Will Rodgers bests Cup stars for first K&N West win at Sonoma
After winning the pole in last year’s race at Sonoma and finishing second, Rodgers passed Aric Almirola with 13 laps to go to score his first K&N Pro Series West victory.
Photo by: Will Rodgers Racing
Some drivers are known to have a knack on particular tracks and Rodgers is quickly becoming known as an ace on the road courses.
One week after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Rodgers started from the pole and won his fourth consecutive start on a road course in K&N competition.
Rodgers, who finished second in this race to Kevin Harvick last year, was able to get by another Cup regular when he passed Almirola on Lap 51 and held the lead for the remainder of the 64-lap event.
Almirola came home second to lead Cup interlopers. William Byron and Daniel Suarez finished third and fourth, respectively, with Ryan Partridge completing the top-five.
Erik Jones was sixth with NASCAR Next driver Hailie Deegan finishing seventh in her first career road course race.. Derek Thorn was eighth with Cole Keatts and Derek Kraus rounding out the top ten.
Rodgers started from the pole position and led the first 21 laps of the race before pitting during the first break of the race. Almirola decided to stay out and took the top spot, leading until Lap 38 when Suarez overtook him.
Suarez remained out front until the final break of the race on Lap 40 when everyone came to pit road with the exception of Suarez and David Mayhew.
On the ensuing restart, Almirola made a three-wide pass for the lead at Turn 11, retaking control of the race on Lap 44 until Rodgers moved into the lead on Lap 51.
Thorn finished leads in the standings by one point over Partridge (254-253) with Kraus 14 points back in third.
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