Thomas Krasonis gave his praises to New Smyrna Speedway after his participation in the 60th edition of World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
New Smyrna Speedway received plenty of praise from defending EuroNASCAR OPEN champion Thomas Krasonis after he made his return to the Floridian short track earlier this year for the 60th edition of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
The praise was delivered in an interview with Andre Wiegold, which can be checked through a video that was published by the official NASCAR Euro Series YouTube channel.
Krasonis took part in all six World Series Pro Late Model races, driving the No. 15 Costamare Inc. Toyota Camry for Jamie Skinner’s Race Car Solutions.
After a slow start where he only finished 26th in the opening day, Krasonis went on to score two top-10 finishes, including a fifth place result in Race 4 on 12 February.
“It’s an incredible experience because there are so many good drivers on the ovals, especially now that it was the 60th year anniversary for the event,” said Krasonis to the EuroNASCAR YouTube channel.
“We had 44 drivers from all around the US trying to get the World Series championship. It’s the best place to train for an European for the ovals because we don’t have an oval race in this year’s calendar and also from last year.”
“How do we say this, just to stay fit and warm with the ovals, it’s by far the best experience doing six races in seven days. Nothing compares with it.”
Krasonis was not exaggerating with his statement, as the anniversary running of the World Series attracted some of the best drivers in the world to New Smyrna.
For instance, the grid for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race featured 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion – and EuroNASCAR graduate – Bobby Labonte, Cup Series legend Ryan Newman, RFK Cup driver Ryan Preece and multi-time Modified champions Justin Bonsignore and Ron Silk.
As for Pro Late Models, Krasonis faced not only local stars such as Brad May and Mia Lovell, but also NASCAR International stars Gabriel Casagrande – who won on his New Smyrna debut in 2025 – and Raphaël Lessard, winner of the 2016 World Series.
This quality of competition allowed Krasonis to make a major leap forward, gaining more experience, time and positions as the races went by.
“Last time I went, I was qualifying P11 with an 18.7 [seconds lap time],” explained the Greek. “Now I was doing an 18.3 – 18.4 almost all the time and I was qualifying from P9 to P14, which shows how competitive it was, especially this year with all these young talents.”
“It is difficult for us because it took me two to three days to get up to speed and to make my first top-5 in the series. All the drivers from the US have it way easier than us because it’s what they’re used to doing.”
Despite this improvement, the 24-year old notes that the absence of any oval rounds in the EuroNASCAR calendar has made it difficult for him to get back up to speed.
“It is tricky since we don’t have Venray,” admits Krasonis. “With Venray, it was a nice way to keep getting experience and staying up to date with the ovals.”
“But, now that we didn’t have Venray, it was a little bit difficult after the championship break to get up to speed. It was my first race of the season, so it was a little bit difficult, but we managed.”
With his time in the World Series finished, Krasonis immediately set his sights back to the NASCAR Euro Series where he expects a strong championship fight against the best V8GP drivers.
After having his first real V8GP title challenge in 2025, Krasonis aims to be more consistent to maximize his title chances entering the double points Playoffs in Vallelunga and Zolder later this year.
“For 2026 we planned a long test plan to adapt with the championship changes, to be as competitive as possible and maybe to get a head start to the competition,” said Krasonis, who already completed a pre-season test at Circuit Paul Ricard as of the writing of this article.
“I really expect many drivers to be very strong competitors. Obviously my teammate and reigning champion Vittorio Ghirelli, Gianmarco Ercoli and Paul Jouffreau are the big names that you must never not consider as opponents.”
“I need to practice a lot to be ready to fight with them from the beginning and not waste any points from Spain. Other than that, I think it will be a long season.”
“It is my seventh season in the championship and it’s always tricky. You need to be consistent and the important part is the Playoffs.”
“If I can put a simple goal, it’s to be as close to the championship lead as possible by the Playoffs.”
“If I’m first then it’s even better, but let’s be realistic, we need to be in the top-5 for sure with a 10 to 20 points margin from P1, then in the Playoffs we need to go for victories. This is the plan. More consistent, get the points, and all out in the Playoffs.”
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