K&N East and West Drivers Prepare For Shootout In Iowa
• BMR Teams Head To The Heartland
ROSEVILLE, Calif. (May 13, 2015) – NASCAR K&N Pro Series drivers from coast to coast look forward each year to the two East-West combination races at Iowa Speedway. It’s the only opportunity the drivers from the East and West have during the season to go head-to-head in competition, with bragging rights on the line.
Nick Drake has an additional reason for focusing on returning to the .875-mile track in Newton, Iowa – that’s where he registered his best finish as a rookie in the K&N East, finishing second overall in this event a year ago.
Drake and his Bill McAnally Racing teammates, Brandon McReynolds and Chris Eggleston, are among more than 38 entries in the Casey’s General Store 150 on Saturday – in the first of two East-West combination races at Iowa this year.
A fourth BMR car at Iowa will be driven by Christopher Bell. He will be making his second series start in the No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota.
Drake and McReynolds are in their second season with BMR – Drake driving the No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in the K&N East and McReynolds piloting the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in the K&N West. Eggleston, meanwhile, is in his rookie year driving BMR’s No. 99 NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota in the K&N West.
“We’ve run well there in the past,” said Drake, a 19-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina. “We’re bringing a new car. So we should be good.”
After qualifying 11th a year ago, he is hopeful a better run in time trials will improve his shot at a win.
“We finished second there last year, but didn’t qualify very well,” he said. “If we can qualify a little bit better, we’ll have a good shot to win there.”
Drake, who capped off his rookie campaign last year by winning the K&N West season finale at Phoenix, is tied for fifth in championship points. He has two top-10 finishes in three starts this year.
McReynolds is coming off an eighth-place finish at Tucson after the start to his season was setback by mechanical woes. Although his best finish in four series starts at Iowa is 13th, the 23-year-old Mooresville driver is confident of being competitive with crew chief, Ty Joiner, calling the shots.
“I’m really excited with Ty’s experience there with the truck series and with him bringing that knowledge to our Bill McAnally Racing shop in California,” McReynolds said. “I think we have something to work with on the NAPA Toyota.
“Obviously, having good teammates in Chris Eggleston and Nick Drake, who ran well there at the beginning of the season last year, I think we have a really solid foundation to go and have a good run,” McReynolds said. “We want to be aggressive and go out there and fight for a win against all those East guys.”
Eggleston returns to Iowa, where he finished 25th overall in one of three series starts he made last year. The Erie, Colorado native is second in the K&N West championship standings – just two points out of first – with one win, two top-five and three top-10 finishes in three starts this season.
“I’m super excited to go back to Iowa,” Eggleston said. “I’ve been there a handful of times in a super late model, in two truck races and the one K&N race last year. That place is a really fun race track to race at.”
The battle between the East and West drivers presents an extra challenge, he said.
“Going out there and racing against the East guys is something the West guys always look forward to – seeing how we stack up in the K&N series as a whole,” Eggleston said.
“Last year, we struggled a little bit and kind of got behind the eight-ball on some adjustments,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to going back and running up front there in the NAPA Filters Toyota. I think (crew chief) Roger (Bracken) and I are communicating better each week. We expect to come out of there with a big finish.”
Bell – a 20-year-old standout sprint car driver – had to start at the rear of the field for his series debut last month at Irwindale (California) Speedway due to a post-qualifying adjustment, but fought his way forward and ended the day with a 15th-place result.
The Oklahoma native has collected four wins in just 13 starts since he began racing pavement late models for Kyle Busch Motorsports last September.
“My first K&N Pro Series race didn’t go as planned, so I’m anxious to get back behind the wheel of the ToyotaCare Toyota Camry this weekend and redeem ourselves,” Bell said. “Despite fighting issues all weekend long at Irwindale, I was able to make all the laps and that allowed me to get a better feel for these cars. Now that I know what to expect, I’m confident that we will be more competitive this time around. The guys at the shop have put a lot of hard work into this car and I’m confident that we will be a contender at Iowa.”
There will be special entertainment for fans in Iowa when the NAPA AUTO PARTS Concert Series at Iowa Speedway kicks off on Saturday featuring John Michael Montgomery. The first in a series of four summer concerts will take place after the checkered flag waves and is free to those who attend the race.
The East-West combination race, which will be televised on NBCSN on May 21, is the 12th combination race hosted by Iowa Speedway. It is the fourth event on the K&N West schedule and the fourth event on the K&N East schedule.