SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 24, 2013) — Dylan Presnell of Sevierville demonstrated that time spent away from being behind the wheel of a race car hadn't left his skills rusty, as this past Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East North American Power 100, he recorded an impressive fifth-place finish.

The 18-year-old Presnell graduated with honors from Sevier County High School back in May, and he's currently a freshman at Walters State Community College. Running a limited schedule in 2013 after finishing 15th in series points last year, entering the event at "The Magic Mile" Presnell had only two starts this season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East as he competed in the Battle at the Beach during Speed Weeks at Daytona International Speedway in February, and then in March at Bristol Motor Speedway for the DRIVE4COPD 125, where he qualified on the outside pole. 

Presnell qualified tenth for the North American Power 100, with a time of 30.078 (126.631 mph) in the 30-car starting field.

At drop of the green, Cale Conley jumped into the lead over Daniel Suarez and series points leader Dylan Kwasniewski, while Presnell settled in the ninth position. Just biding his time during the first 50 laps of the race, at the halfway break Presnell was running in the seventh spot.

"We had a really good car and there was just no need in pressing the issue early in the race, possibly getting caught up in a racing incident and being parked back in the garage area," said Presnell on Monday after getting back to his home nestled in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. "The race isn't won at the start, and it isn't won at the halfway point. My crew chief, Rich Hubbs, he just wanted me to maintain a spot in the top 10 and take care of the equipment until we reached the halfway break."

Just three laps back under green following the halfway break, Presnell got around Brett Moffitt to take over the sixth spot, where he was still running when Akinori Ogata spun in turn one on lap 70 to bring out the caution.

Off the double-file restart on lap 75, Presnell made his move into fourth place. Suarez paced the field on lap 83, followed by Cole Custer and Presnell, who had worked his way around Conley for the position. Conley battled back to get around Presnell for the third spot on lap 91 racing off turn two.

A late race caution on lap 98, set up a green-white-checkered run to the finish. On the restart, with cars bouncing off each other as they went (raced) four-wide into the first turn, Presnell got shuffled back to the fifth spot.

Custer captured the victory over Suarez, Conley and Ben Rhode, with Presnell in fifth chauffeuring the Amtrol, AmericanMountainRentals.com (Smoky Mountain Cabins - Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.), Well-X-Trol®, Clearwater Drilling Co. of Sevierville, Extreme Vinyl Graphics, JMI Motorsports No. 26 Chevrolet.

"Man, it was disappointing there at the end to give up some track position," Presnell said. "We made some adjustments to the car there at the halfway break, and even though we were good in the first half of the race, we were really good there in the last 50 laps. There right around lap 80 or so, we worked our way into third place and I actually felt like I'd be able to at least maintain position there. But (Cale) Conley got back around us and when the caution came out to set up the green-white-checkered, we were sitting in fourth.

"The front row on the double-file restart, Custer and Suarez, they kind of got to playing games and brought us back to green at a slow pace. I got jacked-up from behind when a car ran up under me, it lifted the rear wheels off the ground. We were running in fourth, and that deal cost us a spot as we wound up finishing in fifth. But after getting caught up in a multi-car accident last fall at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which resulted in a trip to the local hospital in Concord, we're definitely pleased with a top-five run and also not having any damage to the car."

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will head to Dover (Del.) International Speedway for the Drive Sober 150 on Friday, Sept. 27. A competitive field with 35 entries vying for 30 starting positions is expected.

"Oh yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting back racing at Dover," said Presnell with a smile on his face. "I really like racing on those high banks at 'The Monster Mile,' because Dover's really just a bigger version of Bristol Motor Speedway and I really get around BMS quite well. We finished ninth last September at Dover, but we were running in fifth there at the end when we had a green-white-checkered.

"With the steep banking at Dover International Speedway, the last thing you want to have happen is be running low on fuel and have a restart. That's what happened to us. The car spit-and-sputtered and just didn't come back up to speed, and that cost us four finishing positions."

The Drive Sober 150 from Dover International Speedway will be televised tape-delay on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 12 p.m. ET.

To learn more about the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, visit http://hometracks.nascar.com/series/kn_pro_series_east.

To contact Ken Presnell at Presnell Motorsports, located at 1868 Newport Highway in Sevierville, Tenn., call (865) 654-9586. To keep up with Dylan Presnell’s racing visit his website at www.DylanPresnell.com or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/DylanPresnell























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West Warwick, R.I. (June, 2013) – Amtrol Inc. has reached an agreement with Dylan Presnell to continue sponsorship of the Amtrol #26 car on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for the 2013 season.

Fresh off a top-15 finish for 2012, Presnell, who will be entering his freshman year at the University of Tennessee, will compete in a full schedule on the highly competitive series, highlighted by stops at Dover, DE, Rockingham, NC and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“It is truly an honor to be given the opportunity to represent such an outstanding company as Amtrol” Presnell said. “I am very excited to not only race on the prestigious NASCAR K&N Pro Series East but to also be an ambassador for Amtrol at several customer appearances celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Well-X-Trol® brand this summer and fall”.

“Dylan Presnell has done an exceptional job representing Amtrol on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2012 and we are looking forward to an even better season in 2013” said John Cooper, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Amtrol.

To see where the Amtrol #26 car will be racing, please visit www.amtrol.com or to learn more about Dylan Presnell, visit www.dylanpresnell.com. To learn more about the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, visit http://hometracks.nascar.com/series/kn_pro_series_east.

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — When NASCAR announced plans last fall for the inaugural UNOH Battle at the Beach to be held during Speedweeks 2013 at Daytona International Speedway as a showcase event for the touring and weekly series, a smile came across the face of Sevier County High School student Dylan Presnell.

Presnell has competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East over the last two seasons, running 11 of the 14 events in 2012 and finishing 15th in the point standings.

The 17-year-old Presnell’s looking forward getting to race at “The World Center of Racing” on Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 18-19. The Battle at the Beach will feature three NASCAR-sanctioned 150-lap events for the Whelen Modified, K&N Pro Series and Whelen All-American Series competitors on a .4-mile oval along the Daytona Superstretch on the backside of the track.

Presnell will chauffeur the AmericanMountainRentals.com, Amtrol, Clearwater Drilling Co., Extreme Vinyl Graphics sponsored No. 37 Chevrolet for Jeff Spraker Racing in the Battle at the Beach.

“Having grown up watching exciting NASCAR racing during Speedweeks from Daytona International Speedway on television, and to now be able strap in a race car and get to compete at the legendary track, it’s a very exciting deal,” said Presnell from his East Tennessee Smoky Mountains home. “It’s really like a dream come true. I’m like every other race car driver across the United States who began either racing in go-karts or a Legend car before moving behind the wheel of a Late Model, our dreams when we started out racing was to hopefully one day get the opportunity to drive a race car at Daytona. Just to be a part of Speedweeks racing in the month of February at Daytona International Speedway is very cool. You’ve got every NASCAR division (Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series) in action, and now with the Battle at the Beach you’ll have the Whelen Modified, K&N Pro Series and Whelen All-American Series racing.

“Even though we won’t be running on the big track, it’s still going to be just an unbelievable experience to be racing in a NASCAR race at Daytona. While all of our regular season K&N Pro Series races are televised on tape delay on SPEED, the exposure we’re going to receive with live television coverage for the Battle at the Beach is huge. I’m excited for all my sponsors who help allow me to race that they’re going get to see their car racing at Daytona on live TV. Plus for family and friends back home who won’t get to be in Daytona to watch the race in person, it’s going to be a cool deal for them to get see me race on SPEED.”

For Presnell and all competitors, this inaugural event will see everybody entering on equal terms.

“A lot of tracks we race at, those who have competitive laps previously will generally have an advantage over a first-time competitor,” Presnell said. “But this race at Daytona, when practice begins on Monday we’ll all be getting onto the track to run laps for the first time together. Nobody will have an advantage over you.

“For fans who like close, short-track racing action – then I’m sure they’ll enjoy watching us race on a .4-mile flat track. Practice will be very important to help us get our cars dialed in for the heat races we’ll be running. You’ll have to really get up on the wheel and drive the car in the heat race, because you’ll have to finish in a transfer spot to advance on to the 150-lap main event.”

The Battle at the Beach will receive live flag-to-flag coverage on SPEED, Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90. Coverage will begin each night at 7 p.m. ET.

NASCARHomeTracks.com – the official NASCAR.com site for the touring and weekly series – will host live streaming video of the practice rounds and heat races throughout each day leading up to the main events. Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday and 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday.

A top lineup of motorsports broadcasters who have covered NASCAR racing for many years will be on hand to call action in the UNOH Battle at the Beach from Daytona. For SPEED, that lineup includes:

Monday: Bob Dillner (play-by-play) and Hermie Sadler (analyst) will be in the booth, with Ray Dunlap as the pit reporter.

Tuesday: Mike Joy (play-by-play) and Larry McReynolds (analyst) in the booth for the Whelen Modified race, and Rick Allen (play-by-play) and Phil Parsons (analyst) in the booth for the K&N Pro Series race. Bob Dillner will be the pit reporter for both races.

For MRN, Kyle Rickey and Alex Hayden will be in the booth, with Steve Post covering the action in the turns. Pit reporters will be Woody Cain and Buddy Long.

To contact Ken Presnell at Presnell Motorsports, located at 1868 Newport Highway in Sevierville, Tenn., call (865) 654-9586. To keep up with Dylan Presnell’s racing visit his website at www.DylanPresnell.com or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/DylanPresnell

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — After getting caught up in a multi-car accident last week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which resulted in a trip to the local hospital in Concord from the track’s infield care center for further evaluation, what better medicine for a battered-and-bruised racer coming back from a grinding wreck than recording a solid top-10 finish in his next start?

That’s exactly what 17-year-old Dylan Presnell did Friday at Dover International Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East American Real TV 150, chauffeuring the Amtrol/AmericanMountainRentals.com/No. 26 Toyota Camry to a ninth-place finish after running high as fifth in the event for his second top-10 finish in 2012.

With the K&N Pro Series East in action at the “Monster Mile” over the weekend with both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series, Presnell was 12th-quickest during practice on Thursday afternoon. But following overnight rain and additional precipitation Friday morning which delayed qualifying, Presnell fought a loose condition and wound up 20th out of 28 cars in time trials.

“We kind of dug us somewhat of a hole with our 20th-place qualifying effort, because you just hate to give up track positions in the starting lineup,” said Presnell on Sunday back at his Smoky Mountains home inEast Tennessee. “But after the way we’d practiced, I knew we had a good car and if I used my head and avoided trouble we’d be able to move into the top 10 pretty quickly during the race.”

With rubber laid on the track from practice washed away by rain, at start of the 150-lap event Presnell was being somewhat cautious as he began picking cars off patiently one-by-one, moving into 15th by lap 20. The first caution waved on lap 27 when Chase Elliott had a tire blow (racing) off the fourth turn, resulting in contact with the outside wall and damage to the right-front of the car which scattered pieces of a broken rotor along the front straightaway. Running 12th at the time, Presnell and others attempted to dodge the broken pieces, but due to cars around him Presnell ran over debris which led to concerns of possible suspension damage under the car.

Back under green flag racing conditions, Presnell passed CJ Faison on lap 38 to move into tenth in the running order. He advanced three positions to seventh by lap 60, and with the halfway break coming at lap 75 Dylan was fifth, trailing race leader Brett Moffitt, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Gifford and Brandon McReynolds.

“We were very fortunate to not have sustained significant damage there when Chase (Elliott) got into the wall and scattered pieces of a broken rotor along the front straightaway,” said Presnell. “I tried missing it (rotor pieces) but I ran right over top of debris and I could hear the banging underneath the car and just knew we’d probably torn something up. But thankfully we didn’t. 

“Running in fifth at the halfway break, we were really pleased with our position because during the first 75 laps we were fighting tight conditions through the corners, and I just couldn’t pick the throttle back up like I needed to. My X Team Racing crew chief Jonathan Davis and car chief Coleman Pressley made (chassis) adjustments on the car during the stop, and once we went back green for the second half of the race I could really tell a difference in how the car drove.”

Wanting to take care of tires on the car for a strong run over the final 25 laps of the race, Presnell lost a couple of spots and dropped back to seventh as the race reached the century lap mark. During a long green flag run around the concrete high banks following a caution on lap 106 for Jesse Little, it appeared the race would go green to the finish.

But the yellow flag waved on lap 147 when LaJoie and McReynolds got together while battling for the lead, thus resulting in the rear bumper cover on LaJoie’s car falling off onto the racing surface. 

Going past the scheduled 150 lap distance meant possible fuel-shortage issues for several competitors. When the caution appeared Presnell was running seventh, putting him inside of the fourth row for the double-file, green-white-checkered shootout to the finish.

With the steep banking all around Dover International Speedway, many times late race restarts result in fuel pickup problems. As the green flag waved the engine under the hood in Presnell’s Toyota Camry spit-and-sputtered on the front straightaway, trying to get fuel to the carburetor. In the process, Presnell was overtaken by two cars and settled into the ninth spot as the field raced off into the first turn. Unable to mount a charge to try and reclaim the positions he lost, Dylan brought the car home in ninth.

“After running high as fifth at the halfway break and even sitting in seventh there for the green-white-checkered deal, it was kind of disappointing to finish ninth,” Presnell stated, while reflecting on what could-have-been. “A top-10 finish is good, but I guess just from a competitive standpoint behind the wheel of the car, you really hate losing positions there at the end of the race. To be quite honest, I couldn’t believe it when the car didn’t pick fuel back up when the green flag waved. This makes the second straight year we’ve had the same thing happen on a late race restart.

“With the double-file restart and us running seventh at that point, I really believe if the car would’ve picked fuel up we could’ve come home with a fifth- or sixth-place effort. But overall we had a really good Amtrol/AmericanMountainRentals.com/X Team Racing Toyota Camry, and it was great having all the Amtrol guests at the track enjoying the race with us. I believe they really had a good time cheering for us. Running strong as we did, it just gives you (race team) a boost of confidence heading to the next race.”

The American Real TV 150 will air on SPEED on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. ET.

The next NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event for Presnell will be Nov. 3 at Rockingham Speedway, when the series visits the Sand Hills region of eastern North Carolina for the season finale championship showdown at “The Rock.”

Dylan Presnell will make his Bowman Gray Stadium debut Saturday driving the No. 26 AmericanMountainRentals.com Ford for Coulter Motorsports in the Hall of Fame 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race.

This will be the second appearance for the series at Bowman Gray Stadium, as it made its debut in 2011. NASCAR's first weekly track racing was started at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1949 by Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins. Bowman Gray is one of nine tracks that has been a sanctioned member in each of the 31 years of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

The Hall of Fame 150 marks Presnell's fourth start in 2012 with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East under Coulter Motorsports' driver development program. The Sevierville, Tenn., native has a best finish of eighth so far this season. Racing under the direction of crew chief Jamie Rouleau, Presnell hopes his extensive short-track experience will earn him a successful finish at the .25-mile speedway.

"It's always great to visit tracks like Bowman Gray that have a rich history in motorsports," Presnell said. "I know Jamie Rouleau and the No. 26 AmericanMountainRentals.com Coulter Motorsports team have put together a great race car for this weekend and I look forward to getting behind the wheel and giving it all I've got."

MEDIA CONTACT:
Nic Moncher
Coulter Motorsports
Director of Public Relations
nic@coultermotorsports.com