Gilliland Wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Championship
- 26 Oct 2016
In his third race with Bill McAnally Racing at Kern County Raceway in California, Gilliland dropped back early. He was letting cars pass him in the opening laps of the race. McAnally got on the radio and asked Gilliland if anything was wrong with the car. Gilliland responded no. His car was fine. He told McAnally the other drivers were burning up their equipment too soon. He was going to wait to move up later in the race, when he knew his car would perform better than the others. “Here’s a 16-year-old kid telling me these veteran drivers he’s letting pass by are using their stuff up too early,” McAnally said. “He wound up winning the race.”
“That was awesome,” Gilliland said. “We felt like we had a shot at rookie of the year at the beginning of the season. To be able to get both in one season is awesome. Everyone at Bill McAnally Racing, this is all them. They’ve worked super hard, they’ve given up so much this season. For it to all pay off is awesome.” Gilliand won the seventh K&N Pro Series West title for Bill McAnally Racing. He joins Eric Holmes, Brendan Gaughan, Sean Woodside, and Chris Eggleston as championship drivers for Bill McAnally Racing. Holmes won three championships and Gaughan won two. Eggleston won the K&N Pro Series West championship in 2015, giving Bill McAnally Racing back-to-back titles. “Todd can go on and win more championships,” McAnally said. “He knows what he needs in a race car.”
“We had an amazing season,” Gilliland said. “To have six wins out of 14 races in my rookie year is amazing, better than anything we ever expected. Definitely couldn’t be happier with the night.” Gilliland is the first driver to win the K&N Pro Series West championship and rookie of the year in the same year since Scott Lynch in 2003. Lance Hooper won the championship and rookie of the year in 1996. Gilliland, Lynch, and Hooper are the only drivers to win both titles in the same year. Gilliland added to his family’s NASCAR legacy. His father, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Gilliland, won the K&N Pro Series West rookie of the year in 2004. His grandfather Butch Gilliland won the series championship in 1997.
Gilliland is the youngest driver to win a NASCAR national or touring championship at 16 years, 5 months. Cayden Lapcevich won the NASCAR Pinty’s Series championship in September when he was 16 years, 10 months, 16 days. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship in 2007 when he was 17 years, 3 months, 28 days. “It’s great to have my name added to such a big list of drivers, like Chris Eggleston and everyone that won the championship out here,” Todd Gilliland said. “Hopefully we can just carry this momentum to the rest of the season and to the future. Just another great thing to add to my resume.” | |||||
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