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NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Driver Greg Pursley Wins Again at Miller Motorsports Park

4 May 2011

Greg Pursley wins the K&N Pro Series West race at Miller Motorsports Park for the second year in a row.

Greg Pursley won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah on Saturday and extended his lead in the West Series standings.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Race at Miller Motorsports Park

Two crashes late in the race extended it 13 laps past the scheduled 50. Eric Holmes had the lead on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish and ran out of fuel on lap 58. Pursley took over the lead on the ensuing restart and led the final five laps of the race.

Pursley won the K&N Pro Series West race at Miller Motorsports Park for the second year in a row. It was his second win of the season and his fourth in the past six races going back to 2010.

Moses Smith made a late charge but came up a little short. He finished second, followed by Jim Inglebright in third.

"Me and Eric Holmes had a great race there," Pursley said. "I've got to thank him for a little give and take there. We were having a great race together. And Moses gave us a great race there at the end."

Holmes, a three-time K&N Pro Series West champion, was able to make it back to pit road for fuel and stayed on the lead lap. He led the most laps and was in search of his first road course win, but ended up in 13th place.

Pursley won the season opener at Phoenix International Raceway in February and two of the last three races of the 2010 season. One of those wins was at Miller Motorsports Park in September.

Andrew Ranger set fast qualifying time and won the pole. He led the first 17 laps of the race, but had to pit early to replace a battery. When he returned to the race, he was two laps down.

David Mayhew took the lead for two laps before Smith passed him and was out front for the next 13 laps.

"We slowly started moving up through the field," Smith said. "At one point, we got in the lead, led quite a few laps and ended up getting a flat right rear tire. We just kept kinda working it, getting up through the field. We had enough yellows that it kind of bunched up the field and gave us a good jump on the guys again."

Holmes took the lead for the first time in the race on lap 34 and battled Pursley until lap 49. Isaac Sherman stalled on the last lap of the race bringing out a caution and setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

When the race restarted on lap 55, Brandon Davis and Dylan Kwasniewski crashed in turn 7. Holmes ran out of fuel three laps later under caution. He had to forfeit the lead to refuel, putting Pursley out front when the race restarted on lap 61.

"I actually thought we were going to run out there at the end," Pursely said. "We sputtered a couple of times. We got lucky there at the end. I'd rather be lucky than good right now. We've got a lucky streak going on."

Pursley beat Smith to the finish line and won by 0.196 seconds.

"Second's good. It's a good weekend," Smith said.

After three races, Pursley has a 58-point lead in the K&N Pro Series West standings over Smith. Jonathon Gomez, who finished fourth at Utah, is in third place in the West Series standings, 112 points behind Pursley.

The next K&N Pro Series race is at Iowa Speedway on May 21. It is a combined race beween teams from the K&N Pro Series West and East.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

Darrell Wallace Jr. Wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Race at Richmond International Raceway

2 May 2011

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Driver Darrell Wallace Jr.

Darrell Wallace Jr. won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Richmond International Raceway on Thursday night and took over the lead in the East Series standings. Wallace took the lead on lap 79 and was out front for the last 21 laps of the Blue Ox 100, the third race of the K&N Pro Series East schedule.

Wallace took the lead on lap 79 and was out front for the last 21 laps of the Blue Ox 100.

"Awesome run overall. Definitely a hard-working team back at Revolution Racing," Wallace said. "They said they left the shop at 9 o'clock last night and got in late. My car was the last one out of the shop. Can't thank them enough."

Wallace won the third East Series race of his career and the first of the 2011 season. He won two as a rookie last year. It was the second win in a row for his team, Revolution Racing. Sergio Pena won the race at South Boston Speedway in Virginia on April 17.

Wallace took the lead from pole winner Max Gresham for the first time in the race on lap 55. Gresham took back the lead on a restart on lap 78, but Wallace regained the lead a lap later and held it the rest of the way.

Darrell Wallace Jr. takes checkered flag at Richmond International Raceway

"To get my first win on a big track here, it's pretty awesome. We just had to be patient and be there at the end," Wallace said. "Gresham, he was pretty strong. We had a little bit better car and a better line. We just took it away from him."

Brett Moffitt finished second, followed by Corey LaJoie in third. Gresham, who led a race-high 55 laps, fell off at the end and finished fourth. Rookie Alex Bowman was fifth.

The race was delayed for an hour and 48 minutes because of rain.

"We had something for him and I kept my word," Wallace said about his late battle with Gresham. "We went for it and we were able to come out with a win. We got into it a little bit coming off a two, but I gotta go talk to him and tell him it wasn't a big deal. I think we're all good. We'll go to Iowa and have another good race."

Moffitt rebounded after a disappointing end to the race at South Boston. He was leading late in the race when he tangled with a lapped car and fell out of contention. "We were really strong. We definitely weren't a winning car, but we were a top five, top 10 car," Moffitt said after the race. "Things just went our way tonight. We ended up running second which was great for our points after South Boston. That race was a big disappointment, leading until six laps to go and then getting taken out by a lapped car. It was a great night for points. The guys worked hard in practice to get the car where we needed it."

LaJoie said NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick gave him some advice about how to race at Richmond before the race and it helped, especially in the second half of the race.

"We were in my opinion junk all day long," LaJoie said. "We couldn't run that fast lap, but we could keep running consistent times, which I didn't think was a very good thing because I didn't think the track lost much grip and it didn't wear tires. Harvick come up and talked to me before the race and gave me some tips on the line. He gave me some really useful tips that I didn't even pick up in practice, that I didn't even realize what to do. I really appreciate that."

Pena, Wallace's teammate at Revolution Racing, finished ninth. Wallace has a 24-point lead over Pena after three races in the K&N Pro Series East season.

"It's awesome, definitely a lot better than last year,." Wallace said. "Last year we tore up a bunch of race cars in the process. Now we're bringing ‘em home in one piece or a couple of pieces, like a fender coming off. Not on the tow truck or anything. I think we got a good set of drivers. It's definitely a lot better than last year."

The next K&N Pro Series race is at Iowa Speedway on May 21. It is a combination race between the K&N Pro Series East and West teams.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series Racer Josh Hodges

2 May 2011

Sprint Car Dirt Series Racer Josh Hodges

You would assume being a straight-A student takes a lot of dedication and focus. Josh Hodges has found a way to translate it to the track. The High School sophomore, who must maintain his 4.0 GPA in order to race, is off to this best start ever while running Sprint Cars throughout the southwest.

Hodges recently won his first ASCS Regional event, making him the youngest person to do so, at Aztec Speedway in New Mexico. The win brought a newfound confidence to the team, and Hodges has parlayed that into 5 top fives in 10 races this year. The track has always felt like home for his team.

ASCS 360 Sprint Car Racer Josh Hodges

"I have a little more experience there than other tracks…my dad raced there years ago as well," Hodges said. "I have experience in two different types of cars as well, and I think that helps me with the traits of the place. It was also the first place I ever raced a Sprint Car, so it's pretty special to me."

Hodges has competed wheel-to-wheel with drivers like World of Outlaws star Johnny Herrera and 3-time defending ASCS Southwest Champion Rick Zhiel this season. Hodges said it was a few mechanical changes that have made the difference this season.

"Our car has been feeling good with the upgrades we made to Vortex wings and we've figured out how I like to run my new Integra by Benic Shocks," he added.

Balancing the rigors of a sophomore high school student's life may seem difficult, but Hodges' parents have kept the pressure on, and the youngster understands that education is the foundation he needs if racing ends up his career.

"I get all my schoolwork done before I go work on the car, and I have to talk with my teachers often to get work for when I'm gone on Fridays and some Thursdays for racing. When you put all this work into it, though, and you do have a good run, it makes it that much sweeter," Hodges said. "I think it is important to get a good education so I will be able to race in the future, because less and less people these days are able to make a living racing, but I hope to go into a career field that involves the sport. I love being around the sport, and getting to drive is just an added bonus."

While his plans for the rest of the season are still uncertain, Hodges just wants as much seat time as possible. "We have run all of the ASCS Southwest races so far, but we may branch out and do some other ASCS and other 360 racing, especially in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. I'm excited for whatever this year brings, and I hope that we just continue to get better and better. The end of last year was a bit tough, but we're back up to full speed and getting closer and closer to some more wins."

Hodges made sure to mention how appreciative his team is of K&N's quality line of filters. "In dirt Sprint Car racing, everything gets put to the test, especially the filters. K & N Filters do their job time after time, keeping the air clean and enhancing performance. Never have we had to mess with them (except for the needed maintenance) or have they malfunctioned. There isn't another product out there that can beat K & N's quality and performance."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

2010-2012 Hyundai Genesis Coupe with 2.0L Turbo Engine Releases More Power with K&N Air Intake

28 Apr 2011

K&N Air Intake Installed on 2010 Hyundai Genesis 2.0L

Dyno Chart for 2010, 2011 and 2012 Hyundai Genesis 2.0L

The Hyundai Genesis Coupe models with 300+ horsepower V6 engines may get the majority of the media coverage, however, it's expected that half of all Genesis Coupe sales will be models equipped with the sporty 2.0L turbo engine.

K&N Air Intake System for 2010, 2011 and 2012 Hyundai Genesis 2.0L

The Genesis Coupe's 2.0L turbo engine was developed out of a cooperation effort between Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Chrysler. The Genesis Coupe's 2.0L turbo engine is essentially the same engine found in Mitsubishi's legendary Lancer Evolution cars.

2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe models are highly capable machines. However, K&N engineers are constantly in pursuit of more power. After looking under the hood, K&N engineers knew that, with their expertise, these cars were capable of more.

K&N intake 69-5302TTK replaces the intake tract with a textured black powder coated mandrel-bent aluminum intake tube and a K&N High-Flow Air Filter^™ for high air-flow delivery. The 69-5302TTK incorporates a heat shield custom made for the Genesis, which retains use of the factory fresh air inlet, and helps to isolate the air filter from warm air under the hood. This intake system provides improved performance you can feel.

2010 Hyundai Genesis 2.0L

The result of this hard work and enthusiasm for performance is an estimated 7 extra horsepower at the wheels. K&N's Research and Development Department tested a 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe with a 2.0L turbocharged L4 engine on our in-house dynamometer. Results showed horsepower increases throughout the RPM range with an estimated horsepower gain of 7 horsepower @ 4,000 RPM! Equally important is the estimated 9.2 lb-ft of torque this car picked up at 4,000 RPM.

This air intake system uses a conical shaped, carbon fiber top, High-Flow Air Filter^™, part RP-4600. The filter captures harmful particles, provides high airflow, and long service life. This K&N air filter performs for up to 100,000 miles before service is required, depending on driving conditions.

For increased service intervals, K&N intake 69-5302TTK can be used with K&N Precharger^® filter wrap, part number 22-8036PK. Precharger^® filter wraps are made from a durable polyester material containing uniform micron openings which will stop small dirt particles; yet add little restriction to the airflow of the air filter.

69-5302TTK is a complete system which takes about 90 minutes or less to install with common hand tools. It uses stock mounting points, requires no drilling, and is covered by the K&N Million Mile Limited Warranty^®.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

Dan Fletcher Quashes His Super Stock Monkey With NHRA National Wally in His K&N Camaro at Concord

28 Apr 2011

NHRA National Event Winner Dan Fletcher

It may sound strange to anyone who knows even just a tiny bit about sportsman drag racing that phenom driver Dan Fletcher ever had any type of "monkey on his back", after all he just sewed up his 71st NHRA National Event win by taking the Comp Eliminator class a few short weeks ago in Las Vegas.

Dan Fletcher's 1969 Chevy Camaro

But for Fletcher, one has to admit that he keeps the bar set extremely high for his racing program and his record to date proves that he shows no signs of lowering it anytime soon.

For Fletcher's most recent NHRA National event in Concord, North Carolina, he was back in his own two cars, a pair of beautiful '69 Chevy Camaros decked out in K&N colors, one in Stock and the other in Super Stock. While Fletcher, like any racer, sets out to win in each car they enter, it was in the Super Stock Camaro, where wins eluded him during the entire 2010 season that he may have just been pushing a little extra for.

"If you look at my efforts in Super Stock last year, it wasn't pretty," confessed the multi-time champ. "You know I don't even know what to say. It's not like the car was terrible, we just weren't good together very often, not often enough to win."

The weather cooperated enough for sportsman qualifying on Thursday and Friday's early round eliminations, but that all changed come Saturday.

"Horrible," he reflected on Saturday's conditions. "Lots of wind and rain along with tornado warnings. But it finally cleared up in the afternoon and I managed to guess what the tail wind was going do."

By that time, Fletcher had already made his way through first round on Friday taking out Steven Johnson but would have to wait patiently until after nine Saturday night to face his second round opponent, Roy Hill. "I was .003 on the tree against Roy and I wasn't trying to be that good," said Fletcher. "You know, that's lucky to be that close to turning it red."

Sunday morning would bring round three and another round with a very similar setup to Fletcher's first, getting chased by a car running 8.80's with quite a bit more MPH. "I'm out there peddling before the thousand foot and take two-thousandths of the stripe, guess I was trying to mess [that round] up and didn't quite get it done."

K&N's Fletcher was not only slaying his opponent's by giving them no room at the stripe, he was also ripping the green off the tree compared to the driver in the other lane. "I drove ok. You know I could have easily been red against Roy Hill, I could have easily let Chuck Gallagher Jr. by me by a thou instead of taking two. There's times when those thousandths of a second don't go our way and they just went my way. I drove well, the car worked well and you know taking two thou or giving it up one thou is really no different [perception at the stripe]."

"Those were just decisions where I knew I was going to get to kill enough and get there first," he said of his tight stripe margins. Sometimes you don't know whether to get there first or second. All my races were clear cut and I knew what to do. But just taking two thou was probably too close. There are many times you get down there and you are just on autopilot and you do what you do. There are plenty of times where I screw it up and let someone by me and I almost did there, but I didn't and I won."

With all the different body types of cars in a class like NHRA Super Stock, Fletcher is very aware of each and how one needs to approach how they will race the stripe against them.

"There are cars that is they are wide open they take [stripe] with the tire and if there on the brakes, take it with the nose," he explained. "So it's another randomizing factor that you have to use to decide how much to kill, where am I [on track], so I guard against their nose getting into the beams. Who is it I'm racing, is that someone who's gonna dump and hit the brakes and get their nose in the lights. There are a lot of different concerns in Stock and Super Stock, because you are running so many different cars and different front ends and the way they act at the other end of the track."

Fletcher gave an example of this by citing his quarterfinal round competitor, Mike Saye. "He definitely got his nose in the lights. He went 9.99 on a ten flat at 134, which is too much speed [based on ET] when he should have 131 or 131 and half. I'm 27 on the tree, he's 28. I'm dead-on with a two, killing what I think I need to next to him and he slams the brakes and gets his nose in the lights and gets there eleven thou."

"It was an interesting race," he added.

The tight round with Saye earned Fletcher the all-important bye into final where he would meet up with Ontario, Canada's Gianni Cantusci. While Cantusci was competing in his first ever NHRA National event championship round, Dan Fletcher was now in his 108th, tying 2011 International Drag Racing Hall of Fame Inductee, Top Fuel Legend Joe Amato.

"He had been pretty good on the tree," Fletcher pointed out of Cantusci. "But he missed it a little bit in the final, which was good fortunately for me. I was dialed, I thought, pretty stiff. I was hitting the tree pretty good, the car was running good and I thought the only way I was losing in the final was if I screwed it up by a thou or two at the finish line. Which I am more than capable of doing, I constantly do it all the time, make it too close and screw it up."

"So I dialed something where I could just hold it to the wood," he continued. "Well naturally as I'm chasing him and running up on him, I feel like I've got a little room. I just rolled out of the gas and was ready to go 'bap-bap' on the throttle on the way by. I roll up on him, get outta the gas and the car goes 'BANG-POW', and I didn't have to hit the gas. Something went wrong with like the ignition box right at the finish line. Talk about luck, the car kinda did it for me and I just coasted by for a four-thousandths margin of victory. If I would have had to go another round, I probably wasn't going to make it."

Fletcher odd mechanical failure not only netted him his 72nd NHRA National Event Wally, his first in Super Stock since 2009, but he also ran a perfect 9.280, dead on his dial also grabbing the Perfectly Strange bonus money for Super Stock.

With the Easter Holiday weekend, Fletcher will have plenty of time to figure out whatever strange gremlin that reared its head during the Super Stock final at ZMax in his K&N 1969 Camaro, before his next event in Baytown, Texas and the NHRA SpringNationals April 29-May 1.

"I'm really glad I could get this Super Stock win for all the guys at K&N," he added. "It just felt really good to seal the deal in Super Stock after not being able to do so in that class last season."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.