SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — The 2011 Championship Auto Racing Series Pro Cup banquet was held this past weekend in Mooresville, N.C., and Sevier County High School freshman Blake Jones wrote his name in the series’ record book as the youngest driver to ever win rookie of the year.

In the Pro Cup season finale last fall at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, all 14-year-old Jones had to do was start the race to clinch rookie of the year title. Jones quickly wrapped the rookie award up and set his sights on winning the race.

Early on and during the middle stages of the event it looked like the talented teenager just might record his first Pro Cup victory, as he led many laps and ran solidly inside the top-five. Finding himself in a three-car battle up front for the lead, unfortunately Jones and Brad Rogers both got taken out of the race in a questionable move by fellow competitor Ryan Heavner.

Jones began the 2011 campaign chauffeuring cars from his family’s Teddy Jones Racing operation nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, but midway through the season he moved into the seat to drive for Athens, Ga.-based Kirk May Racing.

The CARS Pro Cup series has made a slight change to the 2012 race schedule. The event scheduled for March 31, 2012 at Anderson Motor Speedway has been bumped up one week and will now take place on March 24, 2012.

Pro Cup gets season #16 rolling one week early!

Season's Greetings from CARS Pro Cup!

I would like to thank all Pro Cup Series team owners, drivers, crew members, vendors, sponsors and all supporters of this legendary Series. 2011 has been a trying year for all of us and without your support and loyalty to this Series we would not be moving forward with racing in 2012. As this new year approaches we will celebrate 15 years of Pro Cup racing and without those of you who are dedicated to this Series, that would not be possible. I want to wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!

May God continue to bless us all,

Jack McNelly
CARS Pro Cup President

A memo from the CARS Pro Cup office -

I was very pleased with our presence at the PRI show. We were able to launch our new image as CARS Pro Cup to thousands of racers, sponsors and vendors of the racing community. Our 2012 schedule was very well received and many stated that it’s a very fundamental schedule. Many of our current Pro Cup drivers & teams stopped by our booth and it was also great to see many familiar faces of teams that had competed in the Series in the past and have shown interest in coming back in 2012. Also we were able to meet some new team owners and drivers looking for a Series in which to race.

PRI also gave us an opportunity to seek potential contingency sponsors and I am confident that CARS Pro Cup with have a tremendous contingency program in 2012. We have already begun to prepare proposals for over 50 potential sponsors and vendors.

I have found that the need for Pro Cup equipment is on the rise and if anyone has Pro Cup cars and/or motors they wish to sell, please contact me at 704-662-9212 or jackm@carsprocup.com

We are diligently working on preparations for 2012 and will have registration information available on our website soon.

Jack McNelly
CARS Pro Cup Series President

Source - CARS Pro Cup Media, www.carsprocup.com

CARS Pro Cup is proud to announce the 2012 racing schedule. With it, the series will be re-enforcing its short-track roots and returning to 4 tracks that it has not competed on in recent years. Caraway, Orange County, Tri-County, and Kingsport speedways have all hosted Pro Cup races in the past but have not been on the schedule in recent years.

The 14 race schedule includes a 10 race Regular season segment, followed by the traditional 4 race Championship segment to determine the 2012 CARS Pro Cup Champion. We are working diligently to finalize the TBA locations and will update the schedule as soon as we can.

CARS Pro Cup will continue to offer the best opportunity for short track racers in the country, with live pit stops and longer races than any other touring series. We are proud to provide a great place for veteran racers to continue to race and entertain fans as well as being an avenue for up and coming young racers to learn their craft and gain valuable experience.

First-time Winner

“It makes me feel at home.”

That’s what the winner of the American 200, Bryan Silas, told media when asked how it felt to win at Rockingham. The Stuart, Florida native had just driven his #11 Rockingham Speedway sponsored Ford to Victory Lane for the first time in his 26 race Pro Cup career.

It was a very good day for Silas. He had earned the outside pole position for his best ever starting position and topped it off with a run through the field at the end of the race. On route to the victory, he passed the 2011 CARS Pro Cup Champion, Jeff Agnew, for the win, and become another first-time winner in the series.

When the race began, Silas stayed in the top 5, biding his time. When the majority of the field took fresh tires, always a welcome feeling for drivers at The Rock, his team – Team 3 Racing - led by crew chief Cal Boprey made a strategy move which would prove to be the difference later in the race. They put a set of scuff tires back on, saving the ‘good stuff’ for another stop. It was a risky move that could have backfired it the race had a long green flag run in the next segment. Fortunately for Silas, a lap 104 caution flag allowed him the chance to come back to pit road.

“First National Touring Series Triumph Finally Sinking In For Popular Driver”

ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina (November 9, 2011) - - It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. Finally, all the ingredients came together for Stuart, Florida native Bryan Silas as he stormed to his first career CARS Pro Cup Series (formally known as the USARacing Pro Cup Series) victory Saturday afternoon at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway.

In racing, it’s often said that winning isn’t easy. For Silas and his T3R team, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The weekend started off on a soggy note as persistent rain showers eventually forced the cancellation of all track activity on Friday.

With Friday washed out, Saturday would be a full deck. From the moment that the ARCA Racing Series veteran hit the pavement – it was evident that he was to be considered a factor.

In his sixth start of the season and fifth CARS start at the historic one-mile oval, Silas, in his No. 11 Richmond County Hospice / Rockingham Speedway Ford Fusion, qualified on the outside pole, a career-best for the rising star, driving the same car he made his debut in for this series five years ago.

When the green flag was thrown the battle was on. Driver strategy and tire conversation would ultimately play out to be a deciding factor in the overall outcome of the final race of the season. While Silas remained hovering solidly inside the top-five, the team led by crew chief Cal Boprey elected to make a gutsy call approaching lap 80.

While the leaders took tires and fuel, Boprey elected to keep his driver on the same tires he started the event on, sending Silas’s blue oval back out onto the race course with a fuel-only pit stop.

ROCKINGHAM,N.C.– Kirk May Racing is bringing a championship and a wrecked race car back to Athens on Saturday.

Blake Jones clinched the CARS Pro Cup rookie title at the beginning of the American 200 at Rockingham Speedway and led several laps in the middle stages of the event.

But the 14-year-old Tennessee native’s day came to an end when he and Brad Rogers slammed the turn 1 wall, both victims of contact from Ryan Heavner. Jones retired from the race and finished 16th.

“We wrapped up the rookie title and the day kind of went downhill from there,” Jones said. “I only thought we were two-wide, and Heavner stuck his nose in there where he didn’t belong. He took out two cars that could’ve won this race.”

Jones’ teammate Cale Gale was forced to start from the rear of the field because he had to race a backup car. After a slow start, Gale started his climb toward the top of the leaderboard. He moved up as far as second and then settled into what appeared to be a top-five run.

By - National Speed Sport News Staff

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Second starter Bryan Silas used a bold pit call to claim his first Pro Cup Series victory in Saturday afternoon’s season-ending 150-lapper at Rockingham Speedway.

“On lap 80, everyone else put on sticker tires,” Silas said. “We put on scuffs and had a fresh set for the last run.”

Silas used the fresh tires to run down and overtake the leaders over the last 25 laps.

“I have turned a lot of laps at this track and what I have learned is that you have to race the race track and not the other competitors here,” said Silas, who also has starts in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards and the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Nationals at Rockingham Speedway. “This Pro Cup Series is a tough series with a bunch of guys who can win week in and week out and it means a lot to get that win.”