By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
Just days after announcing their NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, Hattori Racing Enterprises announced plans for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.
The organization announced Thursday that Max McLaughlin would lead HRE’s return to the series full time for the first time since 2014.
McLaughlin will drive the No. 1 Toyota Camry with crew chief Robert Huffman.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for me to further my career,” McLaughlin said in a team release. “This will be my first concentrated effort in asphalt racing and this will be a big change and challenge. I’m definitely looking forward to the variety of racetracks and our expectation is to go win races and be a contender for the championship. This will be a big transition for me, but there are a lot of great people at HRE and I’m confident we’ll be one of the teams to beat throughout the season.”
2019 will be McLaughlin’s first full-time season racing on asphalt. He has spent the last three seasons in the Super DirtCar Series Big Block Modified tour and finished third in the driver point standings last season with eight top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.
Team owner Shige Hattori is excited to return to the K&N series.
“We’re very excited to get back into the K&N Pro Series full time this season,” Hattori said. “Our team has a lot of history and success in the series. We want to expand our team and offer more opportunities for young drivers and this is a way to do that. I’m happy to have Max join our group. This is a big step for him and our team, and we’re confident he’ll do a great job this season.”
Textron Off Road and Mohawk Northeast Inc. will be the sponsors at the season opening race at New Symrna Speedway on February 10th.