Mobile, Ala. :: With NASCAR K&N West driver Todd Gilliland winning the East Series opener last month at New Smyrna Speedway, it was guaranteed that the division would have a new championship front-runner by the end of the NASCAR Mobile 150.
As it turns out, the de facto points leader entering the event, Spencer Davis, simply made it official. Davis finished second on Sunday and left the Alabama Gulf Coast with a single point advantage over Mobile winner Tyler Dippel.
Read More: K&N Recap and Results
Davis, a 17-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia, says he relishes the opportunity to lead the standings this early and added that he doesn’t see it as any kind of burden.
“There’s a lot to like about being the points leader this early,” Davis said. “You can control the pace of the championship and gain points for the end of the year. It’s been a dream of mine to lead the points in any NASCAR series and now I can finally say that.
“This is my rookie year with a rookie team in Ranier Racing with MDM and this shows how good we are. But really, we’re only going to get better. Hopefully we can keep it all year.”
Davis made four starts last year in the East Series with NTS Racing and posted top-10s in each of them. This gave him confidence that he could contend in his first season, and now he simply hopes to control his own destiny for the remainder of the season.
“I like it because you don’t have to chase anyone,” Davis said. “You don’t have to do the math. You just focus on winning and expanding the lead. It’s like leading with five laps to go and all you want to do is grow that lead the whole time.”
K&N East Championship Standings
- Spencer Davis Ldr.
- Tyler Dippel -1
- Kyle Benjamin -7
- Ronnie Bassett Jr. -10
- Justin Haley -11
- Noah Gragson -15
- Kaz Grala -16
- Harrison Burton -17
- Austin Theriault -25
- Dominique Van Wieringen -26
- John Holleman IV -29
- Collin Cabre -30
- Sarah Cornett-Ching -30
- Ali Kern -30
- Trey Hutchens -32
- Hunter Baize -34
- JA Avila -35
- Codie Rohrbaugh -35
- Ruben Garcia Jr. -36
- Todd Gilliland -37
STS Photo Editor Matthew Bishop contributed to this report
