Count Todd Gilliland as the latest prospect to join the star-studded entry list for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West championship event next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.

Gilliland will make his K&N debut in the Bill McAnally Racing No. 54 Toyota with assistance from Kyle Busch Motorsports. In fact, the car is actually the first chassis KBM has built for the K&N Series, meaning that Gilliland should have good speed for his first foray into the division.

Adding to his confidence is that the 15-year-old third-generation driver will also have Chris Lawson, his Late Model crew chief, on top of the pit box for the race. All told, Gilliland couldn’t have a better set of circumstances for his first laps around the fast Arizona short track.

“We actually wanted to make our first start at Richmond (in the K&N East race) but couldn’t get the car ready in time,” Gilliland said of the process surrounding his debut. “Then we saw Phoenix kind of open up for us and thought it was the right time. Then everything came together, and it’s been a really good situation for us.”

Gilliland is the youngest winner in the ARCA Racing Series, having won at Toledo with Venturini Motorsports in May at 15 years and two days — just two days after meeting the minimum age requirement to compete on the tour.

He also made a start at Iowa Speedway, where he finished ninth, and received approval to run at Phoenix, the largest track he will have seen to this point.

“We were really fortunate that we got to race at Iowa,” Gilliland said. “We didn’t run as well as I wish we had but we gained a lot of experience and it got us approval from NASCAR to run at Richmond and Phoenix.

“That was my first time really experiencing drafting or having to learn the effects of air on a car. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.”

Also a winner in the CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour, Gilliland isn’t sure what he will be doing next season. He hopes to make a handful of starts in his Late Model, in ARCA and in K&N but doesn’t expect to run for a championship anywhere at this point in time.

“The thing is, we have a really nice K&N car,” Gilliland said. “We just don’t want to take it to a place like Bowman Gray where you really risk tearing it up, juts because it’s a points race.

“That’s not to say that we’re not for sure, but those are the kind of things we’re going to try to look at next year. I’d like to make a lot of starts in a lot of different cars just to get the seat time.”

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