DRIVEN: Maddie to drive for NASCAR’s Rev Racing

Pike County’s Madelyn ‘Maddie’ Crane will again drive for Rev Racing in the NASCAR All American Whelen Series this year. ’I’m very blessed to be back with such a great team and I can’t wait to get the season started,’ she said. Crane has been racing since she was 10 years old, with the support of many family members, including her grandfather Virgil Brown who won many races himself. She began her promising career racing Bandoleros at Atlanta Motor Speedway. By age 14, she had 59 top-five finishes in 82 total starts. She is now 19 years old and is returning for a second season with NASCAR Drive for Diversity. She will compete in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series after two top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 2016.’We’re all here at the shop working out every morning and getting the cars ready for this season,’ she said. ‘I feel more confident coming into the new season with a year under my belt. Learning what I learned last year and being able to take that into this season feels really good.’The drivers for the program were selected after a competitive combine held last October at New Smyrna Speedway and will compete for Rev Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.The 2017 class features a former NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series champion, the granddaughter of one of the sport’s female pioneers and NASCAR Drive for Diversity’s first sibling teammates. The drivers will attempt to follow in the footsteps of program graduates and current national series drivers Kyle Larson, Darrell Wallace Jr. and 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Daniel Suárez.’Now more than ever, we’re seeing the impact of NASCAR’s development program in producing drivers who excel at the highest echelons of our sport,’ said Jim Cassidy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. ‘There’s a great deal of talent and potential in this year’s class. With the strong foundation that NASCAR Drive for Diversity provides, these drivers will have the opportunity to develop the skills needed to elevate their racing careers.’The 2017 class is led by four returning drivers, Madeline Crane, Collin Cabre, Jay Beasley and Rubén García Jr., who first competed in stock car racing in his native Mexico. Collin’s younger brother, Chase Cabre, joins 16-year-old Macy Causey as this year’s NASCAR Drive for Diversity newcomers. Rev Racing, the operational arm of NASCAR Drive for Diversity, will field four teams in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and two in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.