Bill McAnally Racing Sweeps Podium at Evergreen Speedway
- Aug 24, 2016
It was a good weekend for Bill McAnally Racing at Evergreen Speedway in Washington. The three drivers from BMR swept the podium in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race. Todd Gilliland won his third K&N Pro Series West race in row, leading every lap of the NAPA Auto Parts 150. Chris Eggleston, the reigning K&N Pro Series West champion, was the runner-up. Rookie Riley Herbst was third, giving him his first podium finish in nine races this season.
"It was fun. It was good to get BMR 1-2-3 here at Evergreen Speedway," Herbst said. "I can't thank everybody up at Roseville, Sacramento for all their hard work. This Nos Energy Drink Toyota Camry was really good." Gilliland won the pole and ran away from the field. He has won five of nine K&N Pro Series West races and has six overall. He also won the K&N Pro Series East season opener in Florida. Even though Gilliland never lost the lead at Evergreen Speedway, he said it was a challenging race.
"It was nerve-racking for sure," Gilliland said. "I had to be confident. The tires that I saved really paid off at the end." Eggleston battled Herbst for second place throughout the race. There were six caution periods for 29 laps, but after each restart, Gilliland pulled away easily. "A lot of those guys, they try to charge really hard," Eggleston said. "The 19 (Herbst) left really early, really hard both segments. We had to kind of play it safe, make sure we kept the tires under us while they went out and burned their stuff up." Eggleston posted his seventh top-five finish of the season and is in third place in the K&N Pro Series West standings. In the race at Evergreen, he said the last caution period on lap 121 was the difference in the race. "We kind of came to the 16. Maybe if that last yellow didn't come out," Eggleston said. "We were really good on the long runs. We were terrible on the short runs. Maybe if that last yellow didn't come out we could have given him a run for his money. Hats off to the 16 (Gilliland) crew. They did a great job. Bill McAnally Racing finished 1-2-3. That's a pretty good weekend. Not, overall, a bad a night." All the BMR drivers acknowledged the successful results of each team. It was definitely a night for all of them to celebrate. "I thought we had something for second," Herbst said after the race on Saturday night. "Give it to 16 and Todd today. They were all by themselves today. The end of the day was good, our first top three. We're getting some good momentum to end the season, so I'm happy about it." Gilliand has a 12-point lead over Ryan Partridge in the K&N Pro Series West standings after nine races. Partridge was fifth in the race at Evergreen Speedway. "It's really nice, winning three in a row now," Gilliand said. "It's really good. After a bad weekend in Sonoma, it put us right back in the points lead." The next K&N Pro Series West race is the Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Douglas County Speedway in Oregon on Aug. 27. |
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