Gifford Breaks Through With K&N East Win At Richmond

Ryan Gifford celebrates after winning Thursday night’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Richmond International Raceway. Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Ryan Gifford converted a little patience into his elusive first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory Thursday night at Richmond International Raceway.

The 24-year-old from Winchester, TN, drove away from runner-up Brandon Gdovic and third-place Cole Custer on a late-race restart to take the win in the Blue Ox 100. It was redemption for Gifford, who was in contention last year at Richmond until a cut tire in the closing laps ended his night.

This time, Gifford qualified 11th, conserved his tires and methodically worked his way to the front.

“This is something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life,” said Gifford. “To come up short so many times and be able to go out and do this is just awesome. I feel like there’s a thousand pounds lifted off my shoulders.”

It didn’t come easy for Gifford, whose car did not roll out of the hauler as one capable of winning the race.

“We struggled all day in practice,” said the victor. “The team worked their tails off to get the car right.”

The close calls and lack of wins weighed on the psyche of Gifford.

“I hadn’t been racing a lot beyond the K&N East in 2010 and 2011. Last year I got in my dirt car a bunch and won a few races,” Gifford stated. “And I was like I’m still a fairly decent race car driver and I can still go out here and win. Just that last year gave me the confidence I could go out and win.”

Gifford became the fourth different driver to win a race in the series for Rev Racing since the organization began to field cars for NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity in 2010. Gifford has been with the team since its first year and was making his 44th career start.

Gifford took the lead from Custer on lap 78 and then had to wait out a red flag for a multi-car wreck on lap 88.

Gdovic, who collected his first win on April 6 at Greenville (SC) Pickens Speedway, wanted a little bit of a longer run at the end of the race.

“I think if we had a few more laps there at the end, we could have gotten to Ryan,” said Gdovic. “I think we had the car to beat at the end.”

Cole Custer finished third for his best series effort in four starts while veteran Eddie MacDonald finished fourth followed by Gifford’s teammate Mackena Bell in fifth.

Points leader Brett Moffitt ended up sixth, followed by Austin Hill, Michael McGuire, Austin Wayne Self and Matt Tifft.

After four races, Moffitt leads Gifford by seven points and Gdovic by 12.

In the previous 26 years of the K&N Pro Series East there had not been a top-five finish by a female driver, but with Bell’s fifth-place effort it has been done the last three races. Kenzie Ruston scored top fives at Greenville Pickens Speedway on April 6 and at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL. on April 13.

Earlier in the day, Gray Gaulding broke Chase Elliott’s record for youngest pole winner in series history at 15 years, 2 months and 15 days. He led the first 58 laps before contact with Corey LaJoie for the lead took the top two qualifiers out of contention.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to the track Saturday, June 1 for the NASCAR Hall of Fame 150 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Series
Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, VA
Blue Ox 100 – April 25, 2013

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	11	2	Ryan Gifford	Sunoco/NTI Toyota	100	47	4	Running
2	7	46	Brandon Gdovic	Windstax.com/Aquis Communications Toyota	100	42		Running
3	3	0	Cole Custer *	Haas Automation Chevrolet	100	42	1	Running
4	33	71	Eddie MacDonald	Grimm Construction/National MS Society Toyota	100	40		Running
5	8	21	Mackena Bell *	Toyota Racing Development Toyota	100	39		Running
6	12	11	Brett Moffitt	Aisin Toyota	100	38		Running
7	5	13	Austin Hill	Don Rich Ford Toyota	100	37		Running
8	27	7	Michael McGuire *	Woods Towing & Trans/So. Refrig. Toyota	100	36		Running
9	26	77	Austin Self *	AM Technical Solutions Dodge	100	35		Running
10	19	89	Matt Tifft *	DOC 360 Chevrolet	100	34		Running
11	24	39	CJ Faison	Sherwin-Williams Chevrolet	100	33		Running
12	30	99	Austin Dyne	KMC Wheels Chevrolet	100	32		Running
13	14	98	Dylan Kwasniewski	Royal Purple/Rockstar Energy Drink Chevrolet	100	31		Running
14	4	96	Ben Kennedy	Blue Ox Chevrolet	100	30		Running
15	23	4	Bryan Ortiz	Toyota Racing Development Toyota	100	29		Running
16	18	97	Jesse Little *	NASCAR Technical Institute Chevrolet	100	28		Running
17	10	31	Jimmy Weller	Integrated Metal Products Toyota	100	27		Running
18	36	18	Sam Hunt	Denny Hamlin Fdn/Drive Technology Toyota	100	26		Running
19	15	34	Kenzie Ruston *	AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet	100	25		Running
20	9	10	Preston Peltier *	Peltier Racing Toyota	99	24		Running
21	34	6	Daniel Suarez	Visit Acapulco Toyota	99	23		Running
22	35	37	Harrison Rhodes	Chick-fil-A Chevrolet	99	22		Running
23	31	49	Josh Reaume *	Colonial Countertops Toyota	99	21		Running
24	1	20	Gray Gaulding *	Krispy Kreme Toyota	99	22	2	Running
25	17	43	Brodie Kostecki *	Arocplate Chevrolet	99	19		Running
26	32	50	Jacob Wallace	Petro South Chevrolet	99	18		Running
27	22	1	John VanDoorn *	Brella Sports Group/Karl Performance Dodge	99	17		Running
28	29	72	Scott Heckert *	Project Lifesaver Chevrolet	98	16		Running
29	13	47	Cale Conley	Tait Towers Toyota	90	15		Oil Leak
30	21	8	John Hunter Nemechek *	AM/FM Energy, Wood Pellet Stoves Chevrolet	90	14		Running
31	2	7	Corey LaJoie	Sims Metal Management Ford	88	13		Accident
32	16	24	Cameron Hayley	Cabinets by Hayley Ford	88	12		Running
33	28	5	Steven Legendre *	Kendell Legendre Racing Chevrolet	88	11		Accident
34	20	29	Zak Hausler *	F.A.S.T. Ford	80	10		Accident
35	25	41	Ben Rhodes *	Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet	71	9		Engine
36	6	33	Brandon Jones *	Rheem Chevrolet	8	8		Engine

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