Gray Gaulding and the No.20 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Chevrolet team made the trip west to race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (NKNPSW) season finale at Phoenix International Raceway.
Gray Gaulding, a previous winner at Phoenix Int’l Raceway and young veteran in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, had his eye set on returning to victory lane. Gaulding turned fifty-one laps in Thursday’s practice session for the NKNPSW, posting the seventh quickest time.
Gaulding focused on his two-lap qualifying effort as he both the NKNPSW and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) practices. With a lap time of 27.506, Gaulding would line his Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Chevrolet on the outside of row three.
When the green flag dropped shortly after 5:45PM Mountain Standard Time, Gaulding immediately went into conservation mode saving his tires and equipment. Gaulding would never fall lower than seventh and ran the majority inside the top-5. After saving his equipment for over seventy laps, the restraints were lifted and crew chief Doug Howe said “get after it boy.”With several late race cautions, he knew he needed at least a ten-lap run to make it happen. A green and white checkered flag is not what he wanted. After racing two and three wide Gaulding came out in second.
From the Driver’s Seat with Gray Gaulding: “What a night! I thought we were going to be able to repeat last year’s win, but we just weren’t fast enough on the short runs. Doug Howe, Matt Ross, and all the guys on the K&N team worked hard every day since Dover preparing this car and it showed. I felt like I could do anything with it. We’re all clicking right now and going to take this into 2015 as we go after the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Championship. Now I have to shift gears and prepare for the truck race tomorrow night.”
On top of Box with Crew Chief Doug Howe: “I’m proud of this entire team. Everyone works just as hard as the next guy and they want to win just as bad as Gray. It is going happen. We are working together too well for it not to. We’re going to go into this off season building and moving forward. And we’ll fire off in February right where we left off tonight.”
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