K&N Season Reaches Half Way Here he NASCAR K&N e has been a quick he majority of T Pro Series East will H learner, however – TDrake’s experimark the halfway point winning his first career ence on paved tracks of a 16-race season tonight here at 5 Flags.
he race follows a T year after the series made its inaugural visit. he first half of the T season has been a big challenge for
Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Nick Drake, who is making the transition this year from open-wheel sprint cars on dirt tracks to competing in on paved tracks. The 18-year-old from Mooresville, N.C.,
drives the No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing. While adapting to stock cars, Drake has also had to learn his way around each track as he makes his initial visit to venues on the circuit such as Five Flags Speedway.
pole and recording three top five and four top 10 finishes in the first seven races this season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Drake is second in the Sunoco rookie standings and seventh in the overall championship standings for the series. He is coming off a 10th-place finish at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on May 31.
came in his first five years of racing, when he competed in quarter midgets. He went on to race USAC Ford Focus Midgets, winning titles in 2010 and 2011. He was the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Rookie of the Year in 2012 and finished 15th in the championship standings in the USAC
rake’s best career D series finish came last month at Iowa
Speedway, where he took the runner-up spot in the K&N Pro Series East-West combination race. He also had a third-place finish at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, to go along with the pole award he won there. In addition to his success in the K&N East, Drake raced in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season opener at Phoenix International Raceway, where he finished third.
Amsoil National Sprint Car last year. onightis just part T of a big weekend coming up for Drake. Tomorrow he will graduate from Lake Norman High School in Mooresville, NC.