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Race report

Ronnie Bassett Jr. earns first K&N East win in season opener

Ronnie Bassett Jr. earned his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory in surprisingly dominant fashion.

Race winner Ronnie Bassett Jr., Chevrolet

Race winner Ronnie Bassett Jr., Chevrolet

Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

Ronnie Bassett, Jr., Chevrolet

In 40 previous starts in K&N Pro Series East and West, Bassett hadn’t led a single lap of competition, but he took command late in Sunday night’s Jet Tools 150 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway and won by nearly three seconds.

Bassett, 21, was leading when the 150-lap race returned to green on Lap 126 following the second red flag of the race.

He was able to quickly get past Harrison Burton and ended up easily holding off Zane Smith for the victory.

Derek Kraus finished third, Burton – who started on the pole – ended up fourth and Travis Cope finished fifth.

“We had a really good race car. We unloaded off the trailer pretty quick. We came and tested last week and thought we’d be pretty good,” Bassett said.

The victory was extra special for Bassett and his family, who lost their race shop in Winston-Salem, N.C, in a fire last May. All of the team’s K&N cars were destroyed in the fire.

“It was very special to get this win. I work on my own race car every day. I try to make it as good as I can,” he said. “We have a great group of guys behind us. They’ve done a great job over the winter getting us ready.

“I knew we’d be just as strong when we came back, if now better.”

Bassett’s brother, Dillon, led a large part of the first half of the race but cut a tire and slammed into the Turn 1 wall late in the second half, cutting short his race.

Last year’s winner, Todd Gilliland, led early in the race but also cut a tire, fell a lap down and rallied to finish ninth.

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