AVONDALE, Arizona – Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good in racing.
On Thursday night at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway, Todd Gilliland was both, as the 15-year-old took advantage of race leader J.J. Haley misfortunate to win the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season-finale Casino Arizona 100 in his first career series start.
Gilliland, driving the No. 54 Frontline Enterprises Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing quickly bolted from his ninth place starting spot to enter the top-five by Lap 26. At the race’s halfway point, it was evident that Haley and Gilliland were the two cars to beat.
But, Gilliland the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran David and the grandson of 1997 K&N West Series champion Butch Gilliland would need Haley to falter to steal the victory.
With five laps remaining in the race, Haley, in an HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks entry blew a right front tire after leading every lap, which inadvertently handed the lead to Gilliland.
The teenager withstood a challenge from William Byron on the green-white-checkered restart. Although Byron was able to pass the No. 54 momentarily, Gilliland retook the lead coming to the white flag.
The third-generation cruised to Victory Lane extending his lead by 0.337-seconds over Byron and third place finisher Brandon McReynolds.
Thursday night’s triumph marked the second time that Gilliland won in his first career series start. In May, two days after his 15th birthday, he scored a surprise victory in his ARCA Racing Series debut at Toledo Speedway driving for Venturini Motorsports.
“It’s really special to have my dad (David Gilliland) here, and I couldn’t thank my crew, Frontline Enterprises, Toyota, and (car owner) Bill McAnally Racing enough,” Gilliland said.
“Good golly, can you believe it?” said Gilliland’s father, David. “He’s good. I’ll tell you what, he’s good. I’m so proud of him and everybody. It’s a brand new car for us, and man we just gotta thank God. God gave us the power to work and get this car done, and God has given Todd an amazing ability to drive the race car and do things that guys like Kyle Busch can do, and so I’m just really proud of him. Man, I love that boy.”
The Pro Series East champion, 17-year-old Byron finished second. There were five teenagers in the top 10: Gilliland, Byron, Dalton Sargeant, who finished fourth, Harrison Burton, who finished sixth, and James Bickford, who finished eighth. Rounding out the top five was Landon Cassill in fifth.
Despite a last lap nudge from series rival Noah Gragson, Chris Eggleston finished 10th and delivered Bill McAnally Racing another K&N Series West championship, the first for 26-year-old Eggleston.
“I don’t usually get nervous before races, but this one definitely had me nervous,” Eggleston said. “There was a lot on the line. It got pretty exciting there on that last lap going through [Turns] 3 and 4. I thought the No. 7 (Noah Gragson) was going to retaliate and get us. I apologize to whoever I ran into. I was just trying to save it from getting run into.
“Man, what a night. I’ll tell you what, here at Phoenix International Raceway, these boys deserve it, every guy on this team. Man, there’s so many people to thank. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive this thing.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
