Benjamin Wins K&N Pro Series East Finale at Dover

Kyle Benjamin won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover International Speedway

Benjamin won his third K&N Pro Series East race of the season. He won at Iowa Speedway, the highest finishing driver from the East Series, and at Greenville Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. He won three of the final five races of the K&N Pro Series East season.

“Really cool to get a win at Dover,” Benjamin said. “It’s a place you always want to win at, especially, this is probably the coolest track on the K&N schedule. Real neat to win here.”

Rain washed out qualifying, putting Justin Haley, the leader in the K&N Pro Series East standings entering the Dover 125, on the pole. He led the first 42 laps of the race.

Kyle Benjamin celebrates after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race in Dover, Delaware

Benjamin, who started on the front row with Haley, passed for the lead on lap 43. Benjamin stayed out front for the remainder of the race, including the final restart on lap 123. A crash brought out the sixth caution flag of the race and extended it an extra lap.

“It’s nerve-racking because you don’t know what they’re planning to do behind you,” Benjamin said. “They could jack you up. I’ve had a restart at one of these places where I got wrecked at the start-finish line. I didn’t even get going. That was in the back of my mind too. Anything can happen, so you’re always looking out for it.”

Justin Haley leads the field in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover International Speedway

“We’ve had a great year,” Benjamin said. “It’s had its ups and downs. We had a lot of good races and a lot of bad races on the races that were good races. I wouldn’t change any of it at this point. We’ve had a great season, a lot of consistent cars.”

Benjamin and his team used the same car throughout the K&N Pro Series East season. He said after the race that the team will probably continue to use the car in the 2017 K&N Pro Series East season.

Kyle Benjamin does a burn out after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover Speedway

Jesse Little was second in the race at Dover, followed by Dominique Van Wieringen in third. Haley was fourth and rookie Ruben Garcia came in fifth place. It was Van Wieringen’s third top-five finish in a row.

Haley, Benjamin and other top drivers in the K&N Pro Series East will be celebrated at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards ceremony in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 10.