SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – After watching many of his drivers roll into victory lane over the past 18 months, MDM Motorsports co-owner Travis Miller finally got his own chance to celebrate on Saturday night at South Boston Speedway.

Using a power move on the race’s lone restart, Miller surged around the outside of Mississippi young gun Chase Purdy and led the final 42 laps of the first whosyourdriver.org Twin 100 to score his first-ever NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory.

The win comes in Miller’s 10th career start and first series race in two years.

Though Purdy was the leader coming to the resumption, his choice of the bottom lane for the restart ultimately gave Miller the room to squeeze Purdy down and come out on top.

“Chase choosing the inside for that (lap 60) restart definitely played into my favor,” Miller said after climbing from his car. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but I think that was the move that actually won us the race. That was the game-changer, because of how tough it was to work the bottom groove there.”

“He was definitely faster than I was at the end of the race, because our car was getting tight, but I appreciate him driving me clean those last couple laps. I don’t think this is just a one-race thing, either; I think we’ve got just as good a shot at the second one.”

For Miller, the chance to celebrate as a driver – and not just as the car owner – was one he cherished.

“It’s very sweet. I went to a lot of races last year, I’ve been to a lot of races this year and I’ll go to a lot of races before the end of this season as well. This team is just fantastic. These cars practically drive themselves here at MDM; tonight, I was just the lucky guy that got to drive it.”

Polesitter Chase Cabre leapt out to the point off the initial start, but was hounded by Purdy through the opening leg of the 100-lapper as he fought a loose race car on the exit of Turn 4.

After a seven lap nose-to-tail battle, Purdy moved his way to the inside of Cabre in Turns 3 and 4, completing the pass on the other end of the race track and assuming command on lap 19.

From there, Purdy quickly opened up ground over the field, owning a one second advantage at quarter-distance and a two-second lead by the time 40 laps were in the books.

However, Purdy’s teammate and mentor Todd Gilliland was slowly rising towards the front. Gilliland took second away from Cabre on lap 42, but just before he could get to Purdy to challenge for the lead he lost a right front tire in Turns 1 and 2 and smacked the outside wall.

At the same time, Vinnie Miller and Tyler Dippel got together in Turn 4, with Dippel going around and sustaining heavy rear end damage as a result.

Those incidents drew the caution flag one lap shy of halfway, with Purdy leading Travis Miller, Harrison Burton, Cabre and Dillon Bassett.

When green flag conditions returned on a lap 60 restart, Miller made his move. He pounced from the outside lane, taking the long way around to pass Purdy cleanly and assume the lead.

However, the top duo soon had company at their back door, in the form of hometown favorite Burton. Burton moved within a car length of Purdy and applied enough pressure that Miller began to scoot away with 20 laps to go.

From there, it was Miller’s race, though Purdy closed the two car length gap back down and had a look to the inside in Turns 1 and 2 on the final lap.

“He (Miller) just pinched us down on that restart there, and that was that. I don’t hold it against him, because I would have done the same thing if I’d been in his position,” Purdy admitted. “We were faster than he was, but I was just trying to save my stuff and wait for the right time.”

“The last five laps, I really put (the pressure) on him there, but it wasn’t quite enough. I got up under him … but he just came down on us off Turn 2. We were close, but no cigar, as they say.”

After his issues at halfway, Gilliland charged back through the field to finish third, though he had to receive oxygen after the race as a precaution due to an issue with his car’s exhaust system.

Dillon Bassett and K&N East points leader Harrison Burton completed the top five.

Rev Racing teammates Ruben Garcia Jr., Cabre and Jay Beasley were sixth through eighth, respectively, followed by Ronnie Bassett Jr. and Peyton Sellers.

By virtue of their fast laps during the first race, Cabre and Purdy will make up the front row for the second whosyourdriver.org Twin 100, just as they did for race one.

Full race results can be viewed on the next page…