Bassett Jr. Wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Opener in New Smyrna, Florida
- Feb 23, 2017
Ronnie Bassett Jr. passed his brother Dillon and went on to win the first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race of his career. Ronnie Bassett Jr. led the final 42 laps of the race and won convincingly, nearly four seconds ahead of Zane Smith. “I was just watching the restarts,” said Ronnie Bassett Jr., “and I picked a spot in the two lines, and I went after it, and I guess my brother spun his tires a little bit.”
“We work extremely hard to make these race cars good every weekend,” Ronnie Bassett said. “We’ve had some good runs. We’ve finished second, third, fourth, and fifth, but we’ve just never been able to capture the deal, and tonight, I guess was our night and we were able to get it done.” Ronnie Bassett Jr. was third in the K&N Pro Series East race at New Smyrna last year. Smith had the fastest car in practice, but was moved to the rear of the field to start the Jet Tools 150 at New Smyrna Speedway because of an infraction.
Harrison Burton won the pole and led the first eight laps of the race. Dillon Bassett passed Burton for the lead on lap 9 and was out front for 79 laps. Todd Gilliland, the reigning K&N Pro Series West champion, took the lead from Dillon Bassett on lap 81. Gilliland led the race for 21 laps until Dillon Bassett took the lead again. This time, Dillon Bassett was out front for six laps. A caution, one of six in the race, led to a restart. Ronnie Bassett Jr. took the lead from his brother and led the rest of the way. Derek Kraus was third, followed by Burton in fourth and Travis Cope was fifth. The next NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race is the Kevin Whitaker 150 at Greenville Pickens Speedway, in South Carolina on April 8. | ||||
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