Race fans in the Salt Lake City area will be treated to a big weekend of NASCAR competition as the Utah Motorsports Campus hosts a doubleheader of NASCAR K&N Pro Series West road racing on Saturday and Sunday.
Bill McAnally Racing will be well represented with five drivers at Utah. The team features defending series champion Chris Eggleston and a trio of rookie drivers – Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, and Julia Landauer – along with Cole Moore, who is gaining series experience in racing select events on this year’s schedule.
Herbst was the top finishing BMR driver at Sonoma (California) Raceway in June, when the series competed at the only other road course on this year’s schedule. The 17-year-old from Las Vegas ran in the lead pack throughout the race and finished fifth in the No. 19 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry.
Herbst is coming off a third-place at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon on Aug. 27. He is sixth in the championship standings and second in rookie points, with five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in the first 10 races of the season.
Landauer, who drives BMR’s No. 54 Curb Records Toyota Camry, will be looking to build on her experience at Sonoma. Her 11th-place finish there, after a late-race spin, did not reflect how strong the 24-year-old New York native ran earlier in the race. Landauer is seventh in the overall standings and third in rookie points. She has four top-five and nine top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place finish at Roseburg.
Gilliland and Eggleston – who are first and third in the championship standings, respectively – are eager to get back on a road course after having their day cut short at Sonoma. Both had strong runs there in practice and qualifying, but were caught up in a multi-car accident when a car just ahead failed to take off on the initial green flag.
Gilliland – having a record-setting season – has five wins, eight top-five, and nine top-10 finishes in the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota; including a sixth-place finish at Roseburg. The 16-year-old third-generation driver from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina also leads the chase for the prestigious rookie title.
Landauer and Gilliland are members of the NASCAR Next program that spotlights NASCAR’s rising stars.
Eggleston, who drives the No. 50 NAPA Filters / H2O Fire Protection Toyota Camry, finished seventh at Roseburg. The Erie, Colorado driver has two wins, seven top-five, and eight top-10 finishes this season.
Moore’s most recent finish was a career-best 10th at Evergreen Speedway on Aug. 13, in his third series start this season and the fourth of his career. The 19-year-old from Granite Bay, California is competing in six series events this year, driving the No. 20 JM Environmental/YP Toyota Camry.
The back-to-back Utah events, which make up the first doubleheader weekend in the modern history of the series, mark a return to the massive motorsports facility west of Salt Lake City after a one-year absence.
The races, to be contested on the venue’s 3.048-mile outer course, will be the second and third road course events of the season, and the 11th and 12th events overall on a 14-race schedule for 2016. The track hosted eight series races between 2007 and 2014, when it was known as Miller Motorsports Park.
The two races are slated to be televised back-to-back on NBCSN on Sept. 17, beginning at 6 p.m. PT.
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