Gresham Rebounds To New Hampshire Win
Overcomes pit miscue for K&N Pro Series East victory
Loudon, NH — Max Gresham overcame an early pit-road miscue to win the New England 125 Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
It is the second win of the season and fourth career victory for Gresham, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points leader.
The Griffin, Ga., driver won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light in Thursday’s qualifying and led most of the early laps in Friday’s race. However, while most of the lead cars pitted on Lap 48, miscommunication between Gresham, his crew chief and spotter caused the Joe Gibbs Racing development driver to stay out a lap longer. The miscue meant Gresham restarted 21st after the cycle of pit stops and he had to work his way through the field.
“It’s awesome to work our way from the back, back to the front is very cool,” Gresham said. “To not have finished better than ninth here, and to finally win here in my fourth try is awesome.”
[Photo Gallery] by Adam Fohlin
[Photo Gallery] by Nathan Teto
Gresham took the lead from runner-up Brett Moffitt on Lap 113 and pulled away over the closing laps.
“Normally you’d be really happy with a second place finish, but when the points leader wins it kind of makes it not as fun,” Moffitt said. “We’re going to keep going and try to see what we can do to win the championship.”
Corey LaJoie finished third followed by the first career top-five finishes for Brandon Gdovic and Benny Gordon.
Despite breaking the transmission in Thursday practice and having to start at the rear, it was the fourth top-10 finish in a row for LaJoie, who has improved steadily in the standings up to a season-best seventh following New Hampshire.
“I can’t really complain, we drove it from the back to the front and gave it our best try,” LaJoie said. “The top three isn’t bad – it’s a good points day – but it’s a little aggravating when you finish in the top three and haven’t got that first win yet.
Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez, Sergio Peña, Eddie MacDonald and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10. It was the first career top-10 finish for Suárez.
MacDonald, who also started at the rear due to an engine change, bounced back from an in-race penalty for his third top-10 of the year.
Action sports star Travis Pastrana finished 22nd, his best effort in four combined starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series this year.
Gresham led a race-high 53 laps. Low finishes for championship contenders Matt DiBenedetto (27th) and Darrell Wallace Jr. (30th) allowed Gresham to push his points lead to 94 over Moffitt, who moved to second. DiBenedetto dropped to third in points, 125 behind, and Wallace is fourth, 139 back. Peña rounds out the top five.
The race featured six lead changes among six drivers and was slowed by caution just five times for 21 laps.
The New England 125, which marked the 55th all-time running of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at New Hampshire, will be broadcast on SPEED on Thursday, Aug. 4 at 6 p.m. ET
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to the track on Saturday, July 23 for the inaugural Jegs 150 at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway.
RESULTS | LAP-BY-LAP RECAP | VIDEO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH LAJOIE AND MOFFITT | VIDEO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH GRESHAM
Sources: Jason Christley/NASCAR PR