Sergio Peña Wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at Langley Speedway
- Jun 22, 2011
Peña won the VisitHamptonVA 175 at Langley Speedway on Saturday night for his second win of the K&N Pro Series East season. He won his first race at South Boston Speedway in Virginia in April.
Too bad for Peña the K&N Pro Series East doesn't visit a Virginia race track again in 2011. "This run was unbelievable," said Peña, who is from Winchester, Va. "Being able to lead the most laps was awesome. Racing hard with Coleman Pressley, Matt DiBenedetto, and just everybody, it was really fun." Peña led a race-high 99 laps. He took the lead for the first time in the race on lap 44, passing Pressley, who won the pole and was out fron for 42 of the first 43 laps. "In the beginning I was trying to save tires as much as I could and that's when DiBenedetto and the others flew by me and pretty much left me," Peña said. "Then my spotter and crew chief told me to step it up a little bit. I was able to get by them before that last caution and that's what put me in position."
Max Gresham passed Peña for the lead on lap 84, but Peña worked his way through lapped traffic and regained the lead on lap 117. Peña was out front for the remainder of the race. As impressive as Peña was in winning his second race of his K&N Pro Series East career, Brett Moffitt battled to a second-place after cutting a tire on the first lap of the race. Moffitt had to pit early to repair the tire. It put him down two laps, but Moffitt rallied through the field and jumped up to second place behind Peña in the closing laps. "I was pretty used up at the end there. He was too," Moffitt said. "I was slowly catching him. Congratulations to them. This is their second win of the season. That's awesome for them. I was praying for a caution there at the end, hoping we could work something out. Second's not bad after the night we had." Gresham finished third, followed by DiBenedetto in fourth and Chase Elliott in fifth. Gresham moved into first place in the K&N Pro Series East standings after seven races. It is the first time in his career that he has led the K&N Pro Series East standings. Gresham, who led 33 laps in the race at Langley Speedway, is 17 points ahead of DiBenedetto. "I had a lot of fun racing here at Langley Speedway," said Gresham, who posted his sixth top-five finish in seven K&N Pro Series East races. "To come home third here is a great night for us, a great points night for us. I'm glad to be up front. All these solid top-five finishes we're getting recently is definitely helping us." Peña is in seventh place in the K&N Pro Series East standings. His two wins are his only top-five finishes of the season. The VisitHamptonVA 175 will be broadcast on Speed on June 30 at 6 p.m. ET. The next K&N Pro Series East race is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 15. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
