MADISON, Ill. — For the first time in 1,181 days, Spencer Davis can call himself a winner in the K&N Pro Series again.
One week removed from leading a career-high 137 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Dawsonville, Georgia native took the lead from Sam Mayer on the final green/white/checkered restart into turn one and never looked back, claiming his first victory since May 30, 2016 at Dominion Raceway.
The ultimate winning move was set up by a caution for Josh Fanopoulos blowing an engine off Turn 4. When Davis realized he’d get another shot at the win, he thanked his lucky stars.
“I saw that car blowing up and I’m like ‘someone’s shining down on us trying to get us that win.’,” Davis said. “And when we lined up, I just zoned out, didn’t listen to the spotter or nothing. Like I said in victory lane, tried to channel my inner Dale (Earnhardt).”
And that’s exactly what he did.
“Tried to intimidate (Mayer) a little bit coming to the line,” he said. “The only way you can beat him–the only way I think you can beat this car this year is to make the kid make a mistake. Being a veteran of this series, I feel like I’m exceptional at restarts […] you couldn’t have asked for a better performance right there.”
“I hit my gears better than him and got into (Turn) 1 better,” Davis said. “I know he didn’t give it to me, but it felt like it because I drove that thing in there until I saw Jesus, man. It stuck, and I came out the other end leading.”
Derek Kraus earned his second consecutive runner-up finish, with David Gilliland, Mayer and Parker Retzlaff, making his second career series start, rounding out the top five.
The finish:
Spencer Davis, Derek Kraus, David Gilliland, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Ruben Garcia Jr., Jagger Jones, Colin Garrett, Hailie Deegan, Todd Souza, Takuma Koga, Josh Fanopoulos, Chase Cabre, Travis Milburn, Tanner Gray, Brittney Zamora, John Wood, Trevor Huddleston, Max McLaughlin.