NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —
Todd Gilliland’s start to the 2016 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season is picking up right where his West Coast endeavors left off last November.
Gilliland, who will run a full K&N West season for Bill McAnally Racing after winning the West finale at Phoenix last fall, toured the half-mile New Smyrna Speedway at a track-record clip of 18.318 seconds (94.333 mph) to claim his first-career 21 Means 21 Pole Award ahead of his East debut.
The effort comes after Gilliland led practice for the K&N East cars earlier in the day at New Smyrna, and he will look to claim his fourth series-debut victory in less than 12 months (following CARS Tour late model, ARCA and K&N West wins in 2015) in Sunday night’s JET Tools 150 (7:30 p.m. ET).
Alongside Gilliland’s No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota at the start will by Ranier Racing with MDM rookie Spencer Davis, who comes into the event also looking for his first career K&N East victory. Davis’ lap of 18.350 seconds (94.169 mph) put him second-fastest overall in the No. 41 Davis Poultry Equipment/Ruud Chevrolet.
Dominique Van Wieringen (18.359/94.123), Austin Theriault (18.379/94.020) and 15-year-old HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks rookie Tyler Dippel (18.383/94.000), making the asphalt transition from Big Block Modifieds on the dirt, rounded out the ‘Fast Five’ in qualifying.
Kaz Grala, Jairo Avila Jr., Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton and Collin Cabre completed the top 10.
Notables outside the top 10 included returning HSMJM driver Justin Haley (11th); Davis’ RRMDM teammate Kyle Benjamin (12th); NASCAR K&N Pro Series West drivers Gracin Raz (16th) and Riley Herbst (17th); and 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece (21st), who will drive for JD Motorsports this season in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
The Jet Tools 150 takes the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: [email protected]
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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