SOUTH BOSTON, Virginia — Sergio Peña won the South Boston 150 in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East action Sunday afternoon from South Boston Speedway by surviving pressure from Matt DiBenedetto and Max Gresham on a late restart.
Peña, out of Winchester, Va., took advantage of some tough luck for Brett Moffitt as the laps were winding down to collect his first series win.
Moffitt, who led much of the race and was out in front by three seconds as the laps were counting down, was knocked out of contention when he tangled with Michael Cherry with just 10 circuits to go.
Peña, who jumped onto the scene in January 2010 when he narrowly lost to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Joey Logano in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, then inherited the lead from Moffitt on Lap 141 and made it stand.
“This feeling is unbelievable,” Peña said. “The Showdown was a good feeling, but to win a race is a completely different deal.”
Peña drives for Revolution Racing as part of Drive for Diversity. With the win in the season’s second race, he took the points lead.
Moffitt was in search of what would have been a third-consecutive series win after winning the 2010 season finale and this season’s opener. Instead he was relegated to a 24th-place finish.
“I was riding in third for awhile and Brett Moffitt had checked out,” Peña said. “We got into some lap traffic, and I’m not sure what happened. Unfortunately for him he couldn’t finish the race because he definitely had the car to beat, but luckily I was there to pounce on it and take away the win.”
DiBenedetto placed second followed by last year’s South Boston winner Gresham, Coleman Pressley and Ryan Gifford.
Polesitter Darrell Wallace Jr. led the first 73 laps – a race-high – and finished in the sixth position. Andrew Smith, Alex Bowman, D.J. Shaw and Derek Ramstrom rounded out the top 10.
Earlier in the day, Wallace earned his first career 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light.
X Team Racing – new to the series in 2011 – has seen its three drivers Bowman, DiBenedetto and Pressley finish in the top 10 in both races this year, and all three rank in the top five in points.
The South Boston 150, which was schedule to run on Saturday, April 16 but was postponed a day by rain, will be televised by SPEED on Thursday, May 12 at 6 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action on Thursday, April 28 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway for the inaugural running of the Blue Ox 100.
| NASCAR K&N PRO East Series - South Boston |
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| 1 3 4 Sergio Peña Freightliner Toyota 150 185 5 Running 2 4 15 Matt DiBenedetto Gear Wrench Toyota 150 170 Running 3 7 18 Max Gresham Gresham & Associates Toyota 150 165 Running 4 10 14 Coleman Pressley Kingsford Toyota 150 160 Running 5 12 2 Ryan Gifford TRD Toyota 150 155 Running 6 1 6 Darrell Wallace, Jr. U.S. Army Toyota 150 160 10 Running 7 8 62 Andrew Smith * SavannahPawn.com Chevrolet 150 146 Running 8 22 16 Alex Bowman * X Team Racing Toyota 150 142 Running 9 19 60 D.J. Shaw Precision JLM/Subway Chevrolet 150 138 Running 10 17 32 Derek Ramstrom * Van Dyk Baler/Matthews Truck Svc. Chevrolet 150 134 Running 11 26 46 Brandon Gdovic * Aquis Communications/ComServe Dodge 150 130 Running 12 20 51 Brandon Haley * Reed Motorsports Ford 150 127 Running 13 25 08 Clay Campbell * Spraker Racing Enterprises Chevrolet 150 124 Running 14 15 96 Ben Kennedy * Emco Gears Chevrolet 150 121 Running 15 16 03 Cody Hodgson * Ocala Gran Prix Chevrolet 149 118 Running 16 28 37 Ryan Lynch * Spraker Racing Enterprises Chevrolet 149 115 Running 17 29 54 Julian Albarracin * AAIC Chevrolet 149 112 Running 18 27 12 Daniel Suarez * Telmex/TWR/Pounce Dodge 149 109 Running 19 14 71 Eddie MacDonald Grimm Construction Chevrolet 148 106 Running 20 18 98 Chad Boat * Curb Records Chevrolet 148 103 Running 21 23 27 Cale Conley * PMC/Health Bridge Imaging Chevrolet 147 100 Running 22 9 9 Chase Elliott * HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 146 97 Running 23 6 8 Michael Cherry * NASCAR's Fueling Dreams Toyota 145 94 Running 24 2 00 Brett Moffitt Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 140 96 5 Accident 25 24 64 Rick Gdovic * Aquis Communications/ComServe Dodge 139 88 Accident 26 13 66 Benny Gordon Varischetti & Sons/Samuel Metals Chevrolet 116 85 Sway Bar 27 21 24 Zach Germain Germain Racing Toyota 111 82 Accident 28 30 45 Michelle Theriault Pro Gold/VP Parts Warehouse Toyota 106 79 Running 29 5 07 Corey LaJoie * Sims Metal Management Ford 47 76 Mechanical 30 11 97 Tanner Berryhill * National Cash Lenders Chevrolet 14 73 Accident RACE STATISTICS Fastest Qualifier: Darrell Wallace, Jr., Time: 15.756 Seconds, Speed: 91.394 mph Failed to Qualify: (3) CJ Faison * (#02), Andrew Gipson * (#5), Guy Pavageau (#05). Time of Race: 1 hrs., 9 mins, 14 secs Average Speed: 51.998 mph Margin of Victory: 1.055 Seconds Caution Flags: Laps 16-22 (Car #97 spin in Turn 4); 39-43 (Car #24 spin on frontstretch); 49-54 (Car #8 spin in Turn 4); 91-99 (Car #98 spin on frontstretch); 111-116 (Cars #27, 32 spin in Turn 2); 141-146 (Cars #8, 00 accident in Turn 4 [Red Flag 9 mins.]). 6 for 39 laps. Lap Leaders: Darrell Wallace, Jr. 1-73, Brett Moffitt 74-140, Sergio Peña 141-150. Total Laps Led: Darrell Wallace, Jr. 73, Brett Moffitt 67, Sergio Peña 10. 2 changes involving 3 drivers. CONTINGENCY AWARDS COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Brandon Gdovic *, 46 Aquis Communications/ComServe Dodge COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Darrell Wallace, Jr., 6 U.S. Army Toyota FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Max Gresham, 18 Gresham & Associates Toyota SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Andrew Smith *, 62 SavannahPawn.com Chevrolet * Sunoco Rookie of the Year Contender |
