On a beautiful Labor Day Monday, HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks (HSMJM) made the short two-hour trip to Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, S.C., for the “Kevin Whitaker 140.” Justin Haley entered the event as the series leader with a 36-point lead. Hunter Baize entered as the Rookie-of-the-Year leader and fourth in series points. Tyler Dippel entered just behind his teammate, Baize, in fifth. And, Harrison Burton, son of NASCAR on NBC broadcaster Jeff Burton, entered the 140-lap event ninth in the standings.
Dippel led first practice and showed speed throughout the day. In qualifying, Haley led the team with a third-place effort. Dippel qualified an impressive fourth, carrying speed from practice, while Burton qualified eighth, and Baize12th.
On lap one, Baize was involved in a racing incident which resulted in a complete restart, following a 45-minute red-flag period for track repairs. Baize restarted at the rear of the field due to a pit stop to repair damage to the No. 13 Chevrolet.
Haley was the most consistent HSMJM driver throughout the race. He never fell outside the top-five and ran in the top-three for the majority of the event. The Indiana-native went on to finish fifth. Burton started eighth and ran around the top-10 most of the race. An adjustment at the break helped Burton secure an eighth-place finish. Dippel ran inside the top-10 most of the day but a spin on lap 99 resulted in a loss of track position and an 11th-place finish. Following the aforementioned lap one accident, Baize continued on, but the damage proved to be extensive. He was able to salvage a 14th-place finish.
Haley remains the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points leader. Dippel and Baize flip-flopped in the standings, with Dippel third and Baize now fourth. Harrison Burton remains ninth, but only 11 points away from breaking into the top-five.
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Justin Haley, driver of the No. 5… Haley has had a near perfect season behind the wheel of the No. 5 Braun Auto Chevrolet SS. Entering Monday’s “Kevin Whitaker 140,” he had only finished outside the top-five once throughout the NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPSE) season. After a fantastic third-place qualifying effort, Haley raced inside the top-five for the entire 140-lap race. He finished fifth and remains the points leader.
Haley on Greenville-Pickens… “Another really good car for our HSMJM team. We just never were in the position we needed to be in. Overall, it wasn’t a bad day with a top-five finish. We have two more weeks and we need to keep racing smart and maintain the points lead.”
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Harrison Burton, driver of the No. 12… Burton scored his fifth top-10 finish of the season at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. After qualifying ninth, he raced around the top-10 most of the day. A lack of forward drive hampered the Huntersville, N.C., driver in the first half of the race, but an adjustment at the break improved the No. 12 DEX Imaging/Konica Minolta Toyota Camry. Burton was able to rally to an eighth-place finish. With two races remaining, Burton is only 11 points out of fifth in the series standings.
Burton on Greenville-Pickens… “We had a pretty solid weekend overall. This is a tough race track. It is very hard on tires, so it’s important to save your equipment, but track position is equally as important. Balancing those two things over the course of a race can be challenging. You have to race smart. After some of the tough luck we have had this season, we’ll take an eighth-place finish.”
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Tyler Dippel, driver of the No. 38… Dippel entered the “Kevin Whitaker 140” fourth in the series standings. He was fastest in first practice and carried speed throughout the majority of the day. After qualifying fourth, he ran inside the top-five for the first 30 laps. As the long green flag continued, the No. 38 became progressively loose, causing him to fall to seventh. After some good adjustments during the halfway break, it appeared that Dippel could make a charge back to the front. However, contact from another competitor on lap 99 caused Dippel to spin. He was able to recover from the on-track incident to finish 11th. He jumped to third in the series standings with two races remaining.
Dippel on Greenville-Pickens Speedway… “Today started off as a good day for us. I think we definitely could have battled for a top-five finish but a late race incident cost us. It’s unfortunate, but we were able to show speed and that we were competitive. We’ll get them at New Jersey Motorsports Park in a couple weeks.”
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Hunter Baize, driver of the No. 13… Baize’s day took an unfortunate turn before the completion of the first lap. An on-track incident caused significant damage to the No. 13 and proved tough to rebound from. However, he was able to battle back and score a14th-place finish.. He remains the Rookie-of-the-Year leader and sits fourth in the series standings, just one point out of third as the NKNPSE heads to New Jersey Motorsports Park in two weeks.
Baize on Greenville-Pickens Speedway… “I hate it for my guys. We had a good car today but weren’t able to show that. It was an incident that could’ve been avoided so that’s tough, but at the end of the day we actually salvaged a decent finish. I’m looking forward to New Jersey (Motorsports Park) and hoping to rebound there.”
H Scott Motorsports PR
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