speedway back in February, but due to a delay in displaying the correct flags from the flag stand, the race went one lap longer than scheduled and Bassett had to settle for a third place finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was disappointing, but we were in contention to win that race and that\u2019s what matters,\u201d said Bassett. \u201cWe\u2019ve moved on and we just have to work on making our race cars a little better so we can get up front, lead some laps, and come away with a win. It\u2019s always hardest to get that first win, once you\u2019re over that hump and get some momentum everyone at the shop gets excited because they know they can win now and everything seems to get rolling once you get that first one.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as being used to flat short tracks, another area that might give Bassett and advantage is having his brother Dillon as his teammate. With two cars and drivers to bounce information between, Bassett thinks he could have another advantage over most of the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell everybody that a two driver team is better than one just like 8 tires is better than 4,\u201d said Bassett. \u201cWe can always relate to each other and help our program grow by bouncing ideas off one another to help make the cars better. You can try different setups and then come back and see what worked best for you and what worked best for my brother and kind of meet in the middle to make both cars better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In breaking down the race strategy for the NASCAR 150, Bassett says the race can go one of two ways. \u201cSome of our races they let you change tires, and others you have to run the whole race on one set of tires,\u201d said Bassett. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen yet what the tire rule will be for Stafford so if we can\u2019t change tires, you\u2019ll have to conserve your car and be there at the end. If we can change tires at halfway, then you go as hard as you can in the first half of the race and make some adjustments along with changing the tires to help make the car better for the second half of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WEEI 105.5FM Fan Experience will be open FREE of charge to race fans on Thursday, June 16. There will be a test and tune session from 3pm-6:30pm and at the conclusion of the practice, Stafford Speedway will open its paddock area to allow race fans and media to meet the drivers as well as getting a preview of the cars and team haulers from 6:30pm-8:00pm, much like the atmosphere at the track\u2019s season beginning and season ending NAPA Pit Parties.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the June 17 NASCAR 150 are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $27.50 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is priced at $30.00 for all ages and all ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ronnie Bassett, Jr. Looking Forward to NASCAR 150 K&N Pro Series East Race at Stafford Speedway (Stafford Springs, CT)—When the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East returns to Stafford Speedway on June 17 for the NASCAR 150, the vast majority of drivers will be seeing the Connecticut half-mile for the very first time. For 20-year old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,38,2,5,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-kn-pro-series-east","category-nascar","category-stafford-connecticut","category-touring-series-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20585,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584\/revisions\/20585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}