K&N West Recap – Patrick Staropoli Stuns Irwindale Crowd; Wins NAPA 150
Patrick Staropoli concluded all murmurs about him winning the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge was a fluke, and further ended any discussion of him not capable of performing well.
Staropoli shutdown these critics after winning Saturday night’s NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Irwindale Speedway in the NASCAR K&N West Pro Series. He inherited the race lead on the restart with 15 laps remaining. After controlling the lead, he pulled away from the field and never looked back until he crossed the start/finish line, first.
“Just and awesome night, I’ll never forget this.” Staropoli commented in the media center following the race. “I’m so excited to be standing here (in victory lane), I never would have imagined this a year ago.”
The Irwindale crowd expected Brett Thompson, who led over half the race, to score the victory. However, K&N West regulars like Greg Pursley and Dylan Lupton began marching through the field during the last stint of the race.
Thompson was shuffled outside the top five with 15 to go and eventually finished a dismal seventh. Ryan Partridge also was a contender during the mid-section of the race, but like Thompson, wasn’t a factor during the final restart and finished right behind Thompson in eighth.
David Mayhew finished 1.5 seconds behind Staropoli in second position after passing Greg Pursley in the final laps. Pursley, K&N West point’s leader, ended up third with Brandon McRenyolds, who won the pole for the race, and Lupton behind him.
“Running at Irwindale is just fun.” Pursley explained after climbing from his machine. “Good points night for us, and just glad we could be back here (Irwindale) in K&N competition.”
The K&N West Series returns to action on May 3rd at Stockton 99 Speedway, which is right down the road from Irwindale. Pursley will look to defend his points lead, and Staropoli will look to defend his first career K&N victory.
Kyle Larson hits bullseye with first career win in Treatmyclot.com 300
After getting close to winning last year, Kyle Larson would hold off Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in an exciting finish to win the Treatmyclot.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway for his first career Nationwide Series victory.
“I wasn’t very happy when we got the last caution,” Larson commented. “I was on the bottom for the restart and that wasn’t a good spot so I was surprised to get the lucky dog. Man that was an awesome race! I had a heckuva race with those guys. The last 11 or so laps were the longest laps of my life. It was great racing them near the end. I thought I’d run away from them, but they were side-by-side and not going anywhere. That was a blast. Hats off to all these guys. That was a blast out there and I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be a heck of a race.”
With 20 laps to go in the 300 mile race, a caution would come out for debris bringing the leaders down pit road. Harvick would win the race off pit road, followed by Larson, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Elliott. Once the field went back to green with 16 laps to go, Larson grabbed the lead and started to pull ahead in front of the field.
As the race wore down, Harvick and Busch closed the gap while battling for second and third and each took shots at passing Larson and each other all the way to the checkered. None of their tricks worked, as Larson used the momentum on the high side to keep ahead of them both just enough.
Kevin Harvick finished second for his third top five in three Nationwide starts this year for JR Motorsports so far.
“I’d rather win but when you’re involved in a race like that you can’t be too disappointed,” Harvick said.
Kyle Busch finished third after having to start at the rear of the field due not posting a time during qualifying as a result of failing pre-race technical inspection five times.
“Shouldn’t be anybody happier than the fans in the stands. The fans won,” Busch said afterwards. “He deserves it, he’s worked hard and that’s why he’s in the Cup series.”
Joey Logano finished fourth, followed by pole sitter Elliott Sadler. Rookie Chase Elliott came back to finish sixth following contact with the wall on lap 73 due to contact from Dylan Kwasniewski as Kwasniewski got loose.
Matt Kenseth finished seventh, followed by Ty Dillon, Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith. Bayne and Smith are now tied for the points lead.
Brian Vickers to raise awareness about blood clots
When Brian Vickers hits the track for the race on Sunday, he won’t just be racing for a good finish – he’ll be raising awareness about blood clots. Vickers will be driving a special No. 55 TREATMYCLOT.com/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota in the Auto Club 500 this weekend.
“For me, I think the biggest message to get out there is if you have something wrong, go see the doctor,” Vickers said on Friday at Auto Club Speedway. “Since the first time I’ve had an incident, I’ve worked hard to raise awareness about clotting. Not only is it an under-diagnosed issue, it’s a unknown issue to a lot of people. It can affect anyone – whether you’re young, old, in shape or not – and a lot of people in this industry. I know I’ve had a lot of officials, crew members, truck drivers come to me and tell me my story.
“To the opportunity to partner with TREATMYCLOT.com and Janssen Pharmaceuticals – it’s crazy to think my story will help some people – to have the full story online, for people to see that and raise awareness – it’s a good thing. I encourage people to check out TREATMYCLOT.com and learn about it.
“The biggest thing – if you think you have a problem, go see a doctor.”
Vickers has missed some races over the course of his career due to blood clots, beginning in 2011.
“I did what a lot of people do – I ignored the early signs and symptoms till it was too late,” Vickers commented. “I was finally forced to go to the hospital and I was – it pretty much got to the point where it was hard to breathe. I told the doctor, ‘Well, I’ve got to be at the track on Friday at Dover for practice. I can miss practice – but I have to there for Sunday’. He goes, ‘I don’t think you have any idea what you’re dealing with’.”
Vickers went through the healing process – which took six months with medicine and monitoring his blood and diet. Vickers was able to get back into a car last year, running part-time for Michael Waltrip Racing.
“I felt like it was the right move and it was a risk to come back and for even MWR to put me in a part-time car (last year),” he commented. “It felt so good to get that team to victory lane and I can’t thank the team enough for that opportunity.”
Of course, there was a small setback last fall when Vickers got another clot in his right calf.
“I did exactly what I was supposed to do this time and am doing exactly what I’m telling people now – I didn’t ignore the signs and symptoms,” he said. “As soon as I suspected I had something wrong – some slight swelling and redness – I immediately called the doctor. He said it was probably nothing but that I should get it checked out. I had been wearing a boot to stabilize my ankle, which can sometimes cause a clot. I took it off and I had some pain, some swelling and some redness. So it was very minor; you could almost miss it.”
Vickers went to the doctor and they did an ultrasound and sure enough, another clot.
“Needless to say, it was very frustrating because of the first time after going through the once ,” he commented. “This time, we caught it early because I did go to the doctor and didn’t ignore the signs and symptoms. This time I got different medicine, didn’t have the dietary restrictions or blood monitoring.”
That treatment took three months, but Vickers was able to clear things up in time for the Daytona 500 and so far has ran each of the four races this season. Vickers hasn’t had the results he has wanted, so perhaps a change in the wave could come this weekend.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, which runs TREATMYCLOT.com, also announced this weekend a partnership with NASCAR to spread awareness about blood clots.
“It’s a life threatening condition that effects over 9000 Americans each year,” Gregg Ruppersberger, the Group Product Director for Janssen Pharmaceuticals Incorporated said. “It can affect you, me and young drivers so that’s why it’s important to talk about. Unfortunately, a lot of fans aren’t aware of the risk factor and what to do if they get a clot.”
NASCAR’s Chief Sales Officer Jim O’ Connell said that he is pleased with how Janssen Pharmaceuticals has come into the sport in an “integrated, authentic” way versus other partners that they’ve had in the past.
“We know from history that you can reach a lot of fans through being involved in the sport,” O’Connell added.
As part of the promotions that Janassen is doing, they will hold the title rights for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway – the TREATMYCLOT.com 300.
“I think that’s one of the things that special in this sport is the way that it connects with fans and creates a community,” Auto Club Speedway President Gillian Zucker commented. “This is a sponsor that is creating awareness and saving lives, and we’re very appreciative of it.”
