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Peña Gets First Victory

SOUTH BOSTON, VA. (April 17, 2011) — Sergio Peña won the South Boston 150 in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East action Sunday afternoon from South Boston Speedway by surviving pressure from Matt DiBenedetto and Max Gresham on a late restart.

Peña, out of Winchester, Va., took advantage of some tough luck for Brett Moffitt as the laps were winding down to collect his first series win.

Moffitt, who led much of the race and was out in front by three seconds as the laps were counting down, was knocked out of contention when he tangled with Michael Cherry with just 10 circuits to go.

Peña, who jumped onto the scene in January 2010 when he narrowly lost to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Joey Logano in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, then inherited the lead from Moffitt on Lap 141 and made it stand.

“This feeling is unbelievable,” Peña said. “The Showdown was a good feeling, but to win a race is a completely different deal.”

Peña drives for Revolution Racing as part of Drive for Diversity. With the win in the season’s second race, he took the points lead.

Moffitt was in search of what would have been a third-consecutive series win after winning the 2010 season finale and this season’s opener. Instead he was relegated to a 24th-place finish.

“I was riding in third for awhile and Brett Moffitt had checked out,” Peña said. “We got into some lap traffic, and I’m not sure what happened. Unfortunately for him he couldn’t finish the race because he definitely had the car to beat, but luckily I was there to pounce on it and take away the win.”

DiBenedetto placed second followed by last year’s South Boston winner Gresham, Coleman Pressley and Ryan Gifford.

Polesitter Darrell Wallace Jr. led the first 73 laps – a race-high – and finished in the sixth position. Andrew Smith, Alex Bowman, D.J. Shaw and Derek Ramstrom rounded out the top 10.

Earlier in the day, Wallace earned his first career 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light.

X Team Racing – new to the series in 2011 – has seen its three drivers Bowman, DiBenedetto and Pressley finish in the top 10 in both races this year, and all three rank in the top five in points.

The South Boston 150, which was schedule to run on Saturday, April 16 but was postponed a day by rain, will be televised by SPEED on Thursday, May 12 at 6 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will return to action on Thursday, April 28 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway for the inaugural running of the Blue Ox 100.

RESULTS  |  LAP-BY-LAP RECAP  |  AUDIO:  PENA VICTORY LANE  |  PENA POST-RACE  |  DIBENEDETTO POST-RACE  |  GRESHAM POST-RACE