It may seem odd to find a sport so closely tied to white Southern men featured on a Web site devoted to African-American entertainment, but it represents Nascar’s latest attempt to build a following for minority drivers it hopes to develop into stars.

Nascar is behind a new reality television series on BET, “Changing Lanes,” that will make its debut at 8 on Wednesday night. A field of 30 minority drivers will be narrowed to 10, who will live together for a month as they compete on the track and prepare in the classroom for the chance to race in a high-profile event and ultimately succeed in Nascar.

The series is the brainchild of Max Siegel, a former music industry executive and global president of Dale Earnhardt Inc., who became involved with Nascar’s diversity effort in 2003 when the Hall of Fame football player Reggie White tried to start a minority-based race team. White died in 2004 before seeing his dream come true, but the effort to draw minorities has continued. Read more…

“I look at how fast they go,” said Santerre, the competition director for Revolution Racing and NASCAR’s Max Siegel-headed Drive For Diversity program.

Santerre ought to know. He’s a four-time champion of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East as a driver, and since stepping out of the seat he’s worked at developing some of the sport’s brightest young talent — including Austin Dillon, Brett Moffitt and Sean Caisse.

“If (a young driver) can get in and can go fast at any track, short track or speedway, that’s a big thing,” Santerre said. “Some drivers can run third-mile race tracks but really can’t run (well) on a mile track.

“I look at speed — and Darrell can run anywhere.”

Darrell Wallace Jr. enters the final three races of the season — including Saturday’s American Fence Association 150 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga. — just 33 points behind defending series champion Ryan Truex. He’s a Joe Gibbs Racing development driver, and he’s the D4D program’s best shot yet at a NASCAR championship with five Top-5s and six Top-10s in seven races. Read more…

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 24, 2010) – While most drivers competing in Saturday’s American Fence Association 150 NASCAR K&N Series East race will be focused only on the fast half-mile Gresham Motorsports Park, championship-contender Darrell Wallace Jr. will be sitting in a classroom at Northwest Cabarrus High School in Concord, N.C. starting his senior year.

The 16-year-old Revolution Racing driver is only 33 points behind defending NASCAR K&N Series East champion Ryan Truex, but he won’t be able to fully focus on the task until Friday afternoon when school lets out.

“We start school Wednesday and maybe it will keep my mind off of the pressure of trying to run down Truex for the points lead,” Wallace said.  “This has been a great season so far but to be honest it hasn’t been easy.  We have had a few minor things go wrong that have caused us to start at the rear of the field three different times, but we’ve managed to get through traffic and end up with good results.  I hope we can have a clean race at Gresham and then in the last two races at New Hampshire and Dover so that we can give Truex a good challenge.  Even if he has trouble there are two Joe Gibbs Racing cars and the Red Bull car right behind us.  Whoever wins the championship will be the team that makes the fewest mistakes.”

Wallace made history in the first race of the season when he became the NASCAR K&N Series youngest and first African American to win a race.  That win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in March has propelled him to two wins, five top-fives and six top-10s in only seven starts.  He leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year competition over Cole Whitt, Kevin Swindell and teammate Ryan Gifford.

Wallace will be joined at the Jefferson, Ga. speedway by teammates and fellow Drive for Diversity program members Gifford, Sergio Pena and Michael Cherry, who will be making his series debut.

Gifford, who has fallen to eighth in series standings, 221 points behind Truex, is looking at wins as the salvation of his season.

“We have been beaten around quite a bit in the last two races and have lost a lot of points,” Gifford said.  “We’re all going to Gresham for the first time and I’ve had success at both New Hampshire and Dover, so we’ll be looking to score wins rather than race for points.  We’ve been fast enough to win every week and haven’t been able to make it work yet.  We’ll get one before the season is over.”

Gifford, 21, from Winchester, Tenn. became the first African American to win a pole in series history Martinsville Speedway June 6.

Sergio Pena, who like Wallace is also splitting time between his senior year in high school and the race track, will look to turn his season around and improve upon his 12^th-place point’s position.  Pena’s best finish of the season is 10^th at Lime Rock Park, but his consistency has allowed him to maintain a shot at the top 10 in season-ending points.  He is currently 86 points out of the top 10.

“We have to run better in our last three races and I’m confident we can get to the top 10,” said the 17-year-old Pena.  “I have learned a lot this season and know that we’ll use that experience in the final three races.  Our goal has gone from a championship to finishing the season strong and earning a spot on stage at the banquet.”

Michael Cherry, from Valrico, Fla. and a season-long member of Revolution Racing’s Whelen All-American Series program, has earned an opportunity in one of the team’s NASCAR K&N Series cars.  He will be making his series debut many strong runs in the Whelen All-American Series, including becoming the first African American driver to win a race at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C.

The American Fence Association 150 NASCAR K&N Series East race at Gresham Motorsports Park starts at 8:30 p.m.  Practice starts Saturday morning at 11 a.m. and qualifying is scheduled for 4 p.m.  The race will be broadcast on Speed Channel September 2 at 6 p.m. EDT.

Andy Santere made his mark as a driver – first in the Northeast – and later in the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series. See how the former standout driver has moved into a team owner role in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series in this GMP Garage Talk interview with Dave Wiley

Ryan Gifford’s fast time in the first practice at Lee Speedway earned him the front page photo on NASCAR Home Tracks

A Batterd No. 6 takes the Checkers, originally uploaded by Revolution Racing.

LEE, NH – JULY 30: Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #6 Castle Packs Power Chevrolet, crosses the finish line ahead of Ryan Truex, drover of the #00 Toyota during the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East on July 30,2010 at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Read the lap-by-lap on NASCAR Home Tracks.

Darrell Wallace Jr. made a three-wide pass for the lead with two laps to go and held on for the victory Friday in the K&N Pro Series 125 at Lee USA Speedway. It was the second NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win of the season for the 16-year-old Revolution Racing driver from Mobile, Ala.

“It definitely hit us right away this time,” said Wallace. “I’m excited, the whole team is excited. I was talking to the crew under the red flag and I told them [the leaders] are going to wash it up and I’m going to go under them and take the win and that’s exactly what happened.”

Wallace started behind Ryan Truex and Eddie MacDonald on the race’s final restart. Truex and MacDonald had swapped the lead four times over the previous 35 laps, and appeared setting up for a final dash to the checkers for the win. But it was Wallace who had drove up through the field after getting tangled up in an early race incident and wound up stealing the spotlight. He dove inside the side-by-side leaders going into Turn 3, and emerged with the lead coming out of Turn 4 for his second win of the season.

Wallace became the youngest driver and first African American race winner in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East history when he won the season opener at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway in March.

Wallace, second in points, closed the gap on defending series champion Truex to 33 points with three races remaining.

Marc Davis returned to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this weekend for the first time since 2008. He finished eighth at Lee USA Speedway in the No. 8 Revolution Racing Chevrolet.

“I was really appreciative of Max Siegel and everybody at Revolution for putting me in the car this week,” said Davis, who is eyeing a return to the Nationwide Series at Dover in September. “These guys needed a good run. They’ve struggled the past couple weeks. Just had a bunch of bad luck. So they put me in the car for this one race, and we came away with a solid top ten.”

Sergio Pena carried a special paint-scheme this weekend, promoting the upcoming docu-reality series “Changing Lanes,” which premieres on BET Network September 1. Pena drove the No. 4 Changing Lanes Chevrolet to a 15th-place finish at Lee USA Speedway Friday night, despite damage from a mid-race incident. Pena is currently 12th in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standings.

Ryan Gifford saw his night come to an early end at Lee USA Speedway after getting caught up in multiple on-track incidents. The final blow to the No. 2 Revolution Racing Chevrolet came at lap 116 when front end damage sent the No. 2 machine to the garage. Gifford was credited with a 19th-place finish. He slips to eighth in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series standings, but is just 26 points out of fifth-place.

The K&N Pro Series 125 will air on SPEED on Thursday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to the track on Saturday, Aug. 28 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga.

“It’s hard to complain about two top-10 finishes,” said Brunelli. “We did struggle with the car a little bit on Friday night, despite the fifth-place finish, but the guys worked hard to make some changes before practice at Hickory on Saturday to get it where it needed to be. We had an awesome qualifying lap, our best of the year at Hickory, and really had a good car for the race. It just took it a little bit to come in, which hurt us at the start of the race.”

Brunelli qualified third at both Tri-County Motor Speedway and Hickory Motor Speedway. The third-place starting position at Hickory was the best of the year for Brunelli.

Brunelli battled a loose race car to start the 50 lap feature at Hickory and dropped to ninth at the drop of the green flag as she waited for her car to come in. With the race going caution free, Brunelli had to earn her spots back on the track. She got stuck behind a pair of cars racing each other side-by-side for several laps. Brunelli remained patient and waited for an opening, and was able to pass both cars before the checkered flag.

“It’s tough when you’re stuck behind two cars running side by side like that,” said Brunelli. “You try to be patient, but as the laps wind down, you’ve got to make a move. I waited for my opportunity and took it, and was able to pick up two spots on the track.”

Brunelli now has six top fives and ten top 10s in 14 races this season. She has competed in six races at Tri-County Motor Speedway and eight races at Hickory Motor Speedway.