Little in Perfect Position for First Win
Avoids Wreck To Take K&N Pro East Checkers At New Hampshire
LOUDON, N.H. — Third-place was the perfect position for Jesse Little on the white flag lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday. The end result was him standing in Victory Lane with his first career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win.
The 17-year-old from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, drove around the two wrecking leaders in Turn 3 en route to winning the Granite State 100. The NASCAR Next driver and 2013 K&N Pro East Sunoco Rookie of the Year was making his 33rd K&N Pro start.
“The celebration was one I will never forget,” said Little. “It was truly amazing. And to do it on my mom’s birthday, too – it’s an amazing birthday present that I can hand her that trophy.
“It’s one I’ll never forget.”
VIDEO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH JESSE LITTLE
Nick Drake led the field at the white flag lap, but when second-place Brandon Jones tried a bottom move in Turn 3, he got into Drake and the two wrecked. That opened the door for Little.
Drake wound up finishing 24th and Jones’ car rolled across the line in 21st.
“The 33 just drove right into us,” Drake said. “There’s nothing else we could have done today and it’s unfortunate for the entire team.
“The Bill McAnally NAPA Toyota was great today. We slowly made our way up to the front. My restarts are getting better each week and we were able to gain track position. We thought we had the win, but we were taken out coming for the checkered flag.”
Said Jones: “That was a tough way to end yet another great run for our No. 33 Wolfpack Energy Services team. I hate that it had to happen that way, but I can’t thank the guys on this crew for all the hard work they put in each and every week. Coming off the win in ARCA a week ago, it felt good to run up front once again, even if we don’t have the overall result to go with it.”
Eddie MacDonald ended up taking the runner-up finish, followed by Cale Conley and rookies Jay Beasley and Chad Finley.
MacDonald, a three-time K&N Pro East winner at New Hampshire, is set to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut Sunday. It was Little’s ability to fend off MacDonald that put him in position when the leaders wrecked.
“The last couple laps, I just went into defense mode and I was just starting to drive a lot lower and take a lower approach to the corner to keep Eddie from not being able to get underneath me,” Little said. “And once I started doing that, I immediately had a lot better grip and was able to put some room between me and him, and focus on the task in front of me.”
Little’s previous best finish in 33 K&N Pro starts was runner-up in the K&N Pro West race at Phoenix International Raceway in 2013.
Rookies Ronnie Bassett Jr. and Austin Hill took sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Gray Gaulding, and rookies Brodie Kostecki and Kaz Grala.
Championship points leader Ben Rhodes, who entered the race with a shot to match the series record of five straight wins, came home 22nd. Rhodes won the 21 Means 21 and battled in the top five for most of the race before a late race procedure infraction on a restart resulted in a green-flag pass-through penalty took him out of contention.
“The way the race ended was unfortunate, but we are not looking back,” Rhodes said. “The race at New Hampshire was disappointing, but that will be our mulligan for 2014. We’ll move on and be ready to contend for the victory again next weekend.”
Rhodes still leads Gaulding by 62 points and Cameron Hayley by 65 after 10 of 16 races. Little is fourth in points, followed by Jones.
The Granite State 100 will air on FOX Sports 1 on July 20 at noon.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will race next in the JEGS 150 at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 19.
RESULTS | RACE CENTRAL LIVE REPLAY | AUDIO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH WINNER JESSE LITTLE
NKNPS East New Hampshire 7/11/14 Results
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 2 97 Jesse Little Chad Little Outdoor Power Equip./NTI Chevrolet 100 47 4 Running
2 9 71 Eddie MacDonald Grimm Const./EXIT Realty/National MS Society 100 42 Running
3 30 47 Cale Conley Conley Motorsports Chevrolet 100 41 Running
4 20 42 Jay Beasley * Toyota Racing Development Toyota 100 40 Running
5 3 29 Chad Finley * Auto Value/Air Lift Ford 100 40 1 Running
6 26 4 Ronnie Bassett, Jr. * Butler Trailer Mfg./Roush-Yates Toyota 100 38 Running
7 13 22 Austin Hill * A&D Welding Ford 100 37 Running
8 5 20 Gray Gaulding Krispy Kreme Chevrolet 100 38 2 Running
9 19 43 Brodie Kostecki * Arcoplate Toyota 100 35 Running
10 28 31 Kaz Grala * NETTTS Chevrolet 100 34 Running
11 11 27 Kyle Benjamin * Benjamin Motorsports Ford 100 33 Running
12 14 52 Matt Tifft Federated Auto Parts Dodge 100 32 Running
13 22 14 Trey Hutchens * All-Star Truck Repair Chevrolet 100 31 Running
14 24 96 Kenzie Ruston Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet 100 30 Running
15 8 98 Cameron Hayley Cabinets by Hayley Chevrolet 100 29 Running
16 25 1 David Garbo, Jr. * Big Machine Records/Garbo Lobster Toyota 100 28 Running
17 27 77 Anderson Bowen * Cunningham Motorsports Dodge 100 27 Running
18 31 12 Giles Thornton Montana Raceway Park Ford 100 26 Running
19 16 81 Jeremy Burns * BBR Chevrolet 100 25 Running
20 29 63 John Salemi Envirotek USA Toyota 100 24 Running
21 7 33 Brandon Jones Wolfpack Energy Services Chevrolet 100 24 1 Running
22 1 41 Ben Rhodes * Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet 100 23 1 Running
23 23 5 Codie Rohrbaugh * Grant County Mulch Toyota 100 21 Running
24 10 15 Nick Drake * NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 99 21 1 Accident
25 6 34 Scott Heckert Project Lifesaver Chevrolet 99 19 Running
26 18 2 Ryan Gifford UTI/NASCAR Technical Institute Toyota 92 18 Accident
27 21 21 Mackena Bell Special Smiles Pediatric Dentistry Toyota 92 17 Accident
28 12 24 Brennan Newberry Qore24 Chevrolet 85 16 Accident
29 17 46 Brandon Gdovic American Messaging/Windstax Toyota 43 15 Accident
30 4 4 Sergio Pena Toyota Racing Development Toyota 30 14 Accident
31 15 6 Daniel Suarez Rev Racing Toyota 18 13 Accident
RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Ben Rhodes *, Time: 29.622 Seconds, Speed: 128.580 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 24 mins, 42 secs Average Speed: 74.947 mph Margin of Victory: .313 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 19-22 (# 6 Turn 1 – FP #81); 30-33 (#2 Turn 3 – FP #81); 43-45 (#46 Turn 1 – FP #12); 51 (Halfway Break – FP #05); 79-83 (#20 Turn 2 – FP #63); 86-88 (#24 Turn 4 – FP #1); 93-94 (#2 & #21 Turn 2 – FP #63). 7 for 22 laps.
Lap Leaders: Ben Rhodes * 1-2, Chad Finley * 3-9, Ben Rhodes * 10-25, Gray Gaulding 26-78, Brandon Jones 79-89, Nick Drake * 90-99, Jesse Little 100.
Total Laps Led: Gray Gaulding 53, Ben Rhodes * 18, Brandon Jones 11, Nick Drake * 10, Chad Finley * 7, Jesse Little 1. 6 changes involving 6 drivers.
* Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender
Sources: NASCAR PR