Todd Gilliland charged from near the back of the field to finish eighth in a rain-shortened NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.
The Zombie Auto 125 ended just past the midway point due to wet weather.
Gilliland had been relegated to start 21st on the grid in the Bill McAnally Racing No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry after qualifying was cancelled on Friday due to rain. He raced his way toward the front and was up to eighth when a caution came out about 60 laps into the race. The field of cars pitted for the midway break, but storms moved into the area before competition resumed and the race was called.
“We knew it was going to be an uphill battle,” Gilliland said of starting so far back. “We knew we had a really good NAPA Toyota, based on practice. Everyone on my crew kept me calm. I knew I had to be smooth going up through there.”
After gaining 13 positions in the first half of the race, his BMR team made adjustments to the No. 16 Toyota at the midway break – preparing to continue the charge to the front.
“We were confident of the changes that we made at the break,” Gilliland said. “It’s too bad it started raining before we could get back to racing.”
Despite his disappointment, Gilliland pointed out gains that the team made.
“There are a lot of positives that came out of this weekend,” he said. “We made the car a lot better than last year here. So, I’m really excited to move on from here and be better.”
Gilliland finished ninth last year at Bristol in one of five starts he made in the K&N East – while focusing primarily on winning the K&N West championship. This season, the 16-year-old from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina is running the complete schedules in the East and West divisions of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series.
A member of the NASCAR Next program that spotlights NASCAR’s rising stars, he is third in the K&N East championship standings, 16 points out of first; with three events complete on a 14-race schedule. He has a 13-point lead, meanwhile, in the K&N West standings – with four of 14 races complete.
The Zombie Auto 125, which Harrison Burton won from the pole, is scheduled to be televised on NBCSN on April 27 at 11 p.m. ET. The event marked the sixth series race at the high-banked, half-mile Bristol track.
The next race on the K&N Pro Series East schedule will be a doubleheader with Twin 100s at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway on May 6.
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