Todd Gilliland races to victory in NASCAR K&N Pro Series race at Spokane County Raceway

On a damp and cold Saturday night for the running of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series Toyota/NAPA 150 at Spokane County Raceway, it was North Carolina’s Todd Gilliland who brought the heat to the event as he blazed the half-mile for a wire-to-wire victory in front of a raucous crowd that waited out a lengthy weather delay.

Gilliland’s Bill McAnally Racing teammates, Derek Kraus and Chris Eggelston, finished second and third respectively.

The win kept Gilliland, who turns 17 Monday, atop the championship standings and marks his fourth consecutive victory on the series.

Garrett Archer, who hails from Maple Valley, Washington, was the highest-finishing regional driver as he wheeled his DirtFish Ford to fourth place. Utah native Michael Self rounded out the top five.

Otis Orchard’s Nicole Behar was sixth with Naches driver Owen Riddle, who made his series debut Saturday, finishing eighth. Medical Lake’s Braeden Havens ran ninth.

Turning a lap of 18.481 seconds, Gilliland’s pole run showed that despite not having competed at SCR in his brief career, the third-generation racing star was a quick study on how to get around the tricky oval. Running among the top three in the day’s practice sessions Gilliland’s crew chief, Chris Lawson, dialed up a setup that provided pole speed matched with long green-flag-run stability.

That setup would be put to the test.

Within moments after qualifying wrapped up, a heavy downpour soaked the track forcing a three-hour delay. Once the moisture had been worked off the racing surface, NASCAR brought the cars out in a side-by-side salute to the fans for several laps to complete the drying process. With the racing surface damp and free of tire rubber, grip would be a factor in the early going.

At the drop of the green flag, Kraus pressured Gilliland but was unable to find a groove that worked to clear his teammate. Eggleston settled into a solid third-place running position and kept his teammates in sight for much of the races first half. Gilliland worked his way around the track effortlessly, applying just enough of the gas pedal to keep Kraus at bay as the duo led the field to the midway break.

During the intermission teams were allowed to make adjustments, add fuel and bolt on a new set of tires. Self’s Sunrise Ford team made great adjustments, as he was one of the fastest cars during the early stages of the second half.

The night’s closest racing came during laps 87 to 140 as drivers in positions fourth through eighth traded positions, doing so on many occasions multiple times in a single lap.

With Gilliland again stalked by Kraus, Eggleston and Self ran close together in the leaders’ tire tracks for over 30 laps. In the late stages, Self had his hands full with a hard-charging Behar and Archer, who moved from his seventh place starting position to fifth by lap 130.

Archer, who cleared Behar in lapped traffic, made a beeline for Self down the front stretch and ducked underneath exiting turn No. 2 to move into fourth on lap 132. Self had little time to mount a challenge on Archer as Behar, Riddle and Julia Landauer all ran single file to stay with the Utah driver.

With the action behind them, Gilliland, Kraus and Eggleston worked together navigating traffic to perfection as the laps wound down to the checkered flag.

“This team gives me great cars each week and I can’t thank them enough for all that they do,” Gilliland said. “Got to thank the fans for sticking out the weather and watching us put on a show. My teammates made me work but it’s great to get all three cars in the top three for Bill, our sponsors and all the crews.”

Kraus, who used and third place in the championship standings, was equally pleased.

“We gave Todd a good challenge there in the second-half and the guys on this Carlyle Tools Toyota had it dialed in. We’ll take the finish and the points to gain in the Rookie of the Year championship (Kraus is third, two points behind Archer and Will Rodgers) and get ready for our next race,” he said.

Eggleston’s team made adjustments at the halfway break that gave his car plenty of handling ability, but the lack of a late-race caution forced his hand.

“We were needing a caution there in the late going to catch up to the leaders but it just didn’t work out as the second half went caution free,” said the 2015 series champion.

The race saw just three caution periods, but two lengthy red-flag stoppages slowed the 150-lap pace to an average speed of 65.518 mph. Of the 22 cars that took the green flag, all but two (Salvatore Iovino and Rich DeLong III) completed the race.

The series returns to the Northwest on Aug. 12 with a 150-lap race at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington.