Drake Takes Another Top 10 At Langley Speedway

• Rookie Continues With Solid Finishes In K&N Pro Series East

HAMPTON, Va. (June 22, 2014) – Rookie Nick Drake turned in another solid top-10 finish on Saturday night, taking seventh in the Visit Hampton VA 175 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Langley Speedway.

It marked the fifth top-10 finish in nine series starts this year for the 18-year-old driver of Bill McAnally Racing’s No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota.

Drake – who graduated from Lake Norman High School in Mooresville, North Carolina last weekend – was making his first start at Langley. He had the third quickest lap in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, turning a time of 15.992 seconds, at an average speed of 89.145 mph around the .396-mile oval.

Drake dropped back to fifth early in the 175-lap race, where he remained throughout nearly the entire event. He lost two additional spots in the closing laps, however, following a late-race restart.

“The BMR NAPA Toyota was decent in the beginning as we ran top five most of the race,” Drake said. “We progressively faded and lost two positions on the final restart. We just weren’t where we needed to be on old tires and we needed more forward drive to keep up with those guys.”

In addition to his five top 10 finishes, Drake has one pole and four top fives this season. He remains third in the chase for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award and seventh in the overall championship standings.

The Visit Hampton VA 175, which will be televised on FOX Sports 1 on June 27 at noon ET, marked the ninth event of a 16-race series schedule. It was the fourth series visit to the Hampton, Virginia track.

The next race on the series schedule is the Granite State 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire on July 11.