Brandon McReynolds came away with a career-best finish in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West action at State Line Speedway, taking third in the NAPA AUTO PARTS/Toyota 150 on Saturday night.
It marked the third straight top-five finish for the driver of the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota and his fifth top-five finish in seven races, as the series reached the midway mark of its 2014 season.
“It was a good run with our NAPA Toyota,” McReynolds said. “We were a little bit off, but definitely a step in the right direction.”
McReynolds, who was second-quickest in his Bill McAnally Racing Toyota during practice earlier in the day, started the 150-lap race from sixth on the grid. He made an early charge to gain third by Lap 5 and moved up to second by Lap 15. He took the lead in the first half of the race, but had to relinquish the position because of a subsequent caution that required scoring revert back to the previous lap.
After the restart, McReynolds slipped to fifth – where he settled in to save his tires. A late-race incident among the leaders provided him with the opportunity he needed, however, to move up and grab a third-place finish – behind winner James Bickford and runner-up Greg Pursley.
“Overall, it was a good night,” said McReynolds. “Now, we’re looking forward to going to Colorado in a couple of weeks.”
In addition to his five top-five finishes this season, McReynolds has one pole and six top 10s. The 23-year-old driver from Mooresville, North Carolina is third in the championship standings, 34 points out of first and seven points behind second. In his first full season of competition in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, McReynolds is a member of the NASCAR Next program, which spotlights NASCAR’s rising stars.
The NAPA AUTO PARTS/Toyota 150 – which will be televised on FOX Sports 1 on July 25 at 4 p.m. ET – was the just the third series race at State Line Speedway. Previous visits to the high-banked quarter-mile oval were in 1974 and 1985.
Saturday night’s race in Idaho capped off a big weekend for BMR drivers, who were racing at three venues across the country. In addition to McReynolds taking third in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at State Line Speedway, Nick Drake nearly captured his first career win in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday and Cole Custer finished eighth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Iowa Speedway on Friday night.
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