The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West visited Washington State over the weekend for the NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Spokane County Raceway. The event, marking the fifth stop on the series calendar, was led flag-to-flag by Todd Gilliland, who grabbed his fourth win of 2017.
Gilliland, son of former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver David Gilliland, led all 150 laps to capture his 11th career K&N West victory in only 20 starts. The North Carolina native started on the pole for the 11th time of his career.
The team made a lot of gains from the time they unloaded to the start of the race. “When we unloaded, we were not very good to start,” said Gilliland. “Everyone really put their heads down and kept digging and didn’t worry about speed or whatever anyone else was doing. We really just focused on our NAPA Toyota and the feel of it. We got it driving quite a bit better.”
The young rising star is also running the K&N Pro Series East full-time in 2017. In that division, Gilliland has only visited victory lane once, which came last season in the season opener at New Smyrna. Through five East division races in 2017, Gilliland holds three top five and five top 10 finishes.
Finishing second was Gilliland’s teammate Derek Kraus in the No. 19 Toyota. Kraus, making just his fifth K&N West start, brought home his third career top five finish for Bill McAnally Racing.
“We got to second and rode a little bit until the break,” Kraus said after the race. “After the break we got going, but caught lapped traffic. It feels really good. The whole BMR crew does a great job in preparing these cars for the weekend.”
The Wisconsin native started the NAPA Auto Parts 150 beside teammate Todd Gilliland.
Chris Eggleston, another Bill McAnally Racing driver, rounded out the top three finishers. Eggleston, who scored the win in the K&N West season opener at Tucson in March, started third on the race leaderboard.
The race saw three cautions for a total of 36 laps. Salvatore Iovino and Rich DeLong III were the only two drivers that suffered DNF’s.
The race will be shown on NBCSN at 1:00 am ET. on May 17.
The series will travel to Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, California, for the Orange Show 150 on May 20th at 11:00 p.m. ET. You can follow live coverage of the 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.
- NCTS: Eckes Scores Second Victory of 2024 at Martinsville - April 5, 2024
- NWMT: Justin Bonsignore Noses Ron Silk for 41st Career Victory at Richmond - March 29, 2024
- NCS: William Byron Scores EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Victory in Austin - March 24, 2024