Seekonk Speedway’s championship format resembles that of the NASCAR Cup Series. The top finisher among the final four in points in the last race of the season wins the title.
Dylan Estrella finished second in the final race of 2024 to win his first Pro Stock championship at Seekonk, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track in Massachusetts. But if the track were going by points, he would have finished second overall.
This year, Estrella wants to leave no doubt.
“As a racer that came up always being behind the point system where it was however well you did throughout the year that’s where you finish. … It felt great to obviously have that championship, but it’s like a little bit unaccomplished in my mind just because I wasn’t the points leader at the end of the year,” he said. “You still do have to do the best out of those guys for the last almost month, month-and-a-half of racing, so obviously nothing to take away from it, it’s just my own fixed-goal self of wanting to be the points leader and win at the same time like they did in the old days.”
Estrella has not yet reached Victory Lane this season, but he has finished in the top five in four of Seekonk’s five Pro Stock races. His 220 points place him sixth in the track’s standings, just eight points back from the lead.
Last year delivered Estrella’s first Pro Stock title at Seekonk, but he’s no stranger to the track. He’s won three other titles — two in the Late Model division and one in Mini Cup — and has been driving there for nearly two decades.
“My dad worked on a Pro Stock when I was a kid, and Seekonk had their youth division, they ran Mini Cup,” Estrella said. “They’re like younger kids. I think it was anywhere from the ages of like 10 to 18. And I ended up seeing those on a Saturday night show and I asked my dad if I could try one. He knew someone that had one, and once I got behind the wheel, it was kind of off into the sunset from there.”
Twenty years later, Estrella’s dad is still his crew chief, and the team has grown but stayed close-knit. Another friend, Jim, has also been there for years and is “basically an all-around guy,” Estrella said, helping with everything from working on the car to helping get tires ready.
“Pretty much anything you can think of, he gets his hands in it,” he added.
Estrella’s best friend, Mike, is also there every week as the team’s tire guy and spotter.
“He’s been with us forever, since I was running late models,” Estrella said. “Anywhere between probably 10 to 12 years with us. It feels like forever.”
Even the girls in the Estrella family are at the track every week.
“My mom has been to every race. Never misses them,” Estrella said. “She video tapes every one. My wife goes to every single one, and we just had our daughter last year, so last year was kind of getting our feet wet, bringing the little one around, and I know it was really hectic for her, but she didn’t miss a race.
“And my sister’s always there, and bunch friends come because we’re only probably about 30 minutes from the track, so it’s easy for everyone to get out there.”
As much as Estrella enjoys winning and taking home titles, it’s the chance to share the sport with friends and family that keeps him coming back.
“That’s definitely a lot of the reason why I do it,” he said. “Obviously anyone that gets behind the wheel falls in love with it. You love driving and the competition, but a lot of it is knowing that I’ve got family members that I don’t get to see very often, that’s my time to go and see and hang out with them.”
Last year was Estrella’s first back at Seekonk after spending three seasons traveling across New England to race.
He came into 2025 with largely the same car and setup as he used to win the championship last season.
“To be honest, we just did everything exactly the same,” he said. “We had a good car at the end of the year, and we wanted to start off that way and hopefully just build off of what we had last year. And so far it’s been going pretty good.
“Hopefully me going into this year with a different mindset… just finish every race and see where we end up at the end.”
While Estrella is hoping to improve even more on his 2024 title, he’s making sure to keep fun at the forefront of his mind both on and off the track.
“We haven’t had any major issues or anything like that. It’s been good clean racing, a lot of green flag laps at Seekonk. Nothing really to complain about so far,” he said.
“It’s just one of those things for us, we’re not really making a killing and a living off of it. We’re just doing it for fun. So try and keep it at a fun level so it’s at least something to look forward to every weekend and you’re not stressed out about it.”