The St. Louis-Metro East region is not immune to storms. It’s seen its share of big ones. Think of Saturday’s NASCAR race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, as a Carolina hurricane and a Texas twister, coming from opposite directions and headed for the same piece of real estate. True, the  NASCAR K&N Pro Series East & West Monaco 125 presented by West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame is sharing the bill with the NTT IndyCar Series, Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000 but it’s taking a back seat to nothing and no one.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series is a training ground and feeder system to the big leagues. Young racers hone their skills and hope to be noticed by Truck, Xfinity and Cup team owners. It’s every man – or woman – for himself.

One of those young drivers rocketing through the ranks is Hailie Deegan of Temecula, California. With three wins in 40 starts, she is the first female to win a race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and already is on the radar screen of Forbes Magazine and the New York Times. And she turned 18 only one month ago.

On June 9, in Colorado, Deegan was leading the race with only two laps remaining. Her Bill McAnally Racing teammate, Derek Kraus, shoehorned his car in between those of Deegan and Trevor Huddleston, who also was battling for first place, and took the lead as starter was ready to wave the white flag. That left Deegan temporarily in third place. Deegan passed Huddleston on the outside and went off in pursuit of Kraus, who just happens to be the winner of the 2018 Monaco 125 at WWTR. Deegan looked to the inside of Kraus as he went for the bottom of the track. You know the rest: Kraus spun; Deegan won.

“Stock-car racing has taught me that there’s rough racing in people,” Deegan told Forbes’ Dave Caldwell. “Either you swing, or you be swung at. And I was always getting swung at in the beginning, and I didn’t know why. I had a turning point where it was like, `Screw that.’ I’m being put into the wall for reasons I couldn’t even explain. I just started throwing my elbows up and fighting back.”

Kraus is the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West points leader and will do everything he can to keep Huddleston, who is second in the points race by only 18, away from the title.

That’s not the only fierce rivalry on Saturday’s menu.  Sam Mayer and Chase Cabre tangled on the opening lap of the race at Bristol last Thursday. Cabre’s car wound up in the wall and Mayer was sent to the back of the starting line-up as a penalty. Mayer won the race and Cabre finished seventh. When NASCAR.com interviewed Mayer after the race, he was quite frank about the incident.

“He (Cabre) kind of deserves it, Mayer said, eluding to the way he’d been racing Cabre all season long. “I did flat out dump him. I didn’t mean it at all, but I did get in there way too hard and got into him.”

Mayer leads the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standings by just 22 over Cabre. That’s pretty much all that needs to be said.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East & West Monaco 125 presented by West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame: fierce racing, sharp elbows. You don’t want to be the one stuck in the kettle corn line when the green flag flies.

NASCAR K&N PRO SERIES EAST AND WEST PROBABLE ENTRY LIST

1   Max McLaughlin  Mooresville, NC  Toyota

2   Ruben Garcia, Jr.  Mexico City, Mexico  Toyota

4   Chase Cabre  Tampa, Florida  Toyota

6   Jagger Jones  Scottsdale, Arizona  Ford

08  Travis Milburn  Eagle, Idaho  Chevrolet

09  Jett Noland  Orlando, Florida  Chevrolet

9   Trevor Huddleston  Agoura Hills, California  Ford

13  Todd Souza  Watsonville, California  Toyota

15  Tanner Gray  Artesia, New Mexico  Toyota

16  Derek Kraus  Stratford, Wisconsin  Toyota

17  Ty Gibbs  Charlotte, North Carolina  Toyota

18  Colin Garrett  Elmo, Virginia  Chevrolet

19  Hailie Deegan  Temecula, California  Toyota

21  Sam Mayer  Franklin, Wisconsin  Chevrolet

22  Brandon Oakley  Beavercreek, Ohio  Toyota

30  Spencer Davis  Dawsonville, Georgia  Ford

36  Taylor Canfield  El Cajon, California  Chevrolet

38  Josh Fanopoulos  Boise, Idaho  Ford

54  Drew Dollar  Atlanta, Georgia  Toyota

77  Takuma Koga  Nagoya, Japan  Toyota

99  Brittney Zamora  Kennewick, Washington  Toyota

The annual Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline brings the cars and international racing stars of the Indianapolis 500 to the St. Louis-Metro East region. Tickets start at just $40 for adults and kids 15 and under are free. Race day also includes races for Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000 and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West cars – not to mention fireworks and a pre-race show. To purchase tickets or obtain more information about WWTR, please call (618) 215-8888 or visitwww.wwtraceway.com. Follow WWTR on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram.

Story Courtesy of Gateway Motorsports Park