Kevin Harvick Returns to K&N Pro Series West Race in Sonoma and Takes the Win
- Jul 13, 2017
Harvick won the Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway, holding off K&N Pro Series West regular Will Rodgers. It was the seventh career win for Harvick in the K&N Pro Series West. He won the 1998 NASCAR Winston West championship, the predecessor of the K&N Pro Series West, and the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship. “It always feels good to win no matter what it is,” said Harvick, who raced late models at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, California, before moving up the NASCAR ladder. “The main objective was to come have fun, shine a little light on the series and shine a little light on how much talent is in the series. This particular series did a lot for me and to come back and be a part of it, see the health of it and see the young guys racing was the main objective.”
“It’s always fun to race in front of your home state fans,” Harvick said. “It’s been a long time since I raced in this particular series here, so it was a fun weekend.” Rodgers, a 22-year-old rookie from Murrieta, California, won the pole and led for the first 26 laps of the race. His second-place finish was his best showing in 14 career K&N Pro Series West races. “For some funny reason, I had a feeling as far back as four weeks ago that it was going to be me and Kevin coming into turn 11 on the last lap," Rodgers said after the race on Saturday. "And sure enough, there we were. He ran a really good race, I learned a lot from him. We were able to lead some laps there in the beginning. It doesn't feel too bad to finish second today."
Gilliland holds an 11-point lead over Chris Eggleston in the K&N Pro Series West standings. Eggleston was 10th in the K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma. The next K&N Pro Series race is at Iowa Speedway. It is a combined race for the K&N Pro Series East and West drivers and teams. | |||
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