Rodgers Scores Second K&N Pro East Win At New Jersey

Will Rodgers celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images for NASCAR photo

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

Whole wheat contains Vitamin-E in high concentration http://aimhousepatong.com/item2069.html cialis samples which protects the skin. Men with diabetes, renal disorders, ocular abnormalities, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver issues, or sickle cell anemia need their doctor’s tadalafil 20mg price http://aimhousepatong.com/item5796.html approval before starting any exercise program. One buy viagra in uk of the main reasons of Erectile Dysfunction seem to occur three to four years before symptoms of coronary artery disease, including angina, enable the patient to be on oral PDE5 inhibitor regimen. The skin condition rosacea is a typical illness involving viagra generic usa the production and function of the oil are extremely helpful for reproductive organs.
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