NASA Alum Ryan Ellis set
for NASCAR SPRINT CUP Series Debut
Napa Valley, CA - (November 2, 2015) NASA competitor Ryan Ellis, 25,
will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the No. 33 for Circle
Sport Racing on Nov. 15 at the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix
International Raceway.
Ryan started his driving career racing quarter midgets
at the young age of 4 eventually moving into INEX Legends cars. Now just 25
with over two decades of racing experience under his belt, he has arrived at
the pinnacle of stock car racing. In 2006, Ryan entered
the world of National Auto Sport Association (NASA) competition to begin the road
racing portion of his career. He did exceptionally well winning a majority of
the events he entered during the last 10 years of his NASA competition.
“NASA was an integral part of my racing
development. I learned so much battling with the Spec Miata crowd out of the
East that helped me get to where I am today. I made many friends racing with
NASA that I still speak to quite a bit today. Winning the 2011 NASA Super
Unlimited Championship with Superlite Cars was also one of the biggest
highlights of my career.” – Ryan Ellis
In 2007
and into the 2008 season, Ryan campaigned a Mazda Spec Miata in NASA’s Mid Atlantic region. He finished 2nd in the inaugural Mazda Teen
Challenge program, and was voted “Driver of the Year” by the NASA Mid Atlantic
region. In 2009, Ryan moved to the West
Coast and competed in the Southern California region of NASA, capturing the
2009 West Coast Teen Mazda Championship which secured an invitation to the
finals of the Mazda
Road to the 24 Shootout. Moving on, he continued to build on his racing resume
showing well in various pro classes while also securing rookie of the year in the
2011 Continental Sports Car Series ST class. Ryan moved to NASCAR in 2012 amassing
49 combined starts in NASCAR’s Xfinity and Camping World Truck series’ with 21
of them in this the 2015 season.
“Ryan Ellis is a true testament to the NASA
model.” said Jeremy Croiset, NASA Director of Business Development. “Ryan was
able to utilize the NASA system to hone his skills building upon his obvious talents
in our very competitive environment along his quest toward a career in professional
motorsports. If you look into NASA’s past, you’ll find a well-established
history of new generation professional drivers getting their road racing start
in the NASA system. We couldn’t be more proud to add Ryan Ellis to our growing
list of drivers that have made their dreams come true and everyone in the NASA
family wishes him continued success in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.”
About NASA
The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) was formed in 1991
with the premise of delivering high-quality motorsports events to enthusiasts
at major racing venues throughout the nation. NASA has created programs that
allow owners of both racecars and high-performance street-driven vehicles to enjoy
the full performance capabilities of their cars in a controlled professionally
managed environment. NASA offers many different programs that will allow you to
enjoy motorsports on a number of different levels, including our High
Performance Driving Events (HPDE), Rally Sport, Time Trial, NASA-X and
Competition Racing programs.