Photo – Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Fifteen-Year-Old Victorious In Second K&N Pro Series East Start
The latest prospect transitioning from dirt to asphalt may prove himself as the quickest study of them all.
Wallkill, New York, native Tyler Dippel stormed to Victory Lane in just his second NASCAR K&N Pro Series East start Sunday at Mobile International Raceway.
Twenty-three days shy of his 16th birthday, Dippel took the lead on lap 30 of the Mobile 150 presented by the Mobile Sports Authority and drove away from the 25-car field on nearly every restart. Two cautions inside of ten laps to go kept his No. 38 East West Marine/TyCar Chevrolet from running away from the competition, but he wasn’t seriously tested on either restart.
Second place went to 21 Means 21 Coors Light polesitter Spencer Davis while Jesse Little, Austin Theriault and Kaz Grala brought home the top-five in the extended race of 154 laps with the late caution.
Kyle Benjamin, one of the pre-race favorites to win, was black flagged while running fifth on lap 95 when his window net came down. He was able to rally to a sixth place finish followed by Harrison Burton, Hunter Baize, Justin Haley and Ronnie Bassett Jr. in the top-ten.
Dippel with HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks is following in the footsteps of Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu as notable dirt drivers who have recently transition to NASCAR asphalt racing via the K&N Pro Series East. Larson reached Victory Lane in his sixth series start while Abreu did it in his seventh.
Dominique Van Wieringen set two series records in the Mobile 150 before a lap 146 spinout resulted in a 20th place finish. A second-place qualifying run broke her own mark for a female, and after she took the lead from Davis on the first start, the Canadian led the first 29 laps. No female driver had led more than four laps in a race in the series’ 30 years of competition.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action with the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 on March 26 at South Carolina’s Greenville Pickens Speedway.