Speed is There, Now Wilson Hoping to Put Total Package Together in Mahle 250

HUNTERSVILLE, NC (May 14, 2013) - Two races into his rookie season in the CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series, 16-year-old Reid Wilson has run the gamut of first experiences. He has raced wheel-to-wheel with some of the most accomplished drivers in all of short track racing. He set fast time in qualifying for his second-ever Pro Cup start last month at Hickory, becoming the second-youngest pole winner in series’ history behind only Joey Logano. He was also quick in the Pro Cup practice rounds at South Carolina’s Anderson Speedway two weeks ago before that event was rained out.

Now as the series turns to Kingsport Speedway in Tennessee for the Mahle 250 on Friday, May 17, Wilson is hoping to build on his early-season highs such as the ones in Hickory and Anderson. Doing so will put the mechanical issues that plagued his Reid Wilson Racing team at race-time in the first two events of the season far in the rear-view mirror.

“We’ve worked all that stuff out,” said Wilson as he and the team prepared the Bojangles’ Chicken n’ Biscuits No. 66 Chevrolet for the Kingsport event. “We knew for sure that by the time we got to Anderson, we weren’t going to have any problems. At Dillon (in the Pro Cup season opener) and Hickory, the first two races of the year, we kind of knew something was coming. We’d get to the racetrack, find something and know that we couldn’t fix it until we got back to the shop. Now, everything is as good as we need it to be and we’re ready for Kingsport.”

Pro Cup Rookie Ready For Championship Series

Bluffton, S.C. – Sept. 6, 2012 – One can only wonder if Gus Dean had run the full Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series schedule this year, where he would be sitting in the point standings after delivering many stout performances in 2012.

Dean, the 18-year-old rookie out of Bluffton, S.C., has run only eight of the 10 races this year and enters the Championship Series on the heels of five top-three and six top-10 finishes and finds himself fifth in points.

The team and driver are getting stronger each week. Leading more than 80 laps in the last event at Orange County, it seems that his first victory is getting closer. Beginning at Motor Mile Speedway on Sept. 22, the points will be reset. That marks the beginning of the Rev-Oil Pro Cup Championship Series, which is very much like NASCAR’s “Chase.”

This will put Dean back within 55 points of series leader J.P. Morgan and five points behind rookie leader Nathan Russell. Even though he will start at a deficit, Dean seems poised and ready.

Wes Gonder Racing Team Release -

Scott Saunders, 23 year old driver out of Brisbane, Australia, will prepare for his third event in the #33 seat of Wes Gonder Racing this Saturday at Dillon Motor Speedway in the CARS Pro Cup Series Black’s Auto & Tire Service 250.

After concluding only eleven events in a stock car throughout his entire career, Saunders managed to pull off a 10th place finish in his first CARS Pro Cup Series start at Motor Mile and 9th place finish in his second at Caraway. Now Scott and the rest of the Wes Gonder Racing team will head to Dillon, South Carolina to see if they can improve upon their best finish together.

“I am looking forward to working with Scott in the next Pro Cup event at Dillon. The team will be working hard to get Scott a better car so we can build upon our finish and better showcase his talent,” team owner Wes Gonder stated.