FAIRLEA, WV (WVNS)– A special guest made their way home at the State Fair of West Virginia. 

ARCA Menard’s Series driver and Martinsburg native, Christian Rose made a special appearance at the State Fair of West Virginia Wednesday, August 16, 2023.  Rose uses his platform to promote all the Mountain State has to offer by driving the number 32 “West Virginia Tourism” car. 

“It’s incredible,” said Rose. “I mean, I tell everybody, like, we’re going to New York on Friday, we go to Illinois on Sunday, we’re going to be in New York City on Tuesday. But to come back and do this stuff, that’s what it means to my family, to myself, to our team. Like this is home. This is roots.”

Rose said with his busy schedule on the road going from race track to race track, he is proud to bring his home state along from coast to coast.  

“We get to take West Virginia from the East Coast to the West Coast, all the way north, all the way south as far as you can go,” Rose smiled. “So it’s a moving billboard for our hauler, to advertise when we push out is awesome”

He said with a lack of major league professional teams in the Mountain State and a large racing fan base, he wants to be the one the state can cheer on as he races his way into the big leagues.

“We have the Mountaineers, we have Marshall. We don’t really have a professional baseball team, basketball team, football team,” said Rose. “We got the Mountaineers and like I said, The Herd. But, to have the avenue to try to grow that and become something for the state to give somebody that like the people to say the rally around. We have a lot of race fans in the state, so it’s an incredible opportunity to get to do it.”

You can catch Rose and the West Virginia Tourism car in the ARCA Menards Racing Series at the Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 18 and the Illinois State Fairgrounds on August 20. 

Full racing schedule here.