Gilliland Dominates at New Hampshire

Todd Gilliland scored the win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East action Saturday. Adam Glanzman/NASCAR

By Kyle Souza, NASCARHomeTracks.com

LOUDON, N.H. -- When Todd Gilliland announced he was going to run for both the East and West championship in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series this season, he knew it wasn't going to be easy. Saturday, Gilliland helped himself close the gap towards that goal.

The Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, driver captured his second victory of the season in the K&N Pro East with a dominating performance in the United Site Services 70 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The win helped him chip away on the points lead of championship front-runner Harrison Burton.

It was the third career victory on the East for Gilliland and his first at the 1.058-mile national-series oval. 

"My NAPA Auto Parts Camry was hooked up tonight," said Gilliland, who has 14 wins in 37 K&N Pro Series starts between the East and West for Bill McAnally Racing. "The VHT has a lot of grip and when I was around other cars, I really turned the middle good. It sounds easy, but it was tough through practice. We weren't as good when we unloaded. It was kind of an unknown waking up this morning knowing two other series were going to run out here."

Gilliland's No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota started from the outside pole position, but he was quick to take the lead from Chase Purdy on the restart on lap eight. From there, the NASCAR Next driver pulled away and never was challenged for the remainder of the race. He led a total of 63 laps, and put all but the top six a lap down. 

Purdy, who captured his fourth straight 21 Means 21 Pole Award on Friday evening, finished second in the race. It was the third runner-up finish of the season for him. Purdy, who is also part of the NASCAR Next program, runs for David Gilliland Racing and leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings. It is the second 1-2 finish for the DGR/BMR teammates, which also accomplished the feat at Michigan's Berlin Raceway.

Ronnie Bassett Jr. finished third, while Burton slid by Sheldon Creed in the final laps and finished fourth. Tyler Dippel was sixth, followed by Ruben Garcia Jr., Dillon Bassett, Trey Hutchens and Brandon Oakley. 

Burton leads Gilliland by 14 points after nine of 14 races, while Purdy is 52 points back. Bassett Jr. and Garica round out the top five. 

The United Site Services 70 will air on NBCSN on Thursday, July 20 at 6 p.m. 

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East returns to the track at Iowa Speedway on July 28, where Gilliland is the defending race winner. 

Finish	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	3	16	Todd Gilliland	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	70	48	5	Running
2	1	17	Chase Purdy *	Bama Buggies/Textron Off-Road Toyota	70	43	1	Running
3	2	4	Ronnie Bassett, Jr.	Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet	70	41		Running
4	4	12	Harrison Burton	Dex Imaging Toyota	70	40		Running
5	5	40	Sheldon Creed *	United Rentals Toyota	70	39		Running
6	7	30	Tyler Dippel	TyCar Ford	70	38		Running
7	9	6	Ruben Garcia Jr.	Max Siegel, Inc. Toyota	69	37		Running
8	11	44	Dillon Bassett	Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet	69	36		Running
9	6	14	Trey Hutchens	Hutchens Motorsports Chevrolet	69	35		Running
10	8	51	Brandon Oakley *	Oakley Blacktop Chevrolet	69	34		Running
11	14	2	Collin Cabre	UTI/NTI Toyota	69	33		Running
12	20	71	Eddie MacDonald	Grimm Construction Chevrolet	69	32		Running
13	15	31	Andy Seuss *	Whelen Engineering Chevrolet	69	31		Running
14	12	42	Jay Beasley	Castle Power Toyota	69	30		Running
15	10	13	Spencer Davis	Reynolds Wrap Toyota	68	29		Running
16	19	4	Chase Cabre *	Lincoln Electric Toyota	68	28		Running
17	21	32	Stafford Smith	Stoney's Rockin Country\Wahl Traction Ford	67	27		Running
18	17	36	Jesse Iwuji	The Patriot Mtrsprts Group\Lights Out Chevrolet	64	26		Running
19	18	38	John Wood	Holleran Performance Chevrolet	33	25		Vibration
20	13	88	Julia Landauer	Ford Performance/onelove Ford	14	24		Overheating
21	16	41	Vinnie Miller *	Master Mfg. Inc Toyota	12	23		Mechanical

RACE STATISTICS

Fastest Qualifier: Chase Purdy *, Time: 30.216 Seconds, Speed: 126.052 mph

Failed to Qualify: (1) Woody Pitkat * (#9).

Time of Race: 0 hrs., 39 mins, 45 secs Average Speed: 111.789 mph Margin of Victory: 7.558 Seconds

Caution Flags: Laps 5-7 (#41 - Turn 2 - No FP).  1 for 3 laps.

Lap Leaders: Chase Purdy * 1-7, Todd Gilliland 8-70.

Total Laps Led: Todd Gilliland 63, Chase Purdy * 7.  1 changes involving 2 drivers.

Top 10 Driver Points: Harrison Burton 387, Todd Gilliland 373, Chase Purdy * 335, Ronnie Bassett, Jr. 331, Ruben Garcia Jr. 321, Chase Cabre * 312,

Jay Beasley 300, Dillon Bassett 291, Hunter Baize 283, Tyler Dippel 283

Next Race: Iowa Speedway: July 28, 2017

* Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender