“Puerto Rican rookie overcomes challenges to finish 14th”
Bryan Ortiz
Bristol, TN. (March 17, 2012) … Bryan Ortiz made his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Widow Wax 125. The event marked the first race of the 2012 season for the NASCAR K&M Pro Series East.
The Bayamon, Puerto Rico native begins his second season in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and Rev Racing. Last year, Ortiz competed in NASCAR Whelan All American Series Late Model Stocks before moving to the K&N Pro Series East for 2012.
The 23-year old was making his first career start at the .533-mile high banked concrete oval and learned quickly just how fast this track can be. After two very good practice sessions on Friday, March 16, Ortiz and his Rev Racing Toyota team were set to qualify Saturday afternoon.
However, Ortiz broke a sway bar mount exiting turn four as he came to take the green flag on his qualifying run. Fortunately, Ortiz did not make contact with the retaining wall and drove his Toyota to the pits. The Rev Racing crew quickly diagnosed the problem and began the repairing process. With very little time between qualifying and the 125-lap race, the crew had to race against the clock in order for Ortiz to race. Repairs were made and Ortiz would start 33rd.
It didn’t take long for Ortiz to show that he had a very fast car as he raced his way to 26th in only ten laps. When caution waved on lap 14 for a spin on the front stretch, Ortiz commented that his car “was a little loose, but pretty good”.
Restarting in 23rd on lap 19, Ortiz would work race traffic and move into 19th position at the halfway point of the race. During the 10-minute break, Ortiz told his crew that his Toyota was “still loose coming off the turns”.
With fresh tires, Ortiz restarted 19th on lap 70 and began his march toward the top 15. With a very competitive field of cars in front of him, Ortiz moved to 18th by lap 100.
“My car is starting to run hot,” Ortiz radioed to his crew on lap 107. Trying to “nurse” his car through the final 18 laps, Ortiz got a break on lap 119 when a multi-car crash in turn three brought a seven minute red flag. The accident happened between several cars racing directly in front of Ortiz, and the rookie displayed the ability of a veteran to avoid the spinning cars. His ability to avoid the collision earned Ortiz the Coca-Cola Move of the Race honors.
After the track was cleared, the red flag was replaced by the yellow caution flag and the competitors would have a two lap dash to the finish. Ortiz did an outstanding job of working through traffic in the final laps and finished in 14th position.
“My Toyota was pretty drivable considering the problem I had qualifying,” Ortiz said after the race. “The team did a good job making repairs. I had plenty of opportunities today to not finish this race. Several times, another driver would ‘chop me off’ entering the turns. Then, the car started running hot late in the race. The last adjustment the crew made to the car really helped. All-in-all, a pretty good start to our season when you consider everything that happened.”
The next race for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will be Saturday, March 31st at Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina. The Kevin Whitaker 150 will be the second of fourteen races on the 2012 schedule for the series.
– Performance Sports Partners Press Release
BRISTOL, TN. (MARCH 18, 2012) – The 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season started in a familiar fashion for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program and the Rev Racing team of drivers with two finishing inside the top-ten here, at the world’s fastest half mile, last night.
Ryan Gifford piloted his No. 2 Universal Technical Institute/Toyota Camry to a third place finish and his teammate, Kyle Larson, fought a loose condition but managed to secure a ninth place finish for his No. 6 Toyota Camry in his first career K&N start.
“We had a really good UTI/Toyota Camry all week,” said Gifford. “It was a great start to the season and I’m excited about what’s in store for the rest of the year. My crew chief (Dennis Conner) did a super job giving me a very fast car. I didn’t get it to the top this time, but we’ve got the team in place to make that happen soon enough”
The night started with a few challenges for the Rev Racing program as Gifford’s teammate, Bryan Ortiz, a native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, had a track bar bracket break during the qualifying attempt in his No. 4 Toyota Camry and had to start at the rear of the 35 car field. Larson qualified sixth, Gifford seventh and teammate Jorge Arteaga, a native of Aguascalientes, Mexico, one of three Rookie-of-the-Year contenders from Rev Racing, started the night in the twenty-third starting position.
Arteaga brought out the second caution of the night on lap 30 when he made contact with the front stretch retaining wall while trying to avoid a sliding car off of turn four. While the damage was repaired, Arteaga went several laps down and finished the night in thirtieth position.
At the caution Larson was in third position, Gifford in fifth and Ortiz had already moved up eleven spots to twenty-fourth. They continued to battle for top positions until the halfway break at lap 69. At the break Gifford was still in fifth, Larson had dropped to ninth and Ortiz had moved up to nineteenth.
After the break, Gifford, Larson and Ortiz continued to display their talent and at the night’s last caution on lap 119, all three found themselves inside the top-fifteen.
If a rookie debut at Thunder Valley, and the first ever K&N Pro Series East race at the venue, wasn’t enough excitement then a Green, White, Checkered finish no doubt had the hearts pounding for the young NASCAR Drive for Diversity drivers.
“After the start we had, I was just happy to be in the race and to be in a good position at the end,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz moved up twenty positions to fiftieth before the final restart and ended the night in fourteenth position, earning him the Coca-Cola Move of the Race Award.
“All of the drivers did a very good job at one of NASCAR’s most challenging tracks,” said Jefferson Hodges, Rev Racing’s Director of Competition. “A top-three; a top-ten; making up twenty-one positions on this track, as a rookie driver, and in your debut race and for another rookie driver to remain competitive after a wreck on lap 30; what more can I say? I’m extremely proud of this entire team. This is going to be an exciting year for Rev Racing and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program.”
Revolution Racing Driver Wins His Fourth Race in 19 Career Starts
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (July 24, 2011) – Darrell Wallace Jr. got back to his winnings ways in the Jegs 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway.
En route to winning his fourth race in 19 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races over two seasons, and his second of 2011, Wallace and his U.S. Army Toyota Camry ran a nearly flawless race. He qualified second behind series point leader Max Gresham, but made a pass for the lead on lap 36 and never was seriously challenged again.
Wallace’s first win of the season came at Richmond (Va.) International Speedway in April.
The win marked Revolution Racing’s fourth win in nine starts in 2011, with teammate Sergio Pena, driving the Freightliner Toyota Camry, to two NASCAR K&N Pro Series wins this season.
With the win, Wallace again became a serious contender in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race, now trailing Gresham by 100 points with three races remaining and Brett Moffitt by 20 points.
After solid races by all four Revolution Racing teams, Michael Cherry in the Fueling Your Dreams Tour Toyota Camry finished 11th, Ryan Gifford in the TRD Toyota Camry finished 14th and Pena finished 15th, one lap down.
Late in the running, with Gifford and Pena running nose to tail in fifth and sixth, Pena tagged the TRD Camry and sent Gifford spinning, which cost him valuable track position. Later in the running, Pena was running in the top five when the he was turned by the 16 car of Daniel Suarez causing Pena to spin into the infield and lose one lap.
All four Revolution Racing Camry’s finished in the top 15 and brought their cars home without heavy damage despite the rough short-track nature of Columbus.
On the same night, the Revolution Racing Whelen All-American Series late model program was competing with three NASCAR Drive for Diversity participants at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
Mackena Bell had the best night of the three drivers in the 60-lap race, despite finishing 14th of 18 cars. Running well within the top 10, her Toyota Camry was forced to stop on the track when a late race spin in front of her blocked the track. She lost valuable track position, and despite running a very clean and consistent race she finished well back in the order. However, her performance showed that she has improved greatly in the Whelen All-American Series.
Tayla Orleans and Trey Gibson finished ninth and 10th in their Toyota Camry’s respectively at Hickory, and both ran good races.
The Revolution Racing Whelen All-American Series late model program will compete in more than 140 races with six drivers as part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program. Four NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, six NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and multiple youth racing teams are supported by NASCAR, the U.S. Army, Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota Racing Development (TRD), Goodyear, Freightliner Trucks, Wix Filters, Castle Products, Logitech, Play Seat, iRacing and others.
The Jegs 150 can be seen Thursday night at 6 p.m. (ET) on SPEED.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (July 17, 2011) – Things were looking great through practice, qualifying and the early parts of the New England 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Friday for three of the four Revolution Racing NASCAR K&N Pro Series East drivers.
Darrell Wallace Jr. and his U.S. Army Toyota Camry qualified second, Sergio Peña and his Freightliner/U.S. Army Toyota Camry qualified third and Ryan Gifford in the TRD Toyota Camry qualified 12th.
When the field of 36 cars took the green flag, Gifford took off passing four cars on the start to move into the eighth spot behind teammates Wallace and Peña.
Michael Cherry in the Fueling Your Dreams Toyota Camry battled engine issues and was only able to produce a 30th-place qualifying effort. His day would eventually be cut short at lap 14 when the engine expired.
Wallace and Peña each lead early and traded the top spot with pole winner and eventual race winner Max Gresham in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry. As most of the leaders came to pit road early during a caution period for tires and fuel, the Revolution Racing cars stuck to their strategy of getting beyond lap 60 before taking on fresh Goodyear tires. With varying strategies up and down pit road, it would ultimately come down to the timing of caution flags to help determine track position.
Wallace, who continued to show strength throughout the first half of the race, had a distributor go bad on his U.S. Army Toyota and was forced to the garage for a change, which cost him 22 laps. He finished his day in 30th.
At lap 77 Peña came to pit road for tires, but was penalized following a violation involving a pit gun and hose which was pulled outside the pit box by exiting Freightliner Toyota. The resulting pass through penalty cost him valuable track position and he was forced to restart at the tail end of the field in 28th position. Despite this, he was able to finish eighth which moved him up one spot in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East point standings to fifth. Wallace fell one spot to fourth.
Gifford, who took the lead on lap 51 but was unable to maintain the spot, finished 12th and moved into 10th in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East point’s race.
Cherry is 18th in the standings.
Four races remain in the season with the next event coming Saturday at Columbus (Ohio) Speedway.
Three Revolution Racing D4D NASCAR Whelen-All American Series teams took to the Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway Friday night while their teammates were in New Hampshire. Bryan Ortiz, Tayla Orleans and Jessica Brunelli battled the tough concrete track at Kingsport with only Puerto Rico’s Ortiz coming out of the race without significant damage to his Toyota Camry. He would finish fifth after a disappointing 12th-place qualifying effort.
Orleans, from Randleman, N.C. finished ninth after qualifying seventh of 19 cars and Brunelli of Hayward, Calif. finished 18th after qualifying 17th.
Both Orleans and Brunelli were involved in accidents at Kingsport that caused significant damage to their Toyota Camry’s, with only Brunelli’s able to be repaired in time for Saturday night’s race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
Ortiz qualified fifth at the historic Hickory track and finished ninth, while Brunelli had a much better night qualifying ninth and finishing 11th in the 16-car field.
The Revolution Racing Whelen All-American Series late model program will compete in more than 140 races with six drivers as part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program. Four NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, six NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and multiple youth racing teams are supported by NASCAR, the U.S. Army, Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota Racing Development (TRD), Goodyear, Freightliner Trucks, Wix Filters, Castle Products, Logitech, Play Seat, iRacing and others.
The New England 125 can be seen Thursday night at 6 p.m. (ET) on SPEED.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 12, 2011) – Darrell Wallace Jr and his U.S. Army Toyota Camry entered the Slack Auto Parts 150 at Gresham Motorsports Park with the series point lead and one of the favorites to win the race. Despite the fourth-place effort on the half-mile track, Wallace was in position all night to win the race leading 56 of the 154 laps run.
Race winner Max Gresham, son of the track owner, was the only other leader on the night.
Wallace now leads Gresham by five points in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points with six races remaining.
Teammates Ryan Gifford, driving the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) Toyota, Michael Cherry in the Fueling Your Dreams Toyota and Sergio Pena in the Freightliner Toyota finished 12th, 13th and 20th respectively.
On the race’s final restart Wallace started second. He and Gresham, who had battled all night for the top spot, went hard into turn one and washed up the track with Gresham on the inside. Wallace was forced up and out of the racing groove which allowed Matt DiBenedetto and Andrew Smith to pass Wallace for second and third place as Wallace did a good job hanging on for fourth.
“We were better than a fourth-place car all night,” Wallace said. “Our U.S. Army Camry was just as strong as Gresham and we were in a good spot on the final restart until we got forced up the track. I hung on to it and as a result we maintained our lead in the points.”
For Gifford and Cherry, it was a rather uneventful night. Both drivers ran strong races inside the top-15 all night, with Gifford and Pena running inside the top 10 for much of the race. Pena, who ran out of fuel at lap 148, finished 20th, four laps down.
Gifford is now 11th in points, Pena 12th and Cherry 17th.
The Revolution Racing NASCAR Whelen All-American Series teams also had uneventful nights, with races at Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway and Hickory (N.C.) Motors Speedway.
Trey Gibson and Jorge Arteaga raced two 50-lap races at Kingsport Friday night. Both qualified in the middle of the 16-car fields. Unfortunately for both drivers, and virtually the entire field, the pole sitter of both races missed a shift on the start of each race which caused the field to stack up and eventually spread out in a single-file line. As a result, very little passing occurred in either race and there were no caution periods which would have allowed the field to reset, likely resulting in more passing.
Gibson finished the races ninth and eighth respectively, while Arteaga finished eighth and 10th.
“If the field would not have gotten so spread out due to the problem on the start I feel he would have finished higher in both races,” said Revolution Racing Late Model Competition Director Jefferson Hodges. “But for Trey two top 10s is good considering he had never been to Kingsport before, and for Jorge he did a good job given how spread out the field got. Jorge will do a much better job when he gets a handle on this track and realizes how much he needs to hustle the car in qualifying.”
The same story was true the following night for drivers Tayla Orleans and Gibson. It also marked the debut of Dallas Montes to the Revolution Racing NASCAR Whelen All-American program.
For Gibson, it was also his first trip to Hickory, so the entire weekend was a learning experience for him.
“Trey’s weekend was exactly what this program is all about, he learned a ton at both tracks, is smart enough to accept the fact that he is learning, willing to take advice and had no mechanical issues so he got all his laps in practice,” Hodges said. “He will be much better when he returns to the track. He did end up hitting the wall with about 15 laps to go and pulled the exhaust out of the car. When the tone of the motor changed he was unsure if it was a motor problem or just the exhaust so he parked the car. It was just exhaust but I applaud his respect for our equipment.”
For Orleans her day and night was also uneventful, starting 14th and finishing 12th.
“She didn’t have her best day at the track Saturday,” Hodges said. “Her car was good but for some reason she just wasn’t on her game. She’s a good race car driver and will bounce back and be able to focus on getting to the front.”
For Montes, who is a past participant in the Drive for Diversity Combine, he arrived from Bakersfield, Calif. Wednesday and was in a car at Hickory on Friday for a short practice session.
His first race-day experience with the team on Saturday was fast paced, as the team did a great job of keeping him on track during all sessions allowing the young driver to get in as many practice laps in the heat of the day as possible.
Montes’ race went as planned with the driver starting 15th and finishing 13th. Given his lack of experience in late models and particularly at Hickory, he will need much more practice time before he moves up the ladder against the tough fields at Hickory or Kingsport.
The Revolution Racing Whelen All-American Series late model program plans to compete in more than 140 races with six drivers as part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program. Four NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, six NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and multiple youth racing teams are supported by NASCAR, the U.S. Army, Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota Racing Development (TRD), Freightliner Trucks, Wix Filters, Castle Products, Logitech, Play Seat, iRacing and others.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series teams of Wallace, Pena, Gifford and Cherry will be back in action again Saturday night in the Visit Hampton Va. 175 at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.
The Slack Auto Parts 150 can be seen Thursday night at 6 p.m. (ET) on SPEED.
When it comes to driver development in NASCAR, it’s a never-ending process, no matter how it’s labeled.
NASCAR has always had a strong developmental ladder system, from the Whelen All-American Series racing at weekly short tracks, through the touring division, which currently includes a variety of cars racing from coast-to-coast, and even into the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series.
But NASCAR doesn’t have a lock on driver development. Drivers of all ages are honing their skills in variety of short-track equipment under an equally diverse set of sanctions.
And when they graduate beyond their weekly tracks, in addition to the cornucopia of NASCAR feeder series there’s also the ARCA Racing Series featuring cars more similar to what was formerly raced in the Cup Series, along with a plethora of late-model tours including ACT, ASA, PASS and USAR Pro Cup.
And while the proverbial pot’s always boiling, with hundreds of names of talented drivers struggling to be noticed, several names have shown themselves to be in the forefront of the development landscape. Read the rest on NASCAR.com
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 5, 2011) – Four Revolution Racing drivers tackled the tough Bowman Gray Stadium June 4 in the Army Strong 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race while four other Revolution Racing drivers were doing battle at short tracks in Tennessee and North Carolina in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
Darrell Wallace Jr, Sergio Pena, Ryan Gifford and Michal Cherry took beautiful Toyota Camry race cars to the quarter-mile historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., but like most of the field of 27, none brought their cars home without significant damage. The track is known as a rough place to race, and it did not disappoint the crowd of more than 15,000.
Of the 156 laps raced, 87 were recorded as yellow-flag laps during 15 different caution periods.
Darrell Wallace Jr, who qualified his U.S. Army Toyota Camry ninth, but was forced to start from rear after having to fix body damage suffered during his qualifying run, was the highest finishing Revolution Racing car. His sixth-place finish was strong enough to retake the points lead in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East by 17 points over race winner Matt DiBenedetto.
Gifford brought his battered Toyota Racing Development Toyota Camry home 10th, Cherry’s Fueling Your Dreams Toyota Camry was 14th and Pena’s Freightliner Toyota Camry was forced to retire early with engine failure after front-end damage caused overheating.[callout_right]Every car in the field of 27 had some damage at the end of the race, and only the car of DiBenedetto, which led every lap, did not have what would be described as significant damage.e[/callout_right]
Cherry, who started 23rd and was thrilled with his 14th-place finish, stopped on the race track after the checkered flag and gave the huge and raucous crowd a salute from the roof of his Toyota Camry, which brought cheers from the stands louder than those for the winner.
“I started the race trying to conserve my equipment and bring the car home in one piece,” Cherry said. “But after about two laps it was clear that wasn’t going to happen given that someone got into you virtually every lap. I wanted to say thank you to the fans and let them know that even though it was only a 14th-place finish, it was the hardest fought top-15 finish in my life. That was work.”
After starting at the rear, Wallace, 17, did all he could just to finish the demanding race.
“I am so proud to have driven the U.S. Army car here in the Army Strong 150,” he said. “It is appropriate that the Army sponsored this race, given that you had to be ready for battle and also very smart to finish this race. Starting where we did, I just wanted to earn the best finish possible, and even though we punished our Camry in the process, it proved to be Army Strong and got us to another top-10 finish.”
Like his teammates, Gifford got tossed throughout the night like a ping pong ball en route to a top-10 finish, which moved him up to eighth from 11th in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series point standings.
[callout_left]I expected it to be rough here, but honestly not this rough. I’m happy we finished and gained some points. -Ryan Gifford[/callout_left]“We gave it all we had tonight and I can honestly say I have never been involved in anything like that before,” said the Winchester, Tenn. driver. “Normally I wouldn’t be all that happy with a 10th-place finish, but tonight we’ll take it. I expected it to be rough here, but honestly not this rough. I’m happy we finished and gained some points.”
By contrast, Revolution Racing’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series teams had relatively mild nights at Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway and Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway Friday and Saturday.
At Kingsport, Puerto Rico’s Bryan Ortiz guided his Toyota Camry to a fifth –place finish in the field of 14. His race started with a fifth-place qualifying effort. He was shuffled back a few spots on the start but ran a clean race in line with the leaders until he was forced off track and cut a tire which required him to restart at the rear of the field after the tire change. Ortiz did a great job of coming through the field to regain the fifth position, and gained tremendous experience.
“Bryan is a class act and did a great job Friday at Kingsport,” said Revolution Racing Late Model Competition Director Jefferson Hodges. “Other than a bobble on the start, he ran a very good race and showed a lot of poise after cutting a tire and being forced to come back through the field.”
In the same race, Randleman N.C.’s Tayla Orleans showed the same kind of patience and ability.
Starting sixth, Orleans ran in the fifth spot most of the race but did not have the car to improve her position. The team rolled the dice by bringing her Toyota Camry down pit road for adjustments under caution in hopes that she would be able to at least get her spot back and also pass the top four cars.
After adjustments, she and her Camry were only able to climb back to the ninth spot, which was not indicative of how she drove her Toyota Camry but did provide her valuable experience.
“Tayla did a great job all night and was especially fast in practice,” Hodges said. “With more experience at Kingsport she will be winning poles and running up front all night. She has good car control and is a quick learner. She was a fifth-place car all night and although we made changes that helped her she couldn’t dig back to the top five. Regardless, like Bryan she did a great job and was easily one of the fastest cars at the track.”
The following night at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway, Jessica Brunelli and Mackena Bell battled the veterans at one of NASCAR’s most historic venues.
The night featured twin 50 races and Brunelli captured the pole for both of them.
Her Toyota Camry was very fast throughout practice and qualifying and she led the field of 13 to the start of both events.
In the first race, she ran the bottom line two wide for a long period and eventually got her right rear tire hot and fell back finishing fifth. During the race, she also took in fumes from the car and was forced to take oxygen following the race and receive an evaluation from the track’s medical staff. She recovered nicely and was ready to go again when the second race started.
Bell, from Carson City, Nev., qualified her Toyota Camry 12th for both races and finished ninth in both races.
Despite recording the same finishing position, Hodges’ assessment of Bell’s performance was that she ran a much better race in the second feature and that the only reason for her ninth-place finish was a multi-car spin in front of her that she and Brunelli became innocent victims of.
Both Bell and Brunelli were headed for high finishes before the spin, and both did a good job recovering to finish where they did.
“Mackena was ready to go in the second race and she seemed like a different driver from the first race,” Hodges said. “Jessica fell back on the start of the second race but other than that ran a smart race in a car that was much better during the day when the track was hot than it was later in the evening after the sun went down. I am very proud of both Jessica and Mackena and feel that both learned a lot this weekend.
“All four of our drivers did a good job and they are all showing me how they earned the opportunity to race with Revolution Racing.”
The Revolution Racing Whelen All-American Series late model program plans to compete in more than 140 races with six drivers as part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program. The program is supported by NASCAR, the U.S. Army, Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota Racing Development (TRD), Freightliner Trucks, Wix Filters, Castle Products, Logitech, Play Seat, iRacing and others.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series teams of Wallace, Pena, Gifford and Cherry will be back in action again Saturday night in the Slack Auto Parts 150 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga.
The Army Strong 150 can be seen Thursday night at 6 p.m. (ET) on SPEED.
NEWTON, Iowa (May 21, 2011) – Darrell Wallace Jr. slipped only one spot in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points standing despite finishing ninth Saturday in the Pork “Be Inspired” 175 Saturday. Race winner Brett Moffitt took over the top spot now leading Wallace and his U.S. Army Toyota Camry by one point.
Teammate Ryan Gifford fought hard down the stretch of the 175-lap race in his Toyota Racing Development Toyota Camry, making several impressive passes in the final two laps to come home sixth, three-wide across the line and inches behind a top-five finish.
Sergio Pena, driving the Revolution Racing Freightliner Toyota Camry and Michael Cherry, driving the NASCAR’s Fueling Your Dreams Toyota Camry, each suffered cut tires early in the race and finished 29th and 40th respectively.
[callout_left]”Our TRD Camry was really strong and I’m happy with a sixth-place finish. We’ve had terrible luck this season and we’re better than where we sit in points, but we avoided mistakes tonight and didn’t hit anything. If we keep running races like this the wins will come and we’ll get ourselves back in contention for the championship” – Ryan Gifford[/callout_left]Gifford improved to 11th in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points while Pena fell four spots to sixth. Cherry took a big hit falling to 19th from his previous 11th-place position.
“We had a pretty good car all night, but we just didn’t have anything for the leaders,” Gifford said. “Our TRD Camry was really strong and I’m happy with a sixth-place finish. We’ve had terrible luck this season and we’re better than where we sit in points, but we avoided mistakes tonight and didn’t hit anything. If we keep running races like this the wins will come and we’ll get ourselves back in contention for the championship.”
“This wasn’t our best race but we didn’t hurt ourselves too badly,” Wallace said. “We lost a few spots on pit road with an illegal fueling issue when the gas can fell, but it didn’t hurt us too much. We didn’t have the car to beat tonight and wouldn’t have had much for Moffitt even if we had stayed up front. We’re still right there with Moffitt for the championship and with eight races left anything can happen. We had to fight hard for a top-10 tonight, and it was typical of a hard-fought U.S. Army effort. There were a lot of Army personnel at the race and I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t give up and we gave them a good show.”
The Pork “Be Inspired” 175 can be seen on a taped-delayed basis on SPEED June 2 at 6 p.m.
NEWTON, Iowa (May 19, 2011) – Darrell Wallace Jr. and Sergio Peña take their Toyota Camry’s and the goal of protecting the top two spots in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standings respectively into Iowa Speedway for the Pork “Be Inspired” 175 Saturday, while Revolution Racing teammates Michael Cherry and Ryan Gifford come into the race with plans to improve their 11th- and 12th-place point positions.
Wallace, driving the No. 6 U.S. Army Toyota Camry and the winner of the last race at Richmond International Raceway, leads Peña and his No. 4 Freightliner Toyota Camry by 26 points. Both Revolution Racing drivers have one win this season. Wallace has captured three wins in 13 NASCAR K&N Series East starts over two seasons.
Cherry, in his first full season of NASCAR K&N Pro Series competition is coming off an impressive seventh-place finish at Richmond International Raceway two weeks ago. He started his NASCAR’s Fueling Your Dreams Toyota Camry 16th and patiently worked his way to his first top-10 of the season and third in six career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts.
Gifford and his No. 02 Toyota Racing Development Toyota Camry hope to improve upon a 31st-place finish at Richmond. It marked Gifford’s lowest race result in 13 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts for Revolution Racing. His aim is to use Iowa to return to the form that led to top-five finishes in 40 percent of his starts last season.
[callout_left]We are only 25 percent into our season so we have a lot of racing to do, but with the reliability of our engines from the students at NASCAR Technical Institute and the overall performance of our Toyota Camry’s we don’t see any reason we can’t continue to excel.[/callout_left]The Pork “Be Inspired” 175 at the .875-mile Iowa Speedway will bring together the best teams and cars from both the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West. At least 60 cars are expected to attempt to qualify for the 40 starting positions.
Last year Wallace was Revolution Racing’s highest finishing driver at Iowa, coming home third. The defending winner of the race is Max Gresham.
Despite the standing of Cherry and Gifford outside the top-10 in driver points, having all four drivers inside the top 12 is a major accomplishment for the second-year program.
“Have four cars in the top 12 of a series as competitive as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East is a major testament to our drivers and crew members that support them,” said competition director Andy Santerre. “We are only 25 percent into our season so we have a lot of racing to do, but with the reliability of our engines from the students at NASCAR Technical Institute and the overall performance of our Toyota Camry’s we don’t see any reason we can’t continue to excel.”
“We have four drivers all highly motivated to win and make a name in NASCAR, so the friendly internal competition just to be the highest finishing driver in the company is healthy. Whoever wins that battle is usually also contending for a race win.”
Practice, qualifying and the race all take place Saturday. The race is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. CT. It can be heard live at NASCARhometracks.com Radio, Live and can be seen on a taped-delayed basis on SPEED June 2 at 6 p.m. ET.
After a tight battle at the front, Darrell Wallace Jr. wrestled the lead away from Max Gresham for the final time on Lap 79 and held on to win the inaugural Blue Ox 100 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Richmond International Raceway.
Wallace, from Mobile, Ala., gained the third victory in just his 13th career start in the K&N Pro Series East. He took the lead from Gresham for the first time on Lap 55, and the two later swapped it following a restart on Lap 78, and for the decisive time on Lap 79.
“We just had to be patient, and be there at about halfway,” Wallace said. “[Max] Gresham was pretty strong, and I think we just a little bit better car and a better line, and we just took it away from him.”
Wallace pilots the No. 6 U.S. Army Toyota for Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity. He gained two wins as a rookie in 2010, and has finished in the top 10 in all but three of his career starts.
Brett Moffitt wound up second with Corey LaJoie, Gresham and Alex Bowman in the top five. For LaJoie, it was his fifth career top-10 finish, all of which have come at tracks in which NASCAR’s national series compete.
“[Kevin] Harvick came up and talked to me before the race and gave me tips on the line,” LaJoie said. “I can’t tell my speed secrets, but another caution and we might have had it. He gave me some really useful tips that I didn’t even pick up on in practice. I didn’t realize what to do, so I really appreciate that.”
For Bowman, it was his third top-10 finish in as many starts to begin his K&N Pro Series career.
The rest of the top 10 was Jason Bowles, Michael Cherry, Ryan Blaney, Sergio Peña and Matt DiBenedetto.
The Blue Ox 100 marked the K&N Pro Series East debuts for Blaney, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dave Blaney, and action sports superstar Travis Pastrana. Pastrana finished 33rd in the event.
With the win, Wallace now leads the season standings after three races by 26 points on teammate Peña. Wallace ended up leading a race-high 55 laps with Gresham the other 45.
The race was slowed by just two cautions. There was a 1:48 red flag delay for rain. It can be seen on SPEED on Thursday, May 19.
The K&N Pro Series East will next be in action when it is joined by the K&N Pro Series West in the annual East-West Challenge presented by Tompkins Industries at Iowa Speedway on May 21.
NEWTON, Iowa (May 21, 2011) – Darrell Wallace Jr. slipped only one spot in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points standing despite finishing ninth Saturday in the Pork “Be Inspired” 175 Saturday. Race winner Brett Moffitt took over the top spot now leading Wallace and his U.S. Army Toyota Camry by one point.
Teammate Ryan Gifford fought hard down the stretch of the 175-lap race in his Toyota Racing Development Toyota Camry, making several impressive passes in the final two laps to come home sixth, three-wide across the line and inches behind a top-five finish.
Sergio Pena, driving the Revolution Racing Freightliner Toyota Camry and Michael Cherry, driving the NASCAR’s Fueling Your Dreams Toyota Camry, each suffered cut tires early in the race and finished 29th and 40th respectively.
[callout_left]”Our TRD Camry was really strong and I’m happy with a sixth-place finish. We’ve had terrible luck this season and we’re better than where we sit in points, but we avoided mistakes tonight and didn’t hit anything. If we keep running races like this the wins will come and we’ll get ourselves back in contention for the championship” – Ryan Gifford[/callout_left]Gifford improved to 11th in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points while Pena fell four spots to sixth. Cherry took a big hit falling to 19th from his previous 11th-place position.
“We had a pretty good car all night, but we just didn’t have anything for the leaders,” Gifford said. “Our TRD Camry was really strong and I’m happy with a sixth-place finish. We’ve had terrible luck this season and we’re better than where we sit in points, but we avoided mistakes tonight and didn’t hit anything. If we keep running races like this the wins will come and we’ll get ourselves back in contention for the championship.”
“This wasn’t our best race but we didn’t hurt ourselves too badly,” Wallace said. “We lost a few spots on pit road with an illegal fueling issue when the gas can fell, but it didn’t hurt us too much. We didn’t have the car to beat tonight and wouldn’t have had much for Moffitt even if we had stayed up front. We’re still right there with Moffitt for the championship and with eight races left anything can happen. We had to fight hard for a top-10 tonight, and it was typical of a hard-fought U.S. Army effort. There were a lot of Army personnel at the race and I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t give up and we gave them a good show.”
The Pork “Be Inspired” 175 can be seen on a taped-delayed basis on SPEED June 2 at 6 p.m.
