Gresham Wraps Up Dream Season
DOVER, Del. – Max Gresham wrapped up his first championship in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with a third-place finish in the Dover 150 at Dover International Speedway on Friday. While the 18-year-old Gresham was securing the title, Darrell Wallace Jr., 17, scored his third win of the season and fifth of his career with a victory on the high-banked, one-mile concrete oval. It marked Wallace’s first win at the Monster Mile and coupled with a 21st-place finish for the other title contender Brett Moffitt, moved him into second in the final standings. Wallace won the race’s pole award in Thursday’s qualifying. Gresham, from Griffin, Ga., was in his second season driving the No. 18 Live Oak Plantation Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He took the championship by 63 points over Wallace and 83 over Moffitt. It marks the second series title for JGR, following Joey Logano’s in 2007. Moffitt cut a tire and hit the wall while leading with four laps remaining in a quest for his third straight win at Dover. At the time, Gresham was running third and nursing a six-point lead over Moffitt in the championship standings. Moffitt’s accident prompted a green-white-checkered finish that stretched the race to 152 laps. Eddie MacDonald and rookie Andrew Smith rounded out the top five. Benny Gordon was sixth, followed by Ryan Gifford, Brandon McReynolds, Dylan Presnell and Jeff Anton. Alex Bowman finished 23rd but was able to unofficially clinch the Sunoco Rookie of the Year. The Dover 150 will air on SPEED on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET. Gresham will be honored for his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Series Gala on Saturday, Dec. 10 in the Crown Ballroom of the Charlotte (N.C.) Convention Center in the NASCAR Hall of Fame complex.
