Todd Gilliland took home a win at Iowa Speedway in dominating fashion on Friday Night, as NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series came into town. The son of current NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver, David Gilliland, took home his fourth NASCAR K&N Series race of 2016.
Todd Gilliland Dominates for Iowa West Coast
The Iowa event on the K&N Schedule plays host each year to the East Series vs. West Series Challenge combined race. Not only was it the 3rd win in a row for the West Series, but it was also the third win in a row for the Billy McAnally Racing #16.
“It’s always good to come out here and get a win for the west coast,” Gilliland said. “It’s just a big boost of confidence, I have been racing some of the east races, but I think just coming out and racing these guys is always a good thing to help gain respect.”
A long battle
Gilliland battled Kyle Benjamin for the entire first half of the race, going toe-to-toe in and out of each corner.
“[The battle with Gilliland] was super cool. I’ve never really raced with him, but we never touched he each other, he was right with me, I was right with him, side-by-side. It was a lot of fun.”
Benjamin started on the pole and held the top line, but Gilliland kept chipping away on the bottom of the track.
“He was definitely better than us. The only thing that got me right by him is that I found the top before he did,” Benjamin said. “Once he found the top and discovered that, his car took off. Early on in the race he could run the bottom about as well as I could run the top. If you can do that here, your car is very strong, so that definitely worried me.”
After the halfway mark, Gilliland was faced with challenges on the restart from Benjamin, Austin Theriault, and Riley Herbst.
“It was kind of big tonight to be the leader on the restarts,” Gilliland said. “I didn’t get the best first couple of restarts, but then My dad on the radio told me, ‘You have just got to be patient on the restarts.’ That got us back out front.”
NASCAR K&N West Top 5 Finishers
1. Todd Gilliland
2. Ryan Partridge
3. Riley Herbst
4. Gracin Raz
5. Jesse Little
NASCAR K&N West Standings
1. Todd Gilliland 336
2. Ryan Partridge 333/-3
3. Noah Gragson 312/-24
4. Chris Eggleston 308/-28
5. Gracin Raz 303/-33
6. Julia Landauer 294/-42
7. Cole Rouse 292/-44
8. Riley Herbst 291/-45
9. Matt Levin 259/-77
10. Ron Norman 258/-78
NASCAR K&N East Top 5 Finishers
1. Kyle Benjamin
2. Austin Theriault
3. Collin Cabre
4. Justin Haley
5. Hunter Baize
NASCAR K&N East Standings
1. Justin Haley 415
2. Kyle Benjamin 383/-32
3. Austin Theriault 359/-56
4. Spencer Davis 354/-61
5. Hunter Baize 335/-80
6. Tyler Dippel 331/-84
7. Noah Gragson 327/-88
8. Collin Cabre 316/-99
9. Harrison Burton 310/-105
10. John Holleman IV 302/-113
