Heckert Celebrates First K&N East Win At Watkins Glen

Scott Heckert celebrates his victory in Friday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Watkins Glen International. Photo by Getty Images for NASCAR

WATKINS GLEN, NY – In its first series race at Watkins Glen International since 2009, the NASCAR Pro Series East gave the fans a race finish to remember.

Second-year driver Scott Heckert was able to get past leader Andrew Ranger and second-place Cole Custer on the restart of a green-white-checkered finish attempt to score his first career victory in the action-packed Bully Hill Vineyards 125 on Friday.

“This is fantastic,” said Heckert about getting his first career win. “I think there’s a couple of races that we should have won or at least had the car to win. I think the sky’s the limit from now.”

After a late race caution was given to the field on lap 49 for contact between Daniel Suarez and several cars, Ranger led Custer on the final restart at the line. The two leaders battled side by side with Custer putting pressure on Ranger from the outside. That opened the door for Heckert to move on the inside of Ranger for the lead just before the white flag.

“I was able to hold the lead for a long time, but unfortunately, with green-white-checkered attempts, things can get a little crazy,” said runner-up finisher Andrew Ranger. “The No. 00 car was really fast on the restarts and I was focused on him on the outside and never really worried about the inside and unfortunately I got passed. But, it’s a podium, it’s second place, and I’m very happy to have been a part of the event tonight.”

Custer made one last attempt to pass Heckert for the lead, but he lost control and hit the sand barrels at the end of pit road to bring out the final caution of the race.

For Heckert, it was his first win in 27 career K&N Pro Series East starts.

Championship points leader Ben Rhodes battled throughout the night to finish third. The 17-year-old from Louisville, KY, was out of the top 10 at one point in the evening, but patiently worked his way into the top five, finishing with his third third-place finish and ninth podium finish of the season.

“We were kind of thinking ahead and seeing how people were popping their left and front tires,” said Rhodes. “We were trying to save our stuff. I got pushed back on one of the restarts but worked my way up, started passing people and watching what they were doing. I just went back out there and started to pick people off and save our stuff.”

Kaz Grala and Jesse Little finished fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Brandon Jones and Ryan Reed. NASCAR Next driver Cameron Hayley rebounded from an early-race incident to finish eighth while Kenzie Ruston and Nick Drake rounded out the top 10.

The victory was an emotional one for Heckert, who used to watch NASCAR events at Watkins Glen with his family.

“You think about winning when you go to sleep every night,” said Heckert. “My crew will tell you that about six months ago I started talking about winning here. Watkins Glen means a lot to me and my family. My dad’s been coming here for 40 years and it means a lot to us.”

The race was slowed five times by caution for nine laps. Fifteen cars finished on the lead lap.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will stay on a road course for its next race with the Biscuitville 125 at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA on Saturday, Aug. 16.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, NY
Bully Hill Vineyards 125 – Aug. 8, 2014

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	5	34	Scott Heckert	Project Lifesaver Chevrolet	53	47	4	Running
2	8	53	Andrew Ranger	Waste Management Bagster Ford	53	44	2	Running
3	7	41	Ben Rhodes *	Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet	53	41		Running
4	6	31	Kaz Grala *	OzLINK Chevrolet	53	40		Running
5	12	97	Jesse Little	NASCAR Technical Institute Chevrolet	53	39		Running
6	9	33	Brandon Jones	Wolfpack Energy Services Chevrolet	53	38		Running
7	20	99	Ryan Reed	Drive to Stop Diabetes pres. by Lilly Diabetes Ford	53	37		Running
8	3	98	Cameron Hayley	Cabinets by Hayley Chevrolet	53	37	1	Running
9	19	96	Kenzie Ruston	Bully Hill Vineyards Chevrolet	53	35		Running
10	13	15	Nick Drake *	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	53	34		Running
11	16	24	Brennan Newberry	Qore24 Chevrolet	53	33		Running
12	24	86	Frederic Gabillon *	Tepac/NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Chevrolet	53	32		Running
13	21	21	Mackena Bell	Special Smiles Pediatric Dentistry Toyota	53	31		Running
14	23	42	Jay Beasley *	Toyota Racing Development Toyota	53	30		Running
15	22	4	Ronnie Bassett, Jr. *	Rex Younger Art Gallery Chevrolet	53	29		Running
16	11	0	Cole Custer	NAPA Auto Parts/Haas Automation Chevrolet	52	28		Accident
17	2	22	Austin Hill *	A&D Welding/Don Rich Ford Ford	52	28	1	Running
18	10	20	Gray Gaulding	Krispy Kreme Chevrolet	50	27	1	Running
19	4	6	Daniel Suarez	Rev Racing Toyota	48	25		Accident
20	15	4	Sergio Pena	Toyota Racing Development Toyota	44	24		Suspension
21	18	37	Austin Dillon	Spraker Racing Chevrolet	26	23		Engine
22	25	9	Richard Bodmer *	Fountainhead Capital Management Ford	26	22		Transmission
23	17	2	Ryan Gifford	UTI/NASCAR Technical Institute Toyota	12	21		Transmission
24	1	43	Brodie Kostecki *	Arcoplate Toyota	4	20		Suspension
25	14	8	John Hunter Nemechek	Bully Hill Restaurant Toyota	1	19		Distributor

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RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier:Brodie Kostecki *, Time: 72.869 Seconds, Speed: 121.039 mph
Time of Race:1 hrs., 33 mins, 56 secs Average Speed:82.942 mph Margin of Victory:1.173 Seconds
Caution Flags:Laps 5-6 (#43 Bus Stop – FP – None); 13-14 (#2 in the S’s – FP None); 27 (Break – FP #4); 46-47 (#4 – FP #98); 49-50 (#6 – FP #22). 5 for 9 laps.
Lap Leaders:Austin Hill * 1-9, Andrew Ranger 10-17, Cameron Hayley 18-20, Andrew Ranger 21-22, Gray Gaulding 23-31, Andrew Ranger 32-51, Scott Heckert 52-53.
Total Laps Led:Andrew Ranger 30, Gray Gaulding 9, Austin Hill * 9, Cameron Hayley 3, Scott Heckert 2. 6 changes involving 5 drivers.
Top 10 Driver Points:Ben Rhodes * 536, Cameron Hayley 461, Brandon Jones 454, Jesse Little 453, Gray Gaulding 443, Kaz Grala * 428, Kenzie Ruston 427, Nick Drake * 420, Scott Heckert 409, Austin Hill * 409