Sunoco Driven Challenge Offers Unique Nationwide Competition for Drivers

The Sunoco Rolex 24 At Daytona Challenge has now been running for three years and has gone from strength – this year being won by British Formula 3 champion Felipe Nasr. Felipe will be racing in a DP car with a top team in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.

This year to give more racers the chance to race at Daytona we launched the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge where the ultimate prize is a race seat in the Continental Series GS class in the GRAND-AM 200 race at the same race weekend as the Rolex 24. The season was closely contended throughout but it was F3 Cup driver Aaron Steele who drove away with the prize

The success of the challenges’ have been recognized over the pond in the US and Sunoco USA and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) have partnered to develop the Sunoco Driven Challenge where drivers across America have a chance to compete for a unique opportunity to test with one of NASCAR’s top teams.

Drivers in five qualifying grassroots racing series will compete in a uniquely developed points system throughout the 2012 season to determine one overall winner. The winner will receive a test in a JGR NASCAR K&N Pro Series car at the conclusion of the season, a tour of JGR’s Huntersville, NC headquarters and a meeting with JGR President, J.D. Gibbs.

“Sunoco is committed to fueling victories both on and off the track,” said Cynthia Archer, Sunoco’s vice president of marketing. “The Joe Gibbs Racing partnership helps strengthen that commitment by fueling the dreams of the next generation of drivers while also rewarding one lucky fan.”

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to work with Sunoco on the Challenge,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. “Identifying talented young drivers is obviously something that has always been of interest to NASCAR’s top teams and certainly when you look at our team there are a lot of great stories behind the development of our guys. This has been something we’ve participated in over the past few years through our Joe Gibbs Driven oil brand and a Sunoco partnership allows us to enhance the program.”

To be eligible drivers must be entered in one of the following grassroots series: PASS North, PASS South, CRA Super Series, ASA Midwest, or SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series. Each week points will be totaled based upon a driver’s finish in their respective Series’ race and once each Series concludes its season, a winner will be determined.

All participating drivers will be evaluated based on a standardized points system with the top 10 drivers in each race, as well as the pole sitter, earning points. Points will then accumulate across the season and will be standardized based on the total number of races in each series. The driver with the highest average number of points at the end of the season will be named the Sunoco Driven Challenge champion and win the grand prize of a test in a JGR K&N Pro Series car.