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After Victory at Kern, Gilliland Paces K&N Pro West Field in NAPA Auto Parts Twin 100s at Irwindale
A perfect weekend for NASCAR Next driver Todd Gilliland at Bill McAnally Racing came to a close at Irwindale Speedway after his third consecutive victory of the 2017 K&N Pro Series West season. After winning at Kern County Raceway Park on Thursday night, the team traveled to Irwindale Speedway for the NAPA Auto Parts Twin 100s on Saturday night.
With three straight pole starts in as many events, the Sherrills Ford, NC native brought his No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Ford into Irwindale’s Victory Lane for the second time of the night, after holding off his hard-charging teammate Chris Eggleston. It was Gilliland’s tenth career win and the 14th victory for Bill McAnally Racing at the California short-track.
The victory, also earns Gilliland a $10,000 bonus for finishing in the top-three spots in the four-race NAPA 500 Challenge Series that started last weekend at Tucson Speedway. 2015 K&N Pro Series West champion, Chris Eggleston won the season opener and the first leg of the challenge.
With only one caution in the first 92 laps, it looked as though victory would easily come to the reigning K&N Pro Series West champion. But, then a spin from Takuma Koga set up a mad dash to the checkered with four laps left to run.
Diving into turn one, Eggleston grabbed the race lead for the first time of the night from Gilliland… momentarily for about 40 feet. With a quick over-under maneuver, Gilliland took the lead back before they reached turn three.
With two laps to go, Eggleston was unable to make a winning move, so his second-place finish marks the fourth straight top-five finish for the 28-year-old Erie, Colorado, native.
Michael Self, 26, from Park City, Utah, was the only other driver to win anything Saturday at Irwindale, as he took the top spot in last practice. In the race, Self grabbed a third-place finish followed by Derek Kraus and Will Rodgers, who earns a fourth straight top-five finish.
Julia Landauer finished sixth with Garrett Archer, who rebounded from a start-line violation, Nicole Behar, Blaine Perkins and Todd Souza rounding out the top-ten
The NAPA Auto Parts Twin 100s will air on NBCSN, Saturday, April 1st at 7 pm. ET/4 pm. PT and 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West return to action May 13th at Washington’s Spokane County Raceway.