• Captures Second Career Victory In Sixth Series Start
IRWINDALE, Calif. (April 11, 2015) – Chris Eggleston took advantage of a late-race restart to regain the lead six laps from the finish and capture a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West win with a victory in the King Taco Catering/NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 at Irwindale (California) Speedway on Saturday.
Eggleston took the win in the No. 99 NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota in his first visit to the half-mile Southern California track. It marked his second victory in just his sixth series start and the 10th win at Irwindale for Bill McAnally Racing in 23 series visits to the state-of-the-art facility.
Eggleston, of Erie, Colorado qualified second quickest and battled for the lead from the drop of the green flag. After settling into second, he charged into the lead on Lap 33 and remained out front through a 74-lap green-flag run. Eggleston lost the lead on a late restart, but then gained it back on a subsequent restart six laps from the checkered flag.
“It was so crazy, the way we shuffled the lead there at the beginning,” Eggleston said. “Everybody wanted to get some bonus points for leading a lap. We decided to ride there for a while and go in a tire conservation mode. The leader wasn’t necessarily holding us up, but we wanted to see if we could get around him, just in case the yellow came out. Low and behold, half a lap later a yellow came out. We got out front and we just rode.
Then it appeared Eggleston’s hopes of a win could slip away late in the race.
“We thought our day was over when we spun our tires on that restart,” he said. “Man, I was so devastated. Then we got back and had the perfect restart on that last restart and got back by him and cleared him out of (Turn) 2. I’m just so proud of all these NAPA Filters Toyota guys for putting us here in Victory Lane today. I couldn’t be more proud of everybody associated with this team.”
Eggleston led 102 laps of the 150-lap event.
His BMR teammate Brandon McReynolds, who qualified seventh, charged to fourth in the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota and ran in the top five for much of the race. The 23-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina faded in the late stages to finish 12th, however.
Christopher Bell, in a third BMR entry, finished 15th in his series debut. The 20-year-old standout sprint car driver, who hails from Norman, Oklahoma, has been racing pavement late models for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The King Taco Catering/NAPA AUTO PARTS 150 will be televised on NBCSN on April 16. Check local TV listings for the air time in your region. It marked the 23rd series race at Irwindale Speedway since it opened in 1999.
The next race on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule will be the Wildcat 150 at Tucson (Arizona) Speedway on May 2.