Coming off a seventh-place finish at Greenville-Pickens (S.C.) Speedway, Dylan Presnell of Sevierville headed Northeast from his East Tennessee Smoky Mountains home for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East New Hampshire 125 on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon for the series’ second visit to the Granite State in 2011 to compete on the 1.058-mile oval.
During practice prior to qualifying on Thursday, Presnell was 12th-quickest on the time charts. He slightly improved on his practice run by touring “The Magic Mile” in 30.240 seconds (125.952 mph) to earn the tenth starting spot for the New Hampshire 125.
With the race on Friday scheduled to start following NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, everybody was looking skyward at the dark, ominous clouds with rain in the forecast.
Through the first 25 laps of the event Presnell rode in tenth, just biding his time. The first caution appeared on lap 33 for debris on the track, and X Team Racing crew chief Coleman Pressley decided to roll the dice and bring Presnell’s SmokyMountainCheeseLLC.com No. 14 Toyota Camry onto pit road for service, even though the remaining cars running among the top 15 elected to stay out for track position. But by pitting early, Presnell would be sitting in good shape later in the race when those cars ahead of him had to make their stops, and thus he would be positioned in front of them in the running order.
All the cars that didn’t pit earlier in the race were gambling, hoping their decision to not pit would pay off if rain began to fall. Once the New Hampshire 125 reached lap 63, just past the halfway mark, enough laps had been completed the race would be considered official.
Caution on lap 70 when Scott Bouley spun on the backstretch would prove to be the end of the race. With cars circling the track rain began to fall – and never let up. Thus leading NASCAR to make the call on lap 78 the race was official, by simultaneously waving the yellow and checkered flags due to precipitation and darkness.
Brett Moffitt captured the victory over Sergio Peña, Darrell Wallace Jr., Matt DiBenedetto (Presnell’s teammate at X Team Racing) and Eddie MacDonald.
With the race not going the full distance, Presnell never had the opportunity to drive his way back inside the top 10 after he pitted earlier in the race as he finished in 15th-place. Twenty-three of the 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
“Yeah, it’s really disappointing in the way the race ended because I know we had a top 10 car at least,” said Presnell following the event from the garage area. “With New Hampshire Motor Speedway being a flat track, handling through the corners is very important. You’ve got to have your car to where once you roll off into the corner you can pick the throttle up quickly to accelerate up off the turn, and our SmokyMountainCheeseLLC.com No. 14 Toyota Camry was good, it was very good.
“There’s nothing anybody can do regarding the weather, it is what it is. We all knew before the race started that we’d be lucky to be able run all 125 laps. As a racer you sure hate not being able to go the distance, especially when you know you’ve got a car capable of bringing home to a top 10 finish. But considering the circumstances, when the rain brought a premature end to the race, we’ll take our 15th-place finish and go on to the next race and hope for a good run.”
The New Hampshire 125 will air at 7 p.m. on Speed Channel on Thursday, Sept. 29.
The 16-year-old Presnell is excited about the prospects of racing for the first time on “The Monster Mile” at Dover International Speedway on Friday, Sept. 30.
“I’ve raced at Bristol Motor Speedway on the concrete high banks, and I’m really looking forward to getting the opportunity to race at Dover Downs,” Presnell said. “All the guys I’ve talked with have told me it’s a real blast racing around Dover and the fast speeds you carry off down (racing) into the corners. Even though this has been a learning season for me competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, going to tracks I’ve never raced at before, it’s just good for your confidence when you know you’ve got a good team behind you. And with this X Team Racing group of guys, we show up expecting to run well at each event.”
Presnell Motorsports PR
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