Grimes, IA – Brett Moffitt, driver of the #11 Don Valley North Toyota Scion Toyota for Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) qualified on the pole for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 presented by G-Clean. This was Moffitt’s ninth career pole award, his third from Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, SC, and his first pole of the 2013 season. Moffitt also claimed a solid 5th place finish, bringing his driver statistics to 36 top-ten finishes out of 49 career starts.
Running on the flat asphalt of Greenville required significant changes in set up after the high banks of Bristol, where the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East ran the previous race. The #11 HRE team had prepared a great car, and they brought it to the track ready to race. Moffitt was fast in both practice sessions. The #11 HRE Toyota Camry finished the first practice session in third place, and Moffitt had the fastest car on the track during the final practice of the day, outpacing the rest of the field by .098 seconds. “The car is right where we need to be for qualifying,” said Moffitt as the final practice wound down. Qualifying results later confirmed Moffitt’s comments.
Moffitt dominated the qualifying sessi0on with a lap time of 20.638 seconds (87.218 mph), taking home the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Brewing Company for the 3rd time at Greenville.
Immediately after the green flag dropped, Moffitt took the lead. At times, he was able to pull away from the field, but at other times, the second place car was knocking at the door, so it was very difficult to maintain the lead while saving the tires. On lap 46, the leaders caught the tail of the field, and by lap 48, they were working their way through lapped traffic.
Lap 57 brought a caution for debris, and following the restart on Lap 62, Moffitt lost the lead as his car began to fade coming off turn 4. Still, Moffitt was able to maintain his hold on the 2nd position until lap 108. With the car continuing to fade, Moffitt eventually dropped back to 5th position over the last 35 laps of the race. Most of the field had been lapped at least once before the final laps, causing congestion on the track and making it difficult for the leaders to pass the lapped traffic. Moffitt managed to hang onto 5th place until the checkered flag waved, with the 6th place car running a full straightaway behind.
The 5th place finish plus 2 bonus points earned for laps led brought Moffitt from a 6 point deficit at the beginning of the race to a 6 point lead in the Championship Points standings year-to-date. “We had a very good points night, and for us, that is what matters the most”, said Dave McCarty, Crew Chief of the #11.
“In 2012, we spent the first part of the season fighting our way back from an initial points deficit, after having a mechanical issue in the first race. It certainly feels better this year to be leading the points so early in the season!” Moffitt exclaimed. “I want to thank Don Valley North Toyota Scion, Shigeaki Hattori, Dave McCarty, and the entire #11 HRE team for their great efforts!”
Later this week, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will head to Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL, for the inaugural NAPA Auto Parts 150 on Saturday, April 13th.