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.