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Ryan Vargas used his experience racing in California when he went to the NASCAR Drive for Diversity combine at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. He said the track in Florida reminded him of Kern County Raceway Park in California. He went into the combine the same way he prepared for races at Kern County. It paid off with a seat on the Rev Racing team in the K&N Pro Series East.

Ryan Vargas will race for Rev Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2018.

Vargas made his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut at New Smyrna Speedway on February 11th and the 17-year-old driver from La Mirada, Calif. expressed his excitement before the season started. “It’s the first race and really my first time in a K&N car,” Vargas said. “That’s where the Drive for Diversity combine was at. It was at New Smyrna Speedway. I attacked it a lot like how I did with Kern County Raceway back at home. It drove a lot like that place.”

Vargas joins a team with a successful history. Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace, both NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series drivers, raced for Rev in the K&N Pro Series East. Daniel Suarez, who races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, was one of the Rev Racing drivers as he worked his way up the NASCAR ladder.

Vargas said he wants to add to the Rev Racing legacy.

“I definitely want to get a win. I see a whole bunch of banners hung around the shop from Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, and Daniel Suarez from their past wins when they raced with Rev,” Vargas said. “Hopefully I can get a win by the end of the year and that would be a great goal. But in the end, my main goal is to get rookie of the year and run strong in every race.”

Ryan Vargas is in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity Program and will drive for Rev Racing in 2018.

“These past few years have been very up and down for us,” Vargas said. “We’ve had a lot of great success with my family team. It’s been really hard funding wise. It’s been hard to keep up.”

“To have the opportunity of a lifetime to come here and race K&N East cars with Rev is very humbling to me. I know I am going to take every advantage of it. I am also really excited to learn as much as I can with this program, learn about the cars, working inside the garage, and getting my fitness on track.”

The majority of Vargas’ experience comes from racing late models, trucks, bandoleros and street stocks at Irwindale Speedway and The Orange Show in California and the Bullring in Las Vegas. He doesn’t have much experience in the K&N Pro Series cars. He will only have one day of testing before his first race at New Smyrna Speedway.

“I’m really excited for it, after talking with a lot of friends who have raced K&N, like my friends Noah Gragson and Will Rodgers, a lot of them have told me that they are just really heavy, but really fast,” Vargas said. “I am going to go into it with the mindset of trying to turn a street stock. Those things are very heavy and very hard to steer. I am going to go into it with a different mindset as well of trying to be as smooth as I can, while being able to get as much as I can out of the car every single race.”

Ryan Vargas speaks onstage after being presented with the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award.

Vargas also takes pride in his knowledge in the garage. He likes to work on the cars as much as he likes driving them. In his late model days racing at Irwindale Speedway and the Orange Show, he spent a considerable amount of time in the garage and the pits. He wants that to stay the same at Rev Racing.

“When I come off the track I want to be able to say what I need changed on the car,” Vargas said. “Not just come off the track and say, ‘oh it’s tight, oh it’s loose.’ I want to be able to come off the track and say we need to do this adjustment there. There’s still a lot of ground for me to make up though. I’m definitely not the one to ask a lot of questions on cars. I feel like I am at a place right now that I’ve never been. That is where I can actually diagnose a car a lot better than I ever have been able to.”

Having K&N make a commitment to the series makes a lot of difference, Vargas said. He is excited to be part of the K&N Pro Series East as a rookie.

“It means a lot to have a company like K&N to sponsor the series,” Vargas said. “It shows that the series has so much potential that a great company like them would want to jump on board. It also shows that the series itself is a very good series not just to be in, but also to watch.

“It’s definitely been all worth it. All the hard work has come to this. I am grateful for that.”

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is jumping on the four-wide racing bandwagon. It will be the second track in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series to have four-wide racing. The first four-wide event in Las Vegas will be in April 2018 for the Denso Auto Parts Nationals and the 33rd running of the K&N Horsepower Challenge.

Greg Anderson K and N

zMAX Dragway in North Carolina was the first track to offer four-wide racing. NHRA Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson said it took some time to get used to the four-wide format, but he readily admits it’s a fun event to watch and race in. Anderson, who drives for KB Racing and was the runner-up in the NHRA Pro Stock standings in 2017, said that during the first year of four-wide racing in North Carolina racers had called it crazy and a ridiculous way to race. Some didn’t want to race four-wide again after the first event. “Then the next year it got a little bit easier. The next year, a little bit easier,” Anderson said. “You learn more every year. We didn’t like it to begin with because it was so different. Some of us went out there and looked like fools, made mistakes that you think a rookie driver would make. Once we got a few of them under our belts, it became fine.”

It took time, but the four-wide races in North Carolina turned into one of the more anticipated events. Anderson said the four-wide event in Las Vegas will have the same appeal to drivers and fans. “It’s honestly become one of the more fun races,” Anderson said. “It draws a great crowd, obviously the spectators love it. I think it’s a good move. I’m excited about it.”

Jason Line Las Vegas 4-track

Anderson added that NHRA is not overdoing it either with four-wide events with one or two a year seeming like the right amount.

“If you do it one time a year, by the time it rolls around the next year, you kind of forgotten all the little things you learned the year before how to do it,” Anderson said. “If we do it twice a year, that will make it even easier for us to get a handle on it. The more you do it, the better you get at it. I’m not afraid of it like I used to be.”

Jason Line, Anderson’s teammate at KB Racing, said he isn’t a huge fan of four-wide racing. But he understands how much fans like it and he looks forward to the challenge it brings to racers and crews. “It’s certainly different,” Line said. “If I had to pick and choose, would I choose to race four wide? Maybe not. At the same time it’s something different, exciting. The fans like it. At least they seem to like it. I'm OK with it. It’s definitely different.”

Construction of the new four-lane drag strip is expected to be completed in February.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to do a little bit of drag racing on it in March with some of our local guys to get it broken in before we have the national event,” said Jeff Motley, the vice president of public relations at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “The four-wide has been a huge success at the zMAX Dragway in Charlotte. This is an opportunity for us to bring four-wide drag racing to people on the West Coast who probably never had the opportunity to experience four-wide drag racing.”

Winners Circle Las Vegas

Chris McGaha won the four-wide event in the Pro Stock division in North Carolina last year. Steve Torrence won Top Fuel, Ron Capps won Funny Car and LE Tonglet won Pro Stock Motorcycle. The four-wide event in Las Vegas is the fourth event on the NHRA schedule and is set for April 6-8.

“All in all it’s fun. Still a fun weekend,” Line said. “It’ll be entertaining to watch for sure.”

Jason Line Racing

Bo Butner Celebration

When the 2017 season started, six Pro Stock drivers claimed victory in the first six races and 2018 is off to a similar start with Butner winning at Pomona and Chris McGaha winning at the Arizona Nationals.

Butner’s first win in 2017 came at Texas, the fifth event of the season. He went on to win five NHRA Pro Stock events in his first full season in Pro Stock. “Just never give up,” Butner said after winning the November event in Pomona. “I have a great crew; it’s amazing. They don’t give up on me. But the KB team, what does that say about them? Honestly, I rent a car and a motor and they put me in a championship. It’s just unbelievable. Thank the Lord for everything; He shined on me.”

Greg Anderson Racing

Anderson entered the season finale in Pomona as the leader in the Pro Stock standings. Butner was second, 40 points behind Anderson, who was in pursuit of his first Pro Stock title since 2010. Anderson lost to Butner in the semifinals at Pomona and slowly dropped out of contention for the championship. “There’s always a personal letdown when you don’t personally get it done,” Anderson said. “It’s great for the team. The team had a great year. At the time, it was a tough pill to swallow when I lost at the world finals there. A day or two later, you get over that and realize the big picture was fantastic.”

KB Racing took the top-three spots in the Pro Stock standings. KB Racing’s Line was third in the Pro Stock standings. All three drivers know the bar is set high for the team and they want to continue the success they all experienced in 2017. “I didn’t end like I wanted it to. I didn’t win the championship,” Line said. “We had a good year really. KB Racing as a whole, we finished 1-2-3 Can’t be mad about that.”

Anderson said he thinks KB Racing has the right formula for success. Having Butner win by leasing cars and equipment through KB Racing will give other racers an opportunity to perhaps enter the Pro Stock ranks. “It’s a neat deal, a really cool story,” Anderson said. “It does a lot for the class. It proves to other people they can do it a different way. They can go lease an engine, lease a car from one of the big teams and compete for championships. You couldn’t say that 10 years ago, the class wasn’t like that 10 years ago.”

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Gainesville March 15-18 for the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.

The 2018 Kia Stinger GT is the hottest car that Kia has ever made

Kia Stinger GT - How The Turbos Work

The K&N 69-5318TS Typhoon Intake System for the Kia 3.3L twin-turbo

How a K&N 69-5318TS Typhoon Intake System Can Improve Performance

Twin aluminum intake tubes have integrated fittings for the factory sensors

Behind the two heat shields sit a pair of oversized K&N performance air filters. They're positioned to pull in cold air from outside the engine compartment, and the large surface area means that more air will be pumped into the system, resulting in more power throughout the RPM range. This oxygen is cleaned by the famous K&N cotton gauze filter media, which has been treated with a proprietary oil blend. As air flows through the filter, the sticky cotton fibers trap and hold dirt particles that are smaller in diameter than a human hair. The dirt will then stay locked in the filter material for up to 100,000 miles before cleaning is required (depending on road conditions).

With a higher volume of cold air to work with, your Kia Stinger GT will be able to make more torque at lower RPM, and more horsepower as the revs increase. The gas pedal will also respond much faster to your inputs, and the engine sound will be greatly improved. Dyno testing showed an estimated increase of 9.09 horsepower and 8.31 lb-ft of torque. But your individual results will depend on the mileage, modifications, and condition of your specific 2018 Kia Stinger GT.

Improving the airflow and engine protection will dramatically improve the driving dynamics of your Kia hot rod. Add to that an unparalleled K&N 10-Year/Million Mile Limited Warranty, and the K&N 69-5318TS Air Intake System is a bolt on modification that actually makes sense. To find out if this K&N cold air intake is street legal in your state, click here. If your state doesn't have strict emissions laws, then you can click through to order. Or you can use the Search by Vehicle Tool to check out all of the Kia Stinger GT performance parts from K&N.

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2018 KIA STINGER 3.3L V6 Fuel Injection - Turbo

A K&N 69-5318TS Typhoon Intake System installed on a 2018 Kia Stinger GT

It took Ruben Garcia a couple of tries to enter the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program. After winning the NASCAR Mexico Series championship and earning a spot on the Rev Racing team in the K&N Pro Series East, Garcia will benefit as a member of the Drive for Diversity in 2018. He knows he is in an advantageous position to be in.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series driver Ruben Garcia will race for Rev Racing in 2018.

He went to the combine in Florida to try and earn a spot in the Drive for Diversity program, set up to help minority drivers advance in the ranks of NASCAR. Everything came together quickly and Garcia knew he had many opportunities in front of him.

“Right after that, I was called and got the notice I was going to be driving for Rev Racing in the K&N Series as well as being part of the Drive for Diversity program,” Garcia said. “It was a huge step for me. It’s one of the best opportunities I have been given as a driver. Without that, it would be really, really hard, almost impossible to get the exposure I am getting right now.”

Garcia has experience in the K&N Pro Series already. He made his first start in 2016 and has four top-five finishes in 28 career races in the K&N Pro Series East. He won the NASCAR Mexico Series championship in 2015. He said there are plenty of differences between the K&N Pro Series and the Mexico Series.

“The rules are kind of similar. Mainly it’s the car,” Garcia said. “It’s one of the first things I needed to get used to. They’re heavier, more power, they handle different. It took me some time to get used to the cars.”

The tracks the K&N Pro Series visit are different than the ones in the Mexico Series, too.

“We’ve gone to some really, really small tracks (in the K&N Pro Series),” Garcia said. “I haven’t been on a track that size with a car that size before. That was something to get used to. In Mexico, we run tracks that are a half-mile, and mile and a quarter. In K&N, we have many tracks that are smaller than a half a mile. That was also something that took me a little time to get used to.”

Ruben Garcia won his first pole and was the runner-up at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2017.

He won his first K&N Pro Series East pole at the Iowa Speedway race, which pits the teams from the K&N Pro Series East and West. The field is bigger and the competition is much tougher at the Iowa Speedway races.

Garcia went out for his qualifying run about midway through the session. He had to wait it out as some of the top teams and drivers made their qualifying laps. Garcia said he was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

“It was huge. I actually wasn’t expecting that,” Garcia said. “We had a pretty fast car during practice. I managed to put a pretty good lap I felt. I saw I was on top of the board. There were still some cars remaining to go out.”

Two drivers from the K&N Pro Series West qualified higher than Garcia at the Iowa Speedway race. He started on the second row and finished in 12th place. Overall, it was an encouraging day for Garcia.

“I felt like, we’ll qualify decent, we’ll be top five. All the cars went out and I was still on top of the board. It was huge for me,” Garcia said. “In front of experienced teams, all teams from both series. It’s probably the funnest race we have on our schedule. It’s a track that allows you get a little bit of an idea of how the Cup races. It’s probably the most complete track we have.”

Ruben Garcia, right, will be part of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program in 2018.

“The first time I was there, I didn’t have that much luck,” Garcia said. “It takes a little bit of time to get used to that place. Everything happens very quick, pretty decent speed for a small place.

I was used to my team. We were getting better and better. We made our way to second and we were catching the leader, then it rained again and the race was stopped. I really wanted to go all the way, the 150 laps. Still it was a good confidence builder for me.”

Garcia enters his third season in the K&N Pro Series East. He wants to win a race, the first of his K&N Pro Series career, but he also wants to stay in contention for the championship. He is confident he can accomplish both goals with his new team.

“Last year we were very close to getting a win,” Garcia said. “We never got it. Definitely that’s our biggest goal, early in the season, to finally get the win we’re looking for last year. The whole entire Rev Racing organization deserves that. We’ve been working for it very, very hard. I think it’s time for us to get our first win. I would like to be in position for the championship.”