Friday March 29th, 2024 10:23AM

Rodgers scores second K&N Pro East win at New Jersey

By Andy Marquis-NASCARHomeTracks.com

MILLVILLE, N.J. – Will Rodgers continued his road-course mastery Saturday.

The 22-year-old from Murrieta, California, drove away from NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship points leader Todd Gilliland en route to winning the JustDrive.com 125 at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The victory was Rogers’ second career win in the series and his second of the season – both victories coming at road courses.

Rodgers battled Gilliland throughout much of the second half of the race, making his final pass on Gilliland on lap 40 of the 55-lap event on the 2.3-mile road course. He survived a late-race restart and his No. 7 Solvang Brewing Company Ford crossed the finish line 2.430 seconds ahead of Gilliland.

“Todd Gilliland is always great at restarts,” Rodgers said about the duel for the win. “I only have so much time in these full-bodied, solid rear-end stock cars. It’s kind of tough to go from what I’ve been racing before to master restarts but we’re getting there. I’m happy with the ones we had today. I was able to get in front of Todd there and that was the highlight of the race.”

The road-racing ace finished second to 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick earlier this year in a K&N Pro West race at Sonoma and said it was Harvick’s encouragement that convinced him to run the K&N Pro East races at Watkins Glen and New Jersey.

“It was really good advice from him,” said Rodgers, “and I’m happy we were able to pull off a sweep.”

Burton finished third, which allowed Gilliland to push his points lead to eight heading into the season finale at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 29.

“I think this was a big step in the right direction with the road course package,” Gilliland said. “Just another solid day for the Bill McAnally Racing team. It’s been a battle for the points lead and it’s nice to add a few points to that. I’m really confident about our Dover package. I was lucky enough to run the Truck race earlier this year and get some laps there. It’s going to be a huge race for us but I have confidence in everyone on our team.”

Harrison Burton salvaged a podium finish after falling back to sixth during a restart in the second half of the race.

“I’m with the best team in the business,” Burton commented. “I feel like we had a really good car today, just missing a little bit. I made mistake and got us behind and had to burn the tires off trying to pass everyone back. I felt like we had a good car and were good in practice, I just made mistakes and that’s something you can’t do if you want to win races in this series. It’s so hard to win and if you make mistakes, you’re not going to win. I’ve got to get better and learn from experience.”

Jay Beasley finished in fourth while Ronnie Basset Jr. was fifth.

Chase Purdy, Dillon Bassett, Grant Quinlan, Max Tullman and Ruben Garcia, Jr. completed the top 10 at New Jersey.

Purdy, the leading Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, is third in points – 60 back of Burton and three ahead of Ronnie Bassett. Ruben Garcia Jr. rounds out the top five in points.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
New Jersey Motorsports Park – Millville, NJ
JUSTDRIVE.com 125 – September 16, 2017

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 2 7 Will Rodgers * Solvang Brewing Company Ford 55 48 5 Running
2 3 16 Todd Gilliland NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 55 43 1 Running
3 4 12 Harrison Burton Dex Imaging Toyota 55 41   Running
4 10 42 Jay Beasley CASTLE Toyota 55 40   Running
5 8 04 Ronnie Bassett, Jr. Bassett Gutters and More Toyota 55 39   Running
6 5 17 Chase Purdy * Bama Buggies/Textron Off-Road Toyota 55 38   Running
7 11 44 Dillon Bassett Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet 55 37   Running
8 14 28 Grant Quinlan Superior Tool & Mold Ford 55 36   Running
9 9 27 Max Tullman * Zoomi Ford 55 35   Running
10 7 6 Ruben Garcia Jr. UTI/NTI Toyota 54 34   Running
11 12 30 Tyler Dippel TyCar Ford 53 33   Transmission
12 13 55 Hanna Zellers * Myota Ford 53 32   Running
13 6 4 Chase Cabre * ATL Racing Fuel Cells Toyota 45 31   Oil Pump
14 15 25 David Levine * Nextgen Motorsports Chevrolet 41 30   Track Bar
15 1 2 Collin Cabre UTI/NTI Toyota 10 30 1 Track Bar
16 16 22 Rich Bodmer * The Device Shop Chevrolet 0 28   Brakes

RACE STATISTICS

Fastest Qualifier: Collin Cabre, Time: 1 minute, 23.914 seconds

Time of Race: 1 hrs., 38 mins, 49 secs Average Speed: 76.809 mph Margin of Victory: 2.430 Seconds

Caution Flags: Laps 25-26 (Debris between 5 & 6 – FP #44); 30 (#25 Turn 6 – FP #27); 47-48 (#4 Turn 6 – FP #28).  3 for 5 laps.

Lap Leaders: Collin Cabre 1-4, Will Rodgers * 5-31, Todd Gilliland 32-39, Will Rodgers * 40-48, Todd Gilliland 49, Will Rodgers * 50-55.

Total Laps Led: Will Rodgers * 42, Todd Gilliland 9, Collin Cabre 4.  5 changes involving 3 drivers.

Top 10 Driver Points: Todd Gilliland 554, Harrison Burton 546, Chase Purdy * 486, Ronnie Bassett, Jr. 483, Ruben Garcia Jr. 465, Chase Cabre * 452, Jay Beasley 443, Dillon Bassett 420, Collin Cabre 407, Tyler Dippel 379

* Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender

  • Associated Categories: NASCAR News, Other Motorsports
  • Associated Tags: nascar, motorsports, Auto Racing, Stock Car, Asphalt, road course, K&N Pro East Series
© Copyright 2024 AccessWDUN.com
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.