Gilliland Gets the Victory at New Smyrna
/2-for-2 in K&N Pro Series With Win in East Season Opener
By Jason Cunningham, NASCAR
February 14, 2016 – 10:20pm
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Third-generation racer Todd Gilliland could not have scripted a better start to his own NASCAR career.
After the fifteen-year-old reached Victory Lane in his NASCAR K&N Pro Series West debut last fall at Phoenix International Raceway, Gilliland made it 2-for-2 in the series with a win in Sunday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East opener at New Smyrna Speedway in the Jet Tools 150.
Gilliland, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran David Gilliland, ended up the winner Sunday evening after some late-race drama. Gilliland’s No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota led at the start-finish line at the completion of Lap 150, the scheduled distance of the event, but due to a delay in the displaying of the proper flags from the flag stand, racing continued for a subsequent lap.
In the ensuing circuit, Ronnie Bassett Jr. crossed the finish line first after contact with race leaders Spencer Davis and Gilliland. However, per the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Rule Book, the official finish of the race reverts to the completion of Lap 150, the advertised distance of the event.
Davis was scored as the race runner-up with Bassett in third.
A native of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, Gilliland recorded the 21 Means 21 Pole Award by Coors Brewing earlier in the evening while Canadian Dominique Van Wieringen qualified third, the highest mark for a female driver in the series’ 30 years of competition.
The Jet Tools 150 will be telecast by NBCSN on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 11:30 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action on Saturday, March 12 with the inaugural Mobile 150 at Mobile (Alabama) International Speedway.