BMR Sweeps Podium In K&N West Action At Monroe
• Gilliland Scores Win, Followed By Eggleston And Herbst
MONROE, Wash. (Aug. 13, 2016) – Bill McAnally Racing swept the podium in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West action at Evergreen Speedway on Saturday as Todd Gilliland won the NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 presented by Toyota, with Chris Eggleston taking second and Riley Herbst finishing third.
It’s the fifth victory this season for the rookie driver in the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry and marked BMR’s seventh win in the first nine races in 2016.
Gilliland, 16, of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina won by a margin of 1.012 seconds over Eggleston in the No. 50 NAPA Filters / H2O Fire Protection Toyota Camry – while Herbst collected a career-best finish in the No. 19 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry.
After winning his fifth pole award of the year in qualifying, Gilliland set sail in the race to lead wire-to-wire for the win. Eggleston, who started alongside Gilliland on the front row, challenged for the lead – but could not gain the spot. Herbst charged from seventh on the grid and was up to second by Lap 42. He swapped the runner-up spot back-and-forth with Eggleston before eventually coming home third.
With a strong performance by their teammates, Julia Landauer and Cole Moore; BMR had all five of its drivers finish in the top 10. Landauer was eighth in the No. 54 Curb Records Toyota Camry, to record her eighth top-10 in nine starts this season. Moore, who is gaining series experience in racing select events on this year’s schedule, came home 10th in the No. 20 NAPA Batteries Toyota Camry, securing his first career top-10 series finish.
BMR President Bill McAnally talked of the work that has gone into all the BMR teams this year.
“The results come with effort,” he said. “Everybody has been working so hard to bring these results in. I’m happy we can do it for our sponsors, our fans, and everybody.”
With his win, Gilliland extended his lead in the championship standings to 12 points. He has a commanding lead, meanwhile, in the chase for this year’s rookie title. In addition to his five wins, he has eight top-five finishes his nine series starts this year.
Gilliland, a member of the NASCAR Next program that spotlights NASCAR’s rising stars, is a third-generation competitor in the series. His father, David, won a pole award at Evergreen Speedway in 2004 and his grandfather, Butch, scored wins there in 1996 and 1998.
Eggleston – the defending series champion from Erie, Colorado – is back to third in the standings. He has two wins and seven top-five finishes in nine series starts this year.
Herbst’s third-place finish propelled him to sixth in the overall standings. The 17-year-old from Las Vegas is fourth in the rookie points. He has four top-five and seven top-10 finishes in nine career series starts this year.
Landauer, a 24-year-old New York native, is tied for seventh in the overall points and third in the rookie battle. In addition to her eight top-10s, she has three top-five finishes. She is also a member of the NASCAR Next program.
Moore, 19, of Granite Bay, California, had finished 14th in each of his two previous series starts this year.
The NAPA AUTO PARTS presented by Toyota will be televised on NBCSN on Aug. 25 at 5 p.m. PT.
The next event on the series schedule is the Toyota / NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon on Aug. 27.