The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East went back into action on Saturday at Greenville Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. It marks the second race of the 2017 season for the series as they took a nearly two-month hiatus. They last ran at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida on February 19 – an event won by Ronnie Bassett Jr.
On Saturday, Kyle Benjamin parked his No. 40 MDM Motorsports Toyota in victory lane at Greenville Pickens Speedway. Benjamin, a South Carolina native himself, led 46 of the 150 circuits to capture his fifth career K&N East victory.
Benjamin didn’t lead the event right out of the gate. After leading lap one, Dillon Bassett, who started second, took the lead and led until lap 56. On lap 57, Benjamin took back the lead for a pair of laps before being passed once again by Bassett. On lap 108, Benjamin went back to the lead and would stay there throughout the remainder of the race.
Bassett, despite the strong start, went on to finish eighth in his No. 44 Ford.
“We didn’t have a winning car at the beginning, but to come back like we did says a lot about the crew,” said Benjamin after the race. “We made the right adjustments and kept our heads on straight and kept all of the fenders on and ended up in victory lane.”
Benjamin, who did not race in the season opener, will not be running a full-time K&N East schedule. The 19-year old driver recently announced a deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to run four NASCAR XFINITY Series races.
“It’s going to be great,” he continued when asked about the deal. “I wish I could run some more K&N races, but this is all I have so far. I would love to run the whole schedule, or at least some more races, but I don’t know if that will happen or not. We’ll see.”
The four races will include Richmond on April 29 and June 10 at Pocono Raceway in the No. 20 Toyota. He will pilot the No. 18 Toyota Camry at Iowa Speedway on July 29 and once again at Kentucky Speedway on September 23.
Ronnie Bassett Jr., who won the season opener at New Smyrna, finished second in the No. 04 Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet. Bassett had some work to do after starting the night in ninth.
“Yeah. We didn’t get a good qualifying run,” said Bassett Jr. “Our car was alright tonight. We felt being free during practice today and we made our qualifying run and got real tight. And then we got a ninth-place qualifying effort. There during the race we just got so free that we couldn’t get back to the gas. We were probably a fifth-place car tonight, so salvaging a second-place finish is like a win for us.”
Bassett continues leading the K&N East points by eight over Harrison Burton. Todd Gilliland, Hunter Biaze and Reid Wilson rounds out the top five as the series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway for its next event.
Todd Gilliland rounded out the top three finishers in the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150. He started the night from the sixth starting position in his No. 16 NAPA Toyota Camry.
“Our NAPA Toyota was fastest in practice, so I knew we had a really good car,” Gilliland said after the race. “Once the race started, we didn’t fire off how we wanted to – which made me a little bit nervous. We slid back to eighth, but then started picking up spots on each restart. We were able to finish out the first half in second. I feel like we made really good adjustments at the break, but the 40 car made some really good adjustments, also.”
Gilliland, son of former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racer David Gilliland, has a hot start going on over in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West division.
Through the first four K&N West races this season, Gilliland has three victories, four top five and four top 10 finishes. Along with that, the young driver has so far started on the pole in the first four races.
Harrison Burton, son of former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series veteran Jeff Burton, and Tyler Dippel, who started the night in fifth, rounded out the top five finishers.
The Kevin Whitaker 150 will air on NBCSN at 9 p.m. ET. on Saturday April 15.
The next race on the series calendar will be in two weeks at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Zombie Auto 150 will take place on April 22nd in conjunction with the NASCAR XFINITY and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. You can follow live coverage of this race by visiting NASCARHomeTracks.com.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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