Pastrana forced to cut schedule

Travis Pastrana had planned to run NASCAR’s entire K&N Series schedule this year, but said Saturday that won’t happen because of conflicts in the Global Rallycross events. He now will miss three K&N races.

“That was very disappointing, but at the same time I think we’ll be able to, hopefully, use those races because they’re at the NASCAR tracks," said Pastrana, who made his NASCAR debut at Bristol in the K&N East Series opener. “Hopefully, you’ll be able to acquire more sponsorship, more fans and, hopefully, build both programs as much as we can."

It was announced last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that Speedway Motorsports Inc. had formed a relationship with Global Rallycross. The partnership will bring Rallycross events to NASCAR Sprint Cup and IZOD IndyCar race weekends at select venues throughout the 2012 season. The event at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled for Coca-Cola 600 weekend.