Moffitt Wins Richmond Thriller
RICHMOND, Va. – Brett Moffitt edged Chase Elliott in a drag race to the line following a green-white-checkered finish to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Blue Ox 100 Thursday at Richmond International Raceway.
A three-way battle between Moffitt, Elliott and Corey LaJoie developed just after the final restart, and on the white flag lap it turned into a two-horse race that saw Moffitt just nip Elliott at the line. The margin of victory was .011 seconds.
| POS | DRIVER |
|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Moffitt |
| 2 | Chase Elliott |
| 3 | Corey LaJoie |
| 4 | Kyle Larson |
| 5 | Brandon Gdovic |
From Grimes, Iowa, Moffitt earned his eighth career victory with the Blue Ox 100 checkers. In his fourth year in K&N Pro Series East action, Moffitt has shown an ability to perform best in the largest venues. Of those eight wins, seven have come on tracks where NASCAR’s national series compete.
For Elliott, the runner-up effort was the best finish of his young K&N Pro Series East career, now with just 15 starts. He also took the points lead by four over Ben Kennedy and nine over LaJoie. LaJoie finished third, as he did at Richmond in 2011.
Rookie Kyle Larson was fourth and Brandon Gdovic fifth.
Kennedy, Bryan Ortiz, Eddie MacDonald, Sergio Pena and Michael McGuire brought home the rest of the top 10.
With the victory, Moffitt secured a locked-in starting position for the inaugural UNOH Battle at the Beach during 2013 Speedweeks on a temporary short track at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Gdovic moved to fourth in points and Larson is fifth. Larson is one of three NASCAR Drive for Diversity drivers in the top 10, joined by his Rev Racing teammates Ortiz (seventh) and Gifford (eighth). The win moved Moffitt up to sixth, while previous points leader Darrell Wallace Jr. — the 2011 race winner — dropped out of the top 10 with a 28th-place finish.
The K&N Pro Series East will return to action on May 19 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.
