McGlynn to attempt a Pocono Cup race? UPDATE 3 At Martinsville: hearing CTS driver Ryan McGlynn and team is preparing a Chevy to run at one or both Pocono Winston Cup events. McGlynn Racing is based in Wilkes-Barre, PA. No word on sponsorship at this time.(5-25-2002) UPDATE: hearing McGlynn will attempt the 2nd Pocono race in July, not the race in June.(5-29-2002) UPDATE 2: now hearing it is unlikely that McGlynn will be attempting to run Pocono this week but McGlynn may attempt to run New Hampshire in September.(7-23-2002) UPDATE 3: Ryan McGlynn will be attempting his Winston Cup debut at Martinsville Speedway. McGlynn has driven at Pennsylvania’s Mountain Speedway and also competed at New Jersey’s Flemington Speedway and Tioga Speedway in New York and more recently has been a regular in the CTS. “Im really excited about this opportunity and Im ready to go. Were still pounding some things out on the car to get it all finished,” said 27-year old McGlynn who resides in Wilkes-Barre and is the manger of McGlynn’ High Performance Auto Parts. McGlynn had hoped to be able to race earlier this year at both Pocono Raceway Winston Cup events but due to lack of superspeedway experience required by NASCAR he has to settle for the .526-mile at Martinsville. “We actually had quite a bit of sponsorship to go to both Pocono races with the Cup car. We felt that we had as good a shot as anybody to run well there due to the fact that I have run a lot of laps there as an instructor for the Stock Car Racing Experience school. They (NASCAR) shot me down and said that I didnt have enough speedway experience in the Truck Series. They told me had I run a Busch car at the bigger tracks it would have been a different story. After that we lost the sponsorship we had to go to Pocono but we still have a brand new car sitting here and that’ how it came about that we are going to Martinsville,” said McGlynn. Although McGlynn would have much rather debuted at Pocono in front of the home crowd, he feels just as comfortable at Martinsville where he had raced numerous times with the trucks. “Ive been to most of these tracks at least once and most of them several times so as far as that goes it’ pretty easy anymore. I like Martinsville because it’ a tight little track and it’ what I was accustomed to when I raced at Mountain Speedway,” said McGlynn. McGlynn’ maiden voyage will come behind the wheel of a brand new 2002 #80 Chevy. CRD Engineering of North Carolina has put together the motor. This will be CRD’ first venue into Winston Cup as well. Their presence has been primarily in the BGN and CTS Series. It will no doubt be a task getting the car into the race. McGlynn’ first time out with the car will not take place until he arrives for practice on Friday. “Im just going off by what everybody else says that came from the trucks and went to the cars that it’ like night and day. Nine out of ten guys who where in the trucks and went to the cars or moved up to the Cup said they (cars) are a 100 times easier to drive so Im just going on that. It’ not like I never raced cars before,” explained McGlynn. “Opptomisticly speaking Im hoping for a decent qualifying position. Im not going to go down there and expect to get into the top-15. But if I can qualify, get in the race, run 500 laps and be there at the end then we reached our goal. If everything works out well for Martinsville then McGlynn said the team would possibly make a run at Phoenix in November. As far as his Craftsmen Truck goes, there are no plans to park it. They are already mapping out their game plan for 2003.(Open Wheel Racing)(10-15-2002)
