Julia Landauer Looking For First Win with New Team In NASCAR K&N Pro Series West

Julia was selected to participate in the NASCAR Next mentoring program for young drivers

In 2016, driving for Bill McAnally Racing, Landauer earned two top-three finishes, seven top-five finishes, and 13 top-10 finishes to grab fourth in the final series standings, the highest finish for a female in the 62-year history of the series. Landauer also earned the 2016 Driver Achievement award and the Top Breakthrough Driver honor. She gave high marks to McAnally “I learned a lot from Bill, it’s a great team.”

For 2017, Landauer will be driving for Bob Bruncati and the Sunrise Ford Racing Team in the K&N Pro Series West. Bruncati expressed his confidence in his new driver, “I am excited that Julia chose my team to advance her racing career. I know together we will win some races in 2017."

Four-time K&N West champion crew chief Bill Sedgwick will serve as Landauer's crew chief for 2017. Looking ahead to the season, Sedgwick said, "I think it's great, I'm looking forward to it. Based on how she raced last year I think we're going to do good. We have good cars and it'll be something different [working with Julia]. It'll be fun!"

Her 2016 performance earned Landauer an invitation to participate in the prestigious NASCAR Next program, where 11 promising young drivers receive on-track and off-track mentoring from NASCAR to assist them in moving up the ladder.

Julia is ready to buckle in for the start of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West on March 18

Landauer’s racing background is not dissimilar to many successful young drivers. What differentiates Landauer is her education. She graduated from the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, a public school in New York City that accepts only about two percent of all applicants. The curriculum at Stuyvesant is focused on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects, and graduates include four Nobel laureates and others who’ve achieved a high level of success in literature, politics, and the sciences.

After high school, Landauer moved west to attend Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Landauer continued her studies of STEM education and how to bring more young women into technical career fields, which she plans to incorporate as part of her message. Landauer also supplemented her college education with an internship at Chip Ganassi Racing. She graduated from Stanford in 2014, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Science, Technology, and Society.

Julia, age 10, karting with her family. She's the only one to pursue racing professionally

But now it’s all racing, all the time. Landauer summed up her feelings going into a new season with a new team: “I’m really excited to take all I learned in 2016 and make a run for the championship in 2017 with Bob Bruncati and the Sunrise Team,” Landauer said. “It was a privilege to race for Bill McAnally Racing last year and I’m grateful to get another opportunity to compete for a championship-winning team again in 2017.”

The 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West begins on Saturday, March 18 at Arizona's Tucson Speedway and the 14-race schedule culminates on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Kern County Speedway in Bakersfield, California. The TV broadcast schedule on NBCSN will be announced at a later date.