Kwasniewski Nabs Second NASCAR West Win

Dylan Kwasniewski stretches out his lead at Montana. (Jonathon Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR)by Shon Sbarra, NASCAR
It took Dylan Kwasniewski just nine races to pick up his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series West victory. And it took just seven more days to get his second, with a win in the Toyota/TTC 150 on Saturday night at Montana Raceway Park.

At 16 years and 2 months old, Kwasniewski became the youngest driver to win a NASCAR K&N Pro Series race – with his victory at Colorado National Speedway on Aug. 6. It did not take the Las Vegas teenager long to get back to Victory Lane.

He dashed from third on the grid at Montana to take the lead from his Gene Price Motorsports teammate, Greg Pursley, on Lap 52. He set a tremendous pace in charging around the cozy quarter-mile oval in his No. 03 Rockstar/Royal Purple Ford, putting all but five other cars a lap down in an event that remained green for the final 106 laps.

“He made a little bit of a mistake and we were able to get our nose in there and make a clean pass,” Kwasniewski said of his race-winning pass. “Once we were ahead of everyone, we knew we were going to pull out a little bit and get a comfortable lead. And that’s what we did.”

Kwasniewski battled heavy traffic as he began to put much of the field a lap down – running three wide on more than one occasion.

“I was definitely trying to push the limit at the beginning,” he said. “I like having a comfortable lead, knowing that everyone else is far behind. Once we got out there and I knew that we had a straightaway lead, I kind of backed off a little bit.”

Once again, Kwasniewski said he was confident of having a car to contend for the win.

“I knew we had the car to beat right off the bat,” he said. “Once we passed Greg, we got a comfortable lead. The Rockstar Energy Drink/Royal Purple Ford was amazing. Gene Price Motorsports did a great job of putting together another fantastic car. We came out with another win, which is awesome.”

Kwasniewski maintained a margin of just over three seconds through the late stages of the event and crossed the finish line with a winning margin of 4.301 seconds.

Just a week after Kwasniewski set records as the youngest driver to win a NASCAR K&N Pro Series race and the youngest to win a pole in the series, he saw one of his other records erased.

Cameron Hayley, making his series debut, finished in the runner-up position. In the process, the Calgary, Alberta teenager became the youngest competitor in the history of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, at just a few weeks past his 15th birthday. Kwasniewski held the previous mark, having made his first series start earlier this season at 15 years 10 months.

“We just came out here with an open mind,” Hayley said. “Rob (Dixon), my crew chief, had it dialed in ever since practice. We went out there and qualified seventh. We rolled around there for a bit at the beginning, just to save my tires. I experimented with different grooves to see what was going to be best at the end. We had something for Dylan, but we were just a little too far back.”

Defending series and race champion Eric Holmes came home in the third position. He was followed by points leader Greg Pursley, who won his fifth Coors Light Pole Award of the year in qualifying with a track record of 13.712 seconds (65.636 mph). Michael Self closed out the top five. Brett Thompson, Michael Waltrip, Ben Kennedy, Carl Harr and Moses Smith rounded out the top 10.

In a special engagement, Waltrip, a two-time winner of the Daytona 500, made his fifth career NASCAR K&N Pro Series West start.

Pursley stretched his commanding lead in the championship standings to 284 points. He leads with 1,885, to 1,601 for Smith. Luis Martinez Jr. is third with 1,534 points, followed by Holmes with 1,532 and Thompson with 1,490. Completing the top 10 are Self at 1,487, Kwasniewski at 1,464, Daryl Harr at 1,331, Ryan Philpott at 1,293 and Carl Harr at 1,191.

The Toyota/TTC 150 from Montana Raceway Park will air on SPEED on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 3 p.m. PT.

The next event on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule will be at Spokane County Raceway in Airway Heights, Wash., on Saturday, Sept. 3.

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Race: NKNPS West Montana 8/13/11
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 3 03 Dylan Kwasniewski * Rockstar/Royal Purple Ford 150 190 10 Running
2 7 24 Cameron Hayley * Cabinets by Hayley Toyota 150 170 Running
3 2 20 Eric Holmes NAPA Toyota 150 165 Running
4 1 26 Greg Pursley Gene Price Mtrspts/Star Nursery Ford 150 165 5 Running
5 8 21 Michael Self BayBioDiesel/GGRT/RCR Chevrolet 150 155 Running
6 9 61 Brett Thompson Rich Thompson Trucking Chevrolet 150 150 Running
7 5 12 Michael Waltrip TTC/Kalispell Toyota Toyota 149 146 Running
8 6 96 Ben Kennedy * Ben Kennedy Racing/BMR Toyota 149 142 Running
9 15 2 Carl Harr WestWorld Computers Chevrolet 149 138 Running
10 11 16 Moses Smith HASA Pool Products/NAPA Filters Toyota 149 134 Running
11 4 6 Luis Martinez, Jr. King Taco/Sunrise Ford/Lucas Oil Ford 148 130 Running
12 13 07 Dylan Lupton * Lupton Excavation/Durocast Ford 148 127 Running
13 14 38 Ryan Philpott * Speed Zorb/Holleran's Performance Ford 148 124 Running
14 18 88 John Wood * Cook's Collision/Holleran's Chevrolet 147 121 Running
15 17 01 Greg Rayl Race Talk Radio Ford 147 118 Running
16 12 52 Dave Garber * Reader Concrete Chevrolet 147 115 Running
17 10 71 Daryl Harr WestWorld Computers Chevrolet 146 112 Running
18 19 15 Jack Sellers Bay Bio Diesel Chevrolet 145 109 Running
19 20 5 Justin Funkhouser * Bay Bio Diesel Chevrolet 144 106 Running
20 16 14 Justin Philpott * Cook's Collision/A&D Precision Chevrolet 141 103 Running

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Greg Pursley, Time: 13.712 Seconds, Speed: 65.636 mph
Time of Race: 39 mins, 49 secs Average Speed: 56.509 mph Margin of Victory: 4.301 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 18-21 (Cars #38 & #01 spin Turn 4); 41-44 (Car #71 spins Turn 2). 2 for 8 laps. [Beneficiary in Brackets]
Lap Leaders: Greg Pursley 1-51, Dylan Kwasniewski * 52-150.
Total Laps Led: Dylan Kwasniewski * 99, Greg Pursley 51. 1 changes involving 2 drivers.