Dippel Dominates Mobile 150
Fifteen-Year-Old Victorious In Second K&N Pro Series East Start
MOBILE, Ala. – The latest prospect making the transition from dirt to asphalt may prove to be the quickest study of them all.
Wallkill, New York, native Tyler Dippel stormed to Victory Lane in just his second NASCAR K&N Pro Series East start Sunday at Mobile International Raceway.
Twenty-three days shy of his 16th birthday, Dippel took the lead on Lap 30 of the Mobile 150 presented by the Mobile Sports Authority and drove away from the 25-car field time and time again. Two cautions inside of 10 laps to go kept his No. 38 East West Marine/TyCar Chevrolet from running away from the competition, but he wasn’t seriously tested on either restart.
Second place went to 21 Means 21 Coors Light polesitter Spencer Davis while Jesse Little, Austin Theriault and Kaz Grala brought home the top five in the race that was extended to 154 laps with the late caution.
Kyle Benjamin, one of the pre-race favorites to win, was black flagged while running fifth on Lap 95 when his window net came down. He was able to rally to a sixth place finish followed by Harrison Burton, Hunter Baize, Justin Haley and Ronnie Bassett Jr. in the top 10.
Dippel is following in the footsteps of Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu as notable dirt drivers who have recently transition to NASCAR asphalt racing via the K&N Pro Series East. Larson reached Victory Lane in his sixth series start while Abreu did it in his seventh.
Dominique Van Wieringen set two series records in the Mobile 150 before a Lap 146 spinout resulted in a 20th place finish. A second-place qualifying run broke her own mark for a female, and after she took the lead from Davis on the initial start, the Canadian led the first 29 laps. No female driver had led more than four laps in a race in the series’ 30 years of competition.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action with the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 on March 26 at South Carolina’s Greenville Pickens Speedway.
Dippel’s victorious No. 38 Harry Scott Motorsports with Justin Marks Chevrolet. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images for NASCAR
Sources: Brooke Franceschini, NASCAR
NKNPS East Mobile 3/12/16 Results
K&N Pro Series East
Race: NKNPS East Mobile 3/12/16
PRINTABLE VERSION (PDF)
Pos No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff
1 38 Tyler Dippel * East West Marine/TyCar Chevrolet 154
2 41 Spencer Davis * Davis Poultry Chevrolet 154 0.659
3 29 Jesse Little NASCAR Technical Institute Toyota 154 1.022
4 1 Austin Theriault Don Valley North Toyota 154 1.277
5 3 Kaz Grala NETTTS Toyota 154 1.717
6 40 Kyle Benjamin FEVER Chevrolet 154 2.004
7 12 Harrison Burton * DEX Imaging/Konica Minolta Toyota 154 2.3
8 13 Hunter Baize * Bicycle Playing Cards/Pine Mtn Firewood Chevrolet 154 2.393
9 5 Justin Haley Braun Auto Chevrolet 154 2.431
10 4 Ronnie Bassett Jr. Bassett Gutters Ford 154 2.805
11 2 Sarah Cornett-Ching* Dickies Ford 154 3.276
12 55 Noah Gragson AlertID/Speed Vegas/Colliers Int’l Ford 154 3.606
13 4 Ali Kern * Max Siegel, Inc. Toyota 154 4.178
14 49 John Holleman IV * Midway Mobile Storage Ford 154 4.403
15 42 Jairo Avila Jr. * Rev Racing Toyota 154 4.628
16 46 Brandon Gdovic Verizon Toyota 154 4.825
17 9 Christian Celaya Alle Health Toyota 154 4.837
18 6 Ruben Garcia Jr. * Special Smiles Toyota 154 5.349
19 7 Codie Rohrbaugh Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 154 8.636
20 30 Dominique Van Wieringen * Durobyte Ford 153 1 Lap
21 14 Trey Hutchens Hutchens Motorsports Chevrolet 150 4 Laps
22 2 Collin Cabre UTI/NTI Toyota 140 14 Laps
23 77 Clayton Green * Intertek/Royal Vista Inc/Magnum Trailers Toyota 69 85 Laps
24 44 Dillon Bassett Bassett Gutters Ford 38 116 Laps
25 43 David Calabrese * Diamondback Towing Ford 4 150 Laps
* Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender
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