Gilliland Grabs Sonoma Glory

David Gilliland pulls away from Eric Holmes en route to winning Saturday afternoon's NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at California's Sonoma Raceway. (NASCAR photo)

SONOMA, Calif. — David Gilliland used his experience on the road course at Sonoma to win the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Pick-n-Pull Racing To Stop Hunger 200 on Saturday.

It was a special win and weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular out of Riverside, Calif. On Thursday evening he introduced his father, Butch, who was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.

On Saturday, he collected his second K&N Pro Series win at the twisting 1.99-mile track, to match the two wins his father had there. The younger Gilliland will look for the trifecta on Sunday afternoon in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

“We really had a great car today,” said the driver of the No. 25 Pick-n-Pull Chevrolet. “Track position is so important here and we were able to win that today.”

Derek Thorn, in his first start at the track, followed Gilliland to a second-place finish while defending series champion Greg Pursley crossed the line in third. Jim Inglebright was fourth, followed by point leader Dylan Kwasniewski in the fifth position.

Michael Self, Jonathon Gomez, Austin Cameron, David Mayhew and Cameron Hayley completed the top 10.

Three-time series champion Eric Holmes led 13 laps, but his day ended early when smoke erupted from his car. He finished 23rd.

The race featured three lead changes among four drivers — Gilliland, Pursley, Mayhew and Holmes. The pace was slowed by four cautions for 14 laps.

In the championship standings, Pursley closed to within eight points of his teammate Kwasniewski – 345 to 337.

The finish:

David Gilliland, Derek Thorn, Greg Pursley, Jim Inglebright, Dylan Kwasniewski, Michael Self, Jonathon Gomez, Austin Cameron, David Mayhew, Cameron Hayley, Travis Milburn, Jessica Brunelli, Austin Dyne, Ryan Philpott, Eric Norris, Stan Silva Jr., Carlos Vieira, Hershel McGriff, Chris Evans, Daniel Graeff, Tommy Regan, John Wood, Eric Holmes, Scott Ivie, Tim Spurgeon, Dave Smith, Jack Sellers, Dylan Hutchison, Kyle Heckman, Johnny Borneman.

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Posted by NSSN Staff on Jun 23 2012 Filed under Latest Headlines, NASCAR, Top Stories, Touring Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.