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K&N Catch-Up: What We Learned In Loudon

www.arcaracing.com September 23, 2019

LOUDON, N.H. — Full Throttle Weekend from New Hampshire Motor Speedway didn’t lack in the action department, that’s for sure. The K&N Pro Series East was one of three main events on Saturday afternoon, and as the penultimate race of the season has come and gone, we gleaned some valuable information.

A series powerhouse is back in a familiar place, a new face showed some speed and the 2019 championship has been all but settled.

Here is everything we learned from the Apple Barrel 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Apple Barrell 125: Results | Race Recap | Photo Gallery | More Than A Race | Video

DGR Back On Track

It had been eight races since DGR-Crosley wound up in the winner’s circle. In between, they’ve earned a handful of runner-up and top five finishes, but no checkered flags.

Mr. Second Place, A.K.A. Ty Gibbs, finally did one better on Saturday at New Hampshire, earning his first K&N Pro Series victory in his sixth start and leading 112 of 125 laps. After four second-place finishes (and five top fives), Gibbs didn’t allow the “what ifs” of another second-place run creep into his head.

“I didn‘t really think about that. My mindset when I come to the race track is always focus on what‘s happening right now, because I can‘t change what‘s happened in the past, you know?,” he said. “So I‘m always focused on what‘s happening right now, what can I change, listen to the guys, I‘m focused on getting that W and we came here and did it.”

The grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer and Cup Series team owner Joe Gibbs, Ty was in awe seeing the history made from Joe Gibbs Racing. To add his name to the list associated with the Gibbs last name is something he’s always wanted to accomplish.

“It‘s super cool walking through the building,” he said. “Even at FanFest, the banners of them winning it. And then coming here and winning it it‘s just really cool. it‘s a dream of mine to be racing and to win races it just feels so good. It‘s really cool.

His teammate, Tanner Gray, came home second for the first time this season. The top five run was his fifth of 2019, but much needed after two of his last three finishes coming outside the top 10.

“Definitely better than it has been,” Gray said of his run. “You always want to win, but it‘s good to come back and run better than we did earlier in the year. The guys took what we learned earlier back to the shop, worked in it and definitely made it better. That‘s exciting and fun. They bring great race cars to the track making it a lot easier on us.

Earlier this season, Gray finished fifth at NHMS, but admitted he wasn’t going to be able to catch his teammate.

“He was definitely out there. I definitely didn‘t have anything for him,” he said. “I feel like I did a little bit around the 3/4 mark of the race, but then we just fell off too much. Got too tight, but they were definitely hauling the mail. It‘ll be good to go back, see what they were doing, how they ended the race and be better for next time.”

Not Bad For A Debut

In his first series start in over four years and first with Visconti Motorsports, late model veteran Josh Berry impressed with a third-place run. Despite being pleased with the result, he knows there’s still much more to learn adjusting to the heavier cars.

“It‘s a big learning curve, very quick. You only get 60-90 minutes of practice and you just gotta learn quick,” he said post-race. “I feel like we had a pretty good car in race trim, especially late in the race. We just kept working on it. Throughout that second run it seems like it kind of clicked for me on the direction we needed to go. We made a good call there when we put the tires on to get the car tightened up and it went there at the end. All in all, I‘m just very thankful to be here.”

Next season, the JR Motorsports driver is slated to run a handful of races in the K&N Pro Series East for Visconti Motorsports, as well as become a driver coach for Giovani Bromante.

RELATED: Josh Berry Joins Visconti Motorsports

“They‘re just a great group,” he said of Visconti. “Good family atmosphere, it‘s just a lot of fun. Early in the race, I was struggling, man. I couldn‘t figure out what we needed to do. The longer I went there, the better I got. It just goes back to me not having a lot of experience in these cars or tracks. Need to get some more laps and I think we‘re going to be in the hunt for wins.”

Start Engraving The Trophy

Chase Cabre entered New Hampshire 30 points behind Sam Mayer, needing to sweep the season in Loudon to have a chance going into the season finale to pass the No. 21.

Unfortunately for him, his Rev Racing machine began to handle poorly following the second scheduled break. Despite leading 13 laps, Cabre finished sixth.

“I don‘t know, I guess we got a bad set of tires,” he said when asked what caused the sudden fall in the running order. “Crew can‘t expect that to happen, just something that happens. it just really sucks to see that because my guys put in a lot of effort every week.”

Mayer has all but locked up his first career championship. With a 30-point buffer on second-place heading into the season finale, he has all but mathematically clinched the title.

Cabre, a three-year veteran in the series, has not yet announced his plans for next season; 2019 has been a career campaign for the Tampa, Florida, native. One more win is up for grabs to close out the season, but he was still disappointed at not getting the chance to battle Gibbs for a Loudon sweep.

“We had the car to beat this week,” Cabre said. “Ty (Gibbs) and I traded the top spot a couple times, spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to pass him. We were better in that whole first 80 laps, I just couldn‘t figure out how to get around him because of the aero.”

2019 K&N Pro Series East Standings

Notes

  • Spencer Davis earned his sixth consecutive top 10 and third straight top five with a fourth-place finish. Coming off his Gateway victory, he sits 12 points behind Cabre for second.
  • Nick Sanchez tied his career-best finish of eighth in his third career series start, finishing one spot behind his Rev Racing teammate Ruben Garcia Jr.
  • Robert Pawlowski, A.K.A. Farmer Bob, finished 10th in his first career oval start.
  • Max McLaughlin wound up 13 laps down due to electrical issues in a Mike Stefanik tribute car. The team was off all weekend and could not diagnose the issue until after the race.

Very frustrating day at NHMS. Not really sure what to say other than we had issues that we just could not diagnose. We…

Posted by Max McLaughlin on Saturday, September 21, 2019

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