Drake Hopes To Benefit From Experience At Greenville

• K&N Pro Series East Heads To Historic South Carolina Track

ROSEVILLE, Calif. (March 31, 2015) – The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East heads to Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 on Saturday.

With two series races under his belt at the historic track, second-year driver Nick Drake hopes to benefit from his experience on the tight half-mile oval.

The 19-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina driver – who wheels the No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing – finished 16th last spring at Greenville Pickens. When the series returned in September, however, he came away with a fifth-place finish.

“We had a good run there with the NAPA Toyota last year in the fall race,” Drake said. “The first run there we kind of struggled, but in the fall race we came home with a top five.”

Drake views the historic track as a challenge, especially to newcomers.

“Greenville is one of the most technical race tracks we go to,” he said. “It’s tough when you’ve never been there before. Having success there last year will help us going forward.”

He emphasized the need to qualify well there, meanwhile.

“It’s all going to be about track position,” Drake stressed. “So if we can qualify up front we should be there at the end.”

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East has competed at Greenville Pickens Speedway twice each season in recent years. But with Saturday’s event being the only visit this year, Drake has just one shot at getting a good finish at the track that held its first NASCAR race more than 60 years ago and where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series traditionally stopped between 1955 and 1971.

In his second season in the K&N East, Drake knows the importance of having consistent finishes race after race in order to contend for the series championship. He’s coming off a top-10 finish in the season opener last month and hopes to add to that in this event.

“That’s going to be the key if we want a shot to win the championship,” he said. “We know we’re going to be fast at every type of track this year. We just need to get to the finish.”

The Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150, the second event on a 14-race schedule, will be televised on NBCSN on April 7 at 6:30 p.m. ET. It will be 14th visit by the K&N East to Greenville Pickens Speedway.