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Statistical Advance: Whitaker Chevrolet 140

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action with a return engagement at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway on Monday, Sept. 5 for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 140.

Selected Driver Highlights:
Alex Bowman (No. 16 Toyota)
•  Is fifth in points with six top 10s in his first nine NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races.
•  Finished third in his series debut, the season opener at Greenville Pickens Speedway.
•  Is the Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader, 10 points ahead of Corey LaJoie.
•  Won in his ARCA debut on Aug. 27 in Wisconsin.

Clay Campbell (No. 08 Chevrolet)
•  Has made seven starts in his NKNPS East rookie season with a best finish of 13th in his debut at South Boston Speedway.
•  Missed the opener at GPS due to a conflict with the reschedule date.
•  Is the president of Martinsville Speedway.

Matt DiBenedetto (No. 15 Toyota)
•  Has three wins, four poles and 12 top 10s in 16 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is fourth in points with seven top 10s, including a win at Bowman Gray Stadium.
•  Has finishes of 10th and fifth in two career starts at GPS.

Chase Elliott (No. 9 Chevrolet)
•  Is up to 10th in points with five top-10 finishes in his first nine career NKNPS East starts, including the previous three races.
•  The son of Bill Elliott, he became the first 15-year-old to compete in a NASCAR touring series race in the opener at GPS, where he finished fourth after starting 26th.

Ryan Gifford (No. 2 Toyota)
•  Has a pole and 10 top-10 finishes in 23 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is 11th in points with three top 10s through the season’s first nine races.
•  Has finishes of fourth and 13th in two starts at GPS.
•  In his second season with Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity.

Max Gresham (No. 18 Toyota)
•  Has four wins, six poles and 13 top 10s in 22 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is the points leader thanks to a pair of wins and seven top fives in nine events.
•  Is the only driver to complete all 1,335 laps the series has run this year.
•  Has finishes of 23rd and 21st in two career starts at GPS.

Cody Hodgson (No. 03 Chevrolet)
•  Has recorded five top 10s in his first nine career NKNPS East starts and is ninth in points.
•  Finished eighth at Bowman Gray Stadium, the best result of his rookie season.

Robert Johnson (No. 11 Chevrolet)
•  Made NKNPS East debut at BGS and finished 24th after qualifying third. Also competed at NHMS in July and finished 17th.
•  Son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson, who won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at GPS in 1959.

Ben Kennedy (No. 96 Chevrolet)
•  Has made 10 career NKNPS East starts with a best finish of third at BGS.
•  Is 14th in the standings during his first full season in the series.
•  Is the son of Lesa France Kennedy and great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.

Corey LaJoie (No. 07 Ford)
•  Has nine top 10s in 16 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is seventh in points with five top-10 finishes and is second in rookie points.
•  Finished 20th in the 2011 opener at GPS.
•  Is the son of Randy LaJoie, a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion.

Eddie MacDonald (No. 71 Chevrolet)
•  Has six wins, two poles and 60 top 10s in 141 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is eighth in the standings with four top 10s.
•  Has an average finish of 11th and a best effort of third in five career starts at GPS.
•  The longest-tenured driver on the pre-entry list. This is his 11th year in the series.

Brandon McReynolds (No. 42 Chevrolet)
•  Made NKNPS East debut in the opener at GPS and finished eighth, his best effort in four starts.
•  Son of former crew chief and current NASCAR television analyst Larry McReynolds.

Brett Moffitt (No. 00 Toyota)
•  Has six wins, four poles and 22 top 10s in 30 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is second in points with a pair of wins and six top fives through nine races.
•  Has led a series-high 384 laps this year.
•  Has finishes of fifth, 24th and first in three GPS starts. Set the track qualifying record and led all 150 laps in the 2011 opener.

Sergio Peña (No. 4 Toyota)
•  Has two wins and eight top 10s in 19 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is sixth in points with five top 10s and wins at South Boston and Langley Speedways.
•  Has finishes of 27th and seventh in two races at GPS.
•  In his second year with Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity.

Dylan Presnell (No. 14 Toyota)
•  Has two top 10s in his first three NKNPS East starts, both times in eighth place.
•  His first GPS start will be in the car that Coleman Pressley drove to a second place finish there in season the opener.

Darrell Wallace Jr. (No. 6 Toyota)
•  Has four wins, a pole and 15 top 10s in 19 career NKNPS East starts.
•  Is third in points with eight top 10s and wins at Richmond International Raceway and Columbus Motor Speedway.
•  Won at GPS in his series debut in 2010 and was sixth in this year’s opener.
•  The 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year, this is his second season with Revolution Racing and Drive for Diversity.

At Greenville Pickens Speedway:
History
•  Opened on July 4, 1946 as a dirt track. The race surface was converted to asphalt in April, 1970.
•  Held 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races from 1951-71, including the first flag-to-flag televised event.
•  David Pearson (1959) and Ralph Earnhardt (1965, 66) are among the famed drivers that have won championships at the track.

Notebook
•  The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East held its inaugural Greenville Pickens Speedway race on June 6, 2006 and has returned every year since.
•  This season marks the first time that the NKNPS East has two events on the schedule at GPS.
•  There have been six-different winning drivers and five-different pole winners in each of the first six NKNPS East races at GPS.
•  In the first six events, only Joey Logano (2007) and Brett Moffitt (2011) have won from the pole. Moffitt also set the track qualifying record in the first 2011 event.

Greenville Pickens Speedway Data
Race: #10 of 12 (9/5/11)
Track Layout: Half-mile oval
Banking: Five degrees in the turns
Race Length: 140 laps / 70 miles

Qualifying/Race Data
2010 pole winner: New Event
2010 race winner: New Event
Track qualifying record: Brett Moffitt (87.659 mph, 20.534 seconds, 4/2/11)

NKNPS East Race Winners at GPS
June 6, 2006 ... Sean Caisse
April 28, 2007 ... Joey Logano
April 19, 2008 ... Austin Dillon
April 11, 2009 ... Brian Ickler
March 27, 2010 ... Darrell Wallace Jr.
April 2, 2011 ... Brett Moffitt

NKNPS East Pole Winners at GPS
June 6, 2006 ... Mike Olsen
April 28, 2007 ... Joey Logano
April 19, 2008 ... Peyton Sellers
April 11, 2009 ... Brett Moffitt
March 27, 2010 ... Cole Whitt
April 2, 2011 ... Brett Moffitt

Up to Speed:
•  The 2011 season is the 25th for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. The inaugural event was a combination race with the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Darlington Raceway on March 28, 1987. The first stand-alone race was held at Oxford Plains Speedway on April 26.
•  The opener at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway was postponed from March 26 to April 2 due to rain. Once raceday arrived, Brett Moffitt dominated as he earned the pole and led flag-to-flag for his fifth career victory.
•  Like the first race, the second event of the year at South Boston (Va.) Speedway was postponed by rain to April 17. Revolution Racing took center stage as Darrell Wallace Jr. earned his first career pole and Sergio Peña took his first checkered flag.
•  The third race of the season saw Wallace cruise to the win in the inaugural event at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on April 28. Max Gresham earned the pole.
•  In the fifth annual East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway on May 21, Matt DiBenedetto was the pole winner and early race leader, but Moffitt wound up in Victory Lane for the first time in three tries at his hometown track in Newton, Iowa.
•  DiBenedetto broke through for his first win of the 2011 season in the series’ inaugural event at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on June 4. His teammate, Coleman Pressley, earned the pole.
•  Gresham was dominant at his family’s track, Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga., when he took the pole and checkered flag on June 11.
•  Pressley earned his second pole and Peña was also victorious for the second time in 2011 in the inaugural NKNPS East event at Langley Speedway on June 18 in Hampton, Va.
•  Gresham earned the pole and the race win in the New England 125 on July 15 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
•  Wallace took the checkered flag in the inaugural event at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway last time out on July 23. Gresham once again earned the pole.