Moffitt wins at Dover; Truex wraps up 2nd straight K&N East title
Eighteen-year-old Brett Moffitt picked up his second straight win at Dover International Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season finale Friday in the Sunoco 150. Ryan Truex, 18, clinched his back-to-back series championship simply by taking the green-flag and capped off his title run with a third-place finish.
Moffitt took advantage of a mechanical issue that sidelined his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Max Gresham on the first of two green-white-checkered attempts to inherit the lead, and then drove away from Corey LaJoie, 18, on the final restart to pick up his second win of the season and fourth of his career. Moffitt won at Dover last year driving for Andy Santerre Motorsports.
Truex, a development driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, put the championship out of reach with his win at New Hampshire last week. Unlike last season, when Truex was engaged in a tight points battle with Eddie MacDonald, he was able to drive Friday with the pressure off.
After qualifying sixth, he ran near the front all race and recorded his eighth top five finish in 10 starts.
He also gave crew chief Mike Greci his fourth NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship. Greci won a pair of rings with driver Mike Stefanik in 1996 and ’97.
Gresham won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light earlier in the day. Despite have occassional small puffs of smoke when he drove off the corners, he was able to run up front and was leading the race on the first green-white-checkered attempt. However, he brought out the caution with major smoke coming out from underneath the car. That handed the lead to Moffitt.
Eddie MacDonald and Dale Quarterley rounded out the top five.
IZOD IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick finished sixth in her series debut. Brandon Ward, Sergio Pena, Kevin Swindell and DJ Shaw completed the top 10.
The win, coupled with an early accident by Darrell Wallace Jr., allowed Moffitt to finish second in points — 134 behind Truex. Wallace ended up third in points, followed by Cole Whitt and MacDonald.
The Sunoco 150 will air on SPEED on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. ET.
source: Jason Christley, NASCAR