PRACTICE: Gilliland Paces Field at Greenville
Leads Sole K&N Pro East Practice Session
EASLEY, S.C. – Entering the weekend with three wins in a row in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, Todd Gilliland topped practice at Greenville Pickens Speedway on Saturday.
Gilliland, driver of the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota is making his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East start at the half-mile speedway in Easley, South Carolina this weekend. With just nine minutes to go in final practice, Gilliland clocked a scorching, 19.383-second lap. Gilliland’s lap was much quicker than the 20.534-second qualifying track record that was set back in 2011 by Brett Moffitt.
Second fastest during the one and only practice session was Dillon Bassett who ran a lap of 19.388 seconds. Although the driver of the No. 44 Bassett Gutters and More Ford dominated during the season opener at New Smyrna Speedway, he’s coming off a disappointing 24th-place finish after being caught up in an accident in Florida. Bassett, however, did finish fifth in the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 last year, and he followed that effort up with a sixth-place finish at Greenville Pickens Speedway last September.
Easley’s Kyle Benjamin was third fastest in the No. 40 MDM Motorsports Toyota. He swept both poles at the speedway during the 2016 season, so look for Benjamin to be fast come group qualifying later this afternoon.
Harrison Burton was fourth fastest, and this year’s New Smyrna Speedway winner, Ronnie Bassett Jr rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 was Jay Beasley, Tyler Dippel, Collin Cabre, Ruben Garcia Jr.and JP Morgan.
Group qualifying for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 is set to get underway at 4:15 p.m. The green flag will wave at 7 p.m. ET.
NKNPS East Greenville 4/8/17 Practice
K&N Pro Series East
Series:K&N Pro Series East
PRINTABLE VERSION
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff
1 16 Todd Gilliland NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 19.383 92.865 30 35
2 44 Dillon Bassett Bassett Gutters and More Ford 19.388 92.841 6 7 0.005
3 40 Kyle Benjamin MDM Motorsports Toyota 19.456 92.516 35 36 0.073
4 12 Harrison Burton Dex Imaging Toyota 19.513 92.246 33 52 0.13
5 4 Ronnie Bassett Jr Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet 19.535 92.142 27 28 0.152
6 42 Jay Beasley Honda Generators Toyota 19.607 91.804 33 34 0.224
7 30 Tyler Dippel TyCar Ford 19.643 91.636 48 48 0.26
8 2 Collin Cabre UTI/NTI Toyota 19.654 91.584 34 45 0.271
9 6 Ruben Garcia Jr SUNOCO Toyota 19.663 91.542 33 33 0.28
10 23 J P Morgan www.SoldByJackieMorgan.com 19.766 91.065 35 35 0.383
11 9 Enrique Baca * Next Gen/Peak Performance Chevrolet 19.822 90.808 39 55 0.439
12 13 Hunter Baize U. S. Forensic Chevrolet 19.842 90.717 36 38 0.459
13 4 Chase Cabre * Max Siegel Inc Toyota 19.879 90.548 3 50 0.496
14 17 Chase Purdy * Bama Buggies/Textron Off Road Toyota 19.893 90.484 27 29 0.51
15 66 Reid Wilson * TruNorth Warranty Programs Chevrolet 19.995 90.023 3 66 0.612
16 49 John Holleman IV Midway Mobile Storage Ford 20.038 89.829 46 46 0.655
17 5 Luis Rodriguez Jr * Next Gen/PEAK Performance Chevrolet 20.063 89.717 42 55 0.68
18 28 Dylan Murry * Gorsline Company Ford 20.099 89.557 50 51 0.716
19 38 Salvatore Iovino * Infinite Wireless Chevrolet 20.923 86.03 11 27
Sources: Hunter Thomas, NASCAR HomeTracks.com