Reddick will compete in Friday's $10K Granite State Pro Stocks event

LEE – Less than two weeks removed from his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win, Tyler Reddick is coming to Lee USA Speedway on Friday night to compete in the Granite State Pro Stocks event at the 3/8 mile oval.

Racing is scheduled to start at 6, but track general manager Joe Bassett said fans will want to get there early. In addition to the Pro Stock race, the NHSTRA modifieds, Ridge Runners and Street Stocks will also be in competition.

Friday night’s race pays $10,000 to win, and will feature some of the best competitors from New England.

“We expect to have a lot of guys coming, both for the $10,000 purse, and to race with Tyler,” said Bassett. "We are excited for what I think will be a great event.

“I’m ready to go to battle,” Reddick said of his trip to Lee. “Hopefully, we have good pace and are able to run with the best.”

Among the competitors will be Newmarket’s Bryan Kruczek, racing for the Bobby Webber Racing team, and Berwick, Maine racers Joey Doiron and Ryan Green. Doiron is the current points leader in the Granite State Pro Stocks Series and has had a strong season so far, including a win at Lee in May. Green picked up his first win in a Pro Stock during weekly racing at Lee just two weeks ago, and looks to back that up on Friday.

Kruczek, Doiron and Green have all competed in a number of different divisions at Lee through the years, and they will look to use the home field advantage when competing against one of the top drivers in NASCAR today.

“It means a lot for Tyler to come here and support the track like this,” Bassett said. “We can’t thanks Tyler enough for coming to Lee to compete.”

Despite his career accomplishments, which include a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series championships, Reddick said there are a few reasons that motivated him to compete at an asphalt track with a Pro Stock race car.

“I just love to race,” he said. “And I’ve never raced an asphalt late model before.”

Another driver on the entry list for Friday, who has competed on asphalt, is Derek Kneeland, who grew up in Maine and raced locally for years. Kneeland currently serves as the spotter for Reddick in NASCAR competition and on Friday night they will be competing against one another for bragging rights… and the $10,000 purse.

Bassett said that in addition to Reddick, he also had to thank car owner Archie St. Hilaire, who helped bring Reddick to the event. Reddick will be driving St. Hilaire’s No. 32, which finished third at Lee in May with Brandon Barker behind the wheel.

St. Hilaire, who used to compete at the NASCAR level as owner of the GoFas race team, has refocused his efforts on driver development.

“(St. Hilaire) was instrumental in bringing this together,” Basset said.

Although the Pro Stocks will compete under the Granite State Pro Stocks banner this Friday, the track has also brought the division back as a weekly division at the track this year. Two weeks ago 19 cars showed up to compete in a pair of feature races (won by Green and Jimmy Renfrew Jr.) and Bassett said having a driver of Reddick’s caliber compete there in a Pro Stock can only help the division continue to grow.

“Pro Stocks were always on the agenda for us,” Bassett said. “It was just a matter of when it made sense. With Beech Ridge (Speedway in Scarborough, Maine) closing its doors last year this seemed like the right time. Something like this, with Tyler racing here, can only help it grow.”

Lee has gone from racing every week during the summer to a bi-weekly schedule, and Bassett said the reason for the change is so that they can focus on doing bigger, better events, such as this weekend’s Granite State Pro Stock Series race.

“This is part of the reason we went to the modified schedule,” Bassett said. “We want to make every race here an event.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NASCAR Cup Series winner racing at Lee USA Speedway Friday