Eggleston Brings Home Top-Five Finish For BMR At Bakersfield

• NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Kicks Off 2015 Season

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (March 28, 2015) – Chris Eggleston came away with a top-five finish as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West opened its 2015 season with the NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 at Kern County Raceway Park on Saturday.

Eggleston, launching his first full season of series competition, drove the Bill McAnally Racing No. 99 NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota to a fifth-place finish on the high-banked, half-mile track.

The Erie, Colorado driver and his BMR teammate, Brandon McReynolds, had led the way earlier in the day as teams prepared for the event. McReynolds was quickest in practice in his No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota, while Eggleston was third fastest and in qualifying McReynolds was second and Eggleston was third.

The two BMR entries were up front as the field took the green flag for the event. McReynolds’ race came to an early end, however, with a mechanical failure. The 23-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina driver – who had finished second and fourth in two races last year at KCRP – was left with a 27th-place finish.

Eggleston, making his first series start at Kern County, ran in the top three for much of the race before fading back. After slipping to sixth, he charged back into the top five in the closing laps.

“It was a little bit disappointing, because we had a better car than our finish really showed,” Eggleston said. “We ran second for the first 60 laps or so. We were pretty solid. Then we had a little bit of a brake issue with about 50 to go and with about 20 to go, we had the right front tire starting to go down.

“With those issues, it kind of put us back there for a bit – but we were able to capture a top-five finish there at the end,” he said. “It’s a good way to start the 2015 season off. I’m so proud of all the guys on the BMR NAPA Toyota team for giving me a great car and hopefully we can carry some momentum on to Irwindale.”

The NAPA AUTO PARTS 150, which was won by Dalton Sargeant. will be televised on NBCSN on Friday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. ET. It was the fourth series race at KCRP.

The next event on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule will be the King Taco Catering/NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 at Irwindale (California) Speedway on April 11.