NASCAROn April 28, at Richmond International Raceway, Travis Pastrana will make his East Coast oval track stock car debut in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race.

In February at Phoenix, the popular motocross and X Games star made his K&N West debut; where he started 10th and crashed out to a 25th place three laps from the finish.

Into the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series, the K&N series is NASCAR’s stepping stone. The Late Model type series has separate West and East schedules and championships, and has produced current NASCAR stars Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick, and potential stars Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon and Ryan Truex.

At the three quarter mile track in Richmond, Pastrana will drive a Toyota in the 100 lap Thursday night race. The Sprint Cup teams will race 400 laps on Saturday night as well as the Nationwide Series has a 250 lap race on Friday night.

At South Boston Speedway in Virginia, Andrew Gipson is ready to make his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut next weekend.

Tapped by veteran driver and mentor Barney McRae, the 17 year old is the fourth driver to be developed in the series that has produced such racing greats as Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne. With only two years of racing experience, Gipson, unlike many of the other series’ current contingent, has gotten to this level. Hence, the 2011 season will be focused on development.

Last month NASCAR announced it had lowered the minimum age for drivers competing in its regional touring series to 15. The change applies to drivers in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour and NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

In the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season opener in Greenville, N.C., on April 2, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Bill Elliott’s 15 year old son Chase Elliott, finished fourth.

In online sportsbooks NASCAR odds for this series has not yet been published.