Cole Rouse at 9 pm ET on Thursday, May 19, 2016 Photo – SFR

Cole Rouse is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR Weekend Preview on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 9 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @beberly18 with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.

Returning to Orange Show Speedway after 38 years, NASCAR K&N Pro Series West drivers will take center stage on Saturday, May 21st as teams take to the track for the first time since September 23, 1978 for the Sunrise Ford 150.

Representing Sunrise Ford Racing this weekend is the latest K&N West winner, Ryan Partridge who won at Tucson Speedway on May 7th and his teammate, Cole Rouse, who is competing for the 2016 Rookie of the Year honors. Partridge is now just four points behind series’ points leader, Todd Gilliland, while Rouse sits fourth in the point standings and six points behind last year’s series’ champion, Chris Eggleston who is third in points. 

Owner of Sunrise Ford Racing, Bob Bruncati has competed in the K&N West since 2007 and won the series championship in 2009 with Jason Bowles and again in 2013 with Derek Thorn. More recently, James Bickford drove the No. 6 Sunrise Ford entry with two victories at Stateline Speedway.

Driving the No. 6 Sunrise Ford entry this weekend is Fort Smith, Arkansas native, Rouse who made his mark racing late models on pavement in the Midwest over the last three years. Last October, in the All-American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Rouse led 160 of 300 laps, finishing fifth after a failing rear end and broken shock made his day more challenging.

Rouse’s stellar start of the season is over shadowed by another Rookie of the Year contender, Gilliland who won his first three races in the series, from Phoenix in 2015 through Irwindale and Kern in 2016. With impressive stats of his own, Rouse has two top-fives and three top-tens in the first three races of this season. And like many of his fellow competitors, this is his first start at Orange Show Speedway this weekend. But that’s the case for Rouse at all the tracks on the K&N West schedule this season.

The Sunrise Ford 150 takes place Saturday, May 21st at Orange Show Speedway with NBC Sports Network broadcasting the event on Wednesday, May 25th at 6 pm ET.