MDM Motorsports three drivers – Harrison Burton, Sheldon Creed and Vinnie Miller – marked the beginning of their 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) season with Sunday evening’s Jet Tools 150 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway.
Burton led the three-car team with a fourth-place finish, while Miller and Creed finished 13th and 19th, respectively.
After being near the top of the leaderboard in both practice sessions, Burton went on to win the 21 Means 21 Pole Award Presented by Coors Brewing Company. While Burton led the field to the green flag, Creed started in the fourth position, and Miller 13th. Burton led eight laps and remained in the top-five throughout the event before ultimately posting a fourth-place finish. In his series debut, Creed suffered a bad battery but the team remedied the issue. He returned to the track running top-10 lap times and went on to finish 19th. Miller, also in his series debut, kept his nose clean for the entirety of the race, and took the checkers with a solid 13th place finish.
Harrison Burton, driver of the DEX Imaging No. 12… Burton entered the season as one of the favorites for the 2017 NKNPSE championship. He won his second career 21 Means 21 Pole Award Presented by Coors Brewing Company at New Smyrna Speedway. After leading the field to green, he raced inside the top-five the entire night with a car that was good on long run. Burton survived multiple late-race cautions to score a fourth-place finish in his No. 12 DEX Imaging Toyota Camry.
Burton on New Smyrna Speedway: “It didn’t go as well as I would’ve liked. I struggled on restarts tonight, and that’s on me. At the end of the race, we had a shot at picking up the win, restarting third, but it was just hard to make the bottom work on restarts. Overall, it was a good night and a good points night. The MDM Motorsports guys brought me a really good DEX Imaging Toyota Camry.”
Vinnie Miller, driver of the Master Mfg., Inc. No. 41… Miller made his NKNPSE debut at New Smyrna Speedway. After nearing the top of the speed charts in two practice sessions, Miller qualified 13th in his Master Mfg. Inc. No. 41 Toyota Camry. He maintained a top-15 track position all race long, learning and gaining respect from his fellow competitors. When the checkered flag fell, he came across the finish line in 13th place
Miller on New Smyrna Speedway: “Overall it was a really good day. We worked on the car in practice and got it back to feeling as good as we had it in the test on Saturday. Our mock run was solid but it didn’t translate to qualifying. When the race started, I was just focused on learning and keeping my fenders clean. Mission accomplished. I’m ready to keep learning and improving with my MDM Motorsports team.”
Sheldon Creed, driver of the A.M. Ortega Construction No. 40… X-Games gold medalist, Creed made his NKNPSE debut driving the No. 40 A.M. Ortega Construction Toyota Camry at New Smryna Speedway. Showing good speed in practice, he backed it up with a fourth-place qualifying effort. Despite having radio issues, Creed ran inside the top-10 for much of the race before losing power in his Camry. The faulty battery caused him to drop multiple laps, which resulted in a 19th-place finish.
Creed on New Smyrna Speedway: “The day started out good, we were fast, and the car was really good. Obviously having a problem with the battery isn’t what we wanted, but we can’t change the outcome. We’ll just take the positives out of here and move on to the next race. We qualified fourth and ran in the top-10 all day, so it’s hard to be to down about the day.”
The Jet Tools 150 will be televised on NBC Sports Network on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 10pm, ET.
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