For Ryan Vargas, the 2024 season is going to be unconventional, to say the least.
Vargas, a veteran of more than 70 starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will race full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series PRO division this year aboard the No. 30 Chevrolet for 3F Racing.
The deal, which was struck thanks to sponsorship from Critical Path Security, comes after Vargas competed in four Euro Series races in 2023.
“We ran with Critical Path Security last year for those races (in the Euro Series), and they just had a blast,” Vargas said. “They were over the moon with the media coverage, with how well we ran and all that. They came back to me and said, ‘Ryan, we want to do Europe. We want to go back to Europe.’
“This is in large part to them wanting to do this more. Obviously, I really wanted to do it, but getting them to get on board in such a big way was exactly what we needed.”
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series features a 14-race schedule with events taking place across Europe. The season opens with two races at Spain’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo and is followed by events in Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium.
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“It’s going to be a lot of traveling and a lot of flight miles,” Vargas said. “The biggest thing is just making sure we put enough time into our travel plans so that I can have a day or two to get my bearings in order before I hit the race track.
“It’s such a unique opportunity, right? Getting to go overseas and driving race cars. You always dream of racing race cars professionally, but getting to do it on a worldwide scale is really, really cool.”
Vargas is one of less than a dozen American drivers to ever compete in a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series event.
No American has ever won a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series points-paying event, though NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Development Ben Kennedy did win a non-point event at France’s Tours Speedway in 2012.
Last year, Vargas competed in the events at Germany’s Motorsport Arena Oschersleben and Belgium’s Circuit Zolder. He scored two 10th-place finishes in the events at Oschersleben and is hoping for even better results during his first full season with the series.
“I want to leave the season hopefully with a win, hopefully with a bunch of podiums,” Vargas said. “I’m not going out there to parade around and post cool pictures on social media. I’m actually going into this because I want to compete and compete for wins.
“The overall Euro Series platform is probably some of the most fun I’ve experienced other than Xfinity. Being able to go out there and do it on a regular basis and really build on what we started; I think that’s going to be a key thing moving forward.”