NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Driver Greg Pursley Wins Again at Miller Motorsports Park
- May 4, 2011
Two crashes late in the race extended it 13 laps past the scheduled 50. Eric Holmes had the lead on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish and ran out of fuel on lap 58. Pursley took over the lead on the ensuing restart and led the final five laps of the race. Pursley won the K&N Pro Series West race at Miller Motorsports Park for the second year in a row. It was his second win of the season and his fourth in the past six races going back to 2010. Moses Smith made a late charge but came up a little short. He finished second, followed by Jim Inglebright in third. "Me and Eric Holmes had a great race there," Pursley said. "I've got to thank him for a little give and take there. We were having a great race together. And Moses gave us a great race there at the end." Holmes, a three-time K&N Pro Series West champion, was able to make it back to pit road for fuel and stayed on the lead lap. He led the most laps and was in search of his first road course win, but ended up in 13th place. Pursley won the season opener at Phoenix International Raceway in February and two of the last three races of the 2010 season. One of those wins was at Miller Motorsports Park in September. Andrew Ranger set fast qualifying time and won the pole. He led the first 17 laps of the race, but had to pit early to replace a battery. When he returned to the race, he was two laps down. David Mayhew took the lead for two laps before Smith passed him and was out front for the next 13 laps. "We slowly started moving up through the field," Smith said. "At one point, we got in the lead, led quite a few laps and ended up getting a flat right rear tire. We just kept kinda working it, getting up through the field. We had enough yellows that it kind of bunched up the field and gave us a good jump on the guys again." Holmes took the lead for the first time in the race on lap 34 and battled Pursley until lap 49. Isaac Sherman stalled on the last lap of the race bringing out a caution and setting up a green-white-checkered finish. When the race restarted on lap 55, Brandon Davis and Dylan Kwasniewski crashed in turn 7. Holmes ran out of fuel three laps later under caution. He had to forfeit the lead to refuel, putting Pursley out front when the race restarted on lap 61. "I actually thought we were going to run out there at the end," Pursely said. "We sputtered a couple of times. We got lucky there at the end. I'd rather be lucky than good right now. We've got a lucky streak going on." Pursley beat Smith to the finish line and won by 0.196 seconds. "Second's good. It's a good weekend," Smith said. After three races, Pursley has a 58-point lead in the K&N Pro Series West standings over Smith. Jonathon Gomez, who finished fourth at Utah, is in third place in the West Series standings, 112 points behind Pursley. The next K&N Pro Series race is at Iowa Speedway on May 21. It is a combined race beween teams from the K&N Pro Series West and East. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
