Nick Drake charged to a fourth-place finish in the United Site Services 70 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday to notch his first top-five finish of the year in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.
The 19-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina, piloted the Bill McAnally Racing No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota from 11th on the grid at the track known as the “Magic Mile.”
“It was a great day for the BMR NAPA Toyota team,” Drake said. “From 11th to fourth in only 70 laps is tough to do.”
The second-year driver was on the move, but ran out of laps.
“I don’t know if we had anything for the No. 9,” he said of race winner William Byron. “But if we had more laps, we definitely could have picked up some more positions.”
After qualifying 11th, Drake knew he would have to move quickly to gain as many spots as possible in the 70-lap race. He made his way to seventh in the first 10 laps, but found it difficult to gain much more as the field strung out with 50 consecutive laps of green-flag racing. He got one position between back-to-back cautions, and then set sail in the final 10 laps to take fourth at the checkered flag.
Drake said he and his team will look to use the finish as a springboard as they next head to Iowa Speedway for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination race on July 31.
“This is a huge step in the right direction as we prepare to head to Iowa,” he said.
While he remains seventh in the championship standings, Drake gained points on some of his competition at New Hampshire. He is only two markers out of sixth, five out of fifth and eight back from fourth. He has one top-five and five top-10 finishes in eight starts this year.
The United Site Services 70, the eighth event on a 14-race schedule, will be televised on NBCSN on July 23. It was the 61st series event at the New Hampshire track, which has been a traditional stop on the circuit since 1990.
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