K&N East Statistical Advance: Greenville
Analyzing The Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 140 At GPS
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will head to Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 140 on Monday, Sept. 2. Below is a statistical look at the performance of the series and selected drivers:
Greenville Race Setup:
• The 10 previous NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races at Greenville Pickens Speedway have produced nine different victors and eight different pole winners.
• Brett Moffitt has six track records at GPS including the best average finish, most laps led and most poles.
• Eddie MacDonald’s nine starts are the most in series history at GPS, and he’s tied with Moffitt for the most top-10 finishes at the track with six.
• Season points leader Dylan Kwasniewski made his NKNPS East debut at GPS in 2012 and drove from the rear to finish seventh.
AT GREENVILLE PICKENS SPEEDWAY:
History
• Opened on July 4, 1946 as a dirt track. The race surface was converted to asphalt in April, 1970.
• Held 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races from 1951-71, including the first flag-to-flag televised event.
• David Pearson (1959) and Ralph Earnhardt (1965, 66) are among the famed drivers that have won championships at the track.
Notebook
• The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East held its inaugural Greenville Pickens Speedway race on June 6, 2006 and has returned every year since. This is the third season in a row that the track has held two events.
• Corey LaJoie took the checkered flag in this event last year while Brandon Gdovic won this season’s first event there. Darrell Wallace Jr. is the only driver in the first 10 races at GPS to earn two victories.
• Brett Moffitt is the only driver to capture more than one pole at GPS. He has three, including the first event there this year.
• In the first 10 NKNPS East events there have been two drivers that have won from the pole: Joey Logano (2007) and Moffitt (2011). Moffitt also set the track qualifying record in 2011.
• Logano, Austin Dillon (2008), Gdovic (2013) and Wallace (2010) earned their first career NKNPS East wins in events at Greenville.
Greenville Pickens Speedway Data
Race: #11 of 15 overall, #2 of 2 at GPS
Track Layout: .5-mile asphalt oval
• Race Length: 140 laps (70 miles)
• Banking/Corners: Five degrees
Qualifying/Race Data
2012 race winner: Corey LaJoie
2012 pole winner: Field set by rulebook (rain)
Track qualifying record: Brett Moffitt (87.659 mph, 20.534 seconds, 4/2/11)
ACTIVE SERIES CAREER LEADERS:
Wins
1. Brett Moffitt … 9
2. Eddie MacDonald … 6
3. Dale Quarterley … 6
Poles
1. Brett Moffitt … 10
2. Dale Quarterley … 4
3. Cale Conley … 2
Ben Kennedy … 2
Dylan Kwasniewski … 2
Eddie MacDonald … 2
Top Fives
1. Brett Moffitt … 33
Dale Quarterley … 31
3. Eddie MacDonald … 30
Top 10s
1. Eddie MacDonald … 82
2. Dale Quarterley … 67
3. Brett Moffitt … 42
Laps Completed
1. Eddie MacDonald … 21,707
2. Dale Quarterley … 18,838
3. John Salemi … 8,500
Laps Led
1. Brett Moffitt … 1,809
2. Dale Quarterley … 706
3. Eddie MacDonald … 668
SELECT DRIVER HIGHLIGHTS:
Cale Conley (No. 47 Tait Stages/PMC Toyota)
• Has a win, two poles and eight top 10s in 29 career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts.
• Ranks 10th in the 2013 standings with four top-10 finishes in 10 races.
• Is credited with an average finish of 21st in five previous races at Greenville Pickens Speedway.
• Best career finish at GPS was 14th in the first race there this year.
Cole Custer (No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet)
• Has a win, a pole – both at Iowa Speedway – and four top 10s in 10 starts as a rookie this year.
• Ranks 10th in the overall points standings and fifth in Sunoco Rookie of the Year points.
• Finished 19th at GPS in his first appearance there earlier this year.
Gray Gaulding (No. 20 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Toyota)
• Has a pole and six top 10s in his first 10 NKNPS East races. Best finish was second at Five Flags Speedway.
• Became the youngest pole winner in NKNPS East history (15 years, two months, 15 days) in April at Richmond International Raceway.
• Ranks ninth in the overall standings and third in Sunoco Rookie of the Year points.
• Finished 10th at GPS in his first series start there in April.
Brandon Gdovic (No. 46 WindStax.com/Aquis Communications Toyota)
• Has a win, nine top fives and 19 top 10s in 35 career starts.
• Ranks seventh in the season standings with six top 10s, including his first career victory in the April GPS race.
• Has that win and an average finish of ninth in five previous series starts at GPS.
Ryan Gifford (No. 2 Universal Technical Institute/NTI Toyota)
• Has a win, a pole, 15 top fives and 20 top 10s in 50 career series starts.
• Ranks fifth in points with six top 10s in 10 outings, highlighted by a win at Richmond.
• Has an average finish of 11th and a best result of fourth in six career starts at GPS.
• Finished ninth in his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Iowa in August.
Ben Kennedy (No. 96 Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet)
• Has two wins, two poles, seven top fives and 17 top 10s in 37 career series starts.
• Ranks third in points with seven top 10s, highlighted by wins at Five Flags and Bowman Gray Stadium.
• Has an average finish of 15th and a best result of ninth in five previous series starts at GPS.
• Finished 20th in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut last week at Bristol.
Dylan Kwasniewski (No. 98 Royal Purple/Rockstar Energy Drink Chevrolet)
• Has four wins, two poles, seven top fives and 10 top 10s in 13 career NKNPS East starts.
• Is the season points leader on the strength of those four victories, including last time out at Virginia International Raceway.
• Has finishes of seventh and 15th in his two previous starts at GPS. Made his East debut there in 2012.
• Was the 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion, where he recorded five wins, seven poles and 24 top 10s in 28 career starts from 2011-12.
Jesse Little (No. 97 NASCAR Technical Institute Chevrolet)
• Has five top 10s in 17 career NKNPS East races.
• Ranks 12th in the overall season standings and second in Sunoco Rookie of the Year points.
• Has finishes of third and 16th in his two previous starts at GPS. The podium in this event last year is tied for his best career finish.
Eddie MacDonald (No. 71 Grimm Construction Chevrolet)
• Has six wins, two poles, 31 top fives and 82 top 10s in 168 career series starts.
• Ranks fourth in points with seven top 10s in 10 outings, highlighted by a runner-up finish at August Iowa.
• Has an average finish of 10th and a best result of third in nine career GPS starts.
Brett Moffitt (No. 11 Toyota Boshoku Toyota)
• Owner of nine wins, 10 poles, 24 podiums, 33 top fives and 42 top 10s in 57 career series starts.
• Ranks second in the season standings with five top fives and eight top 10s in 10 outings.
• Is in the midst of a career-long winless drought, now at 16 races.
• Won at GPS in 2011 and holds track records for poles (3), top fives (5), top 10s (tied-6), average finish (7) and laps led (356). Led all but two laps in this race last year before an incident on the green-white-checkered finish.
• Has an average finish of 16th in his two NCWTS appearances this year.
Ben Rhodes (No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet)
• Rookie has three top 10s in four appearances this year, highlighted by a best finish of third – among East drivers – at Iowa in June.
• Has won five of his last six NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model starts, including a 2-for-2 performance last week at GPS in which he became the youngest Late Model winner in track history.
Kenzie Ruston (No. 34 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet)
• Has four top fives and five top 10s in 10 starts.
• Ranks sixth in the overall standings and leads in Sunoco Rookie of the Year points.
• Best career finish of third, recorded earlier this year at GPS in her lone series appearance at the track – is the best finish by a female driver in NKNPS East history.
Daniel Suárez (No. 6 Visit Acapulco Toyota)
• Has a win, five top fives and 11 top 10s in 26 career NKNPS East starts.
• Ranks eighth in points with a win and five top 10s in 10 outings.
• Has finishes of 10th and seventh in two previous races at GPS.
UP TO SPEED:
• The 2013 season is the 27th for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.
• The 2013 schedule features 15 races at 13 different tracks across 10 states.
• The competition season opened with the non-points UNOH Battle At The Beach on Feb. 19 on the short track at Daytona International Speedway. Cameron Hayley won the K&N Pro Series feature.
• Dylan Kwasniewski took the checkered flag in the first points race of the season on March 16 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He assumed the lead when polesitter Michael McGuire was spun out under caution on Lap 30 and held it the rest of the way.
• Brandon Gdovic captured his first career victory on April 6 at Greenville Pickens Speedway. Brett Moffitt earned his ninth career pole prior to the race, which was originally scheduled to run on March 23 but was postponed due to rain.
• In the first points race in series history in the state of Florida, the Sunshine State’s own Ben Kennedy earned his second career pole and went on to lead all 150 laps in the inaugural event at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola on April 13.
• On April 25 at Richmond International Raceway, Gray Gaulding became the youngest pole winner in series history and Ryan Gifford captured his first career checkered flag.
• It was Moffitt who took the pole and led a race-high 123 laps, but Kennedy came out with the checkered flag at Bowman Gray Stadium on June 1.
• In the East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway on June 7, Anderson Bowen captured the pole in his series debut at Kwasniewski was credited with a victory as the highest-finishing East driver.
• At Langley Speedway on June 22, Kwasniewski registered his third win of the season after qualifying was rained out.
• Daniel Suárez made his first trip to Victory Lane on July 13 after leading 88 laps at Columbus while Kwasniewski earned the pole win.
• It was a record-setting night at Iowa on Aug. 2 as Cole Custer dominated the action and became the youngest race winner in series history.
• In the series’ return to a road course for the first time in three seasons, Kwasniewski stole the show as he captured the pole and led 39 of 57 laps en route to victory at Virginia International Raceway on Aug. 24.
Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR K&N Pro Series East PR