King Becomes Irwindale’s First Female Feature Winner

Lindsey King is young, tough and determined – qualities that will no doubt continue to be in her favor as she tackles racetracks around the country. She has been racing in different leagues for a long time but this Saturday saw her enjoy her first NASCAR feature race victory. It was a night to remember and King earned the win every step of the way.

The 19-year-old driver is no push over. Not only is she beating the boys at what they do best, but she currently ranks fifth in points in this year’s racing season where she competes with 52 other drivers. She works hard and drives well and it seems that the hard work is finally paying off. When Lindsey King hit the ten-year old Toyota Speedway at Irwindale in California for this weekend’s NASCAR Auto Club Late Model feature on Miller Lite Night, no one could say for sure that she’d be taking home the winner’s trophy. But the determined youngster led all forty laps of the race and eventually managed to become the first female driver to win a feature race on the banked, Irwindale half-mile oval. She pushed her No. 59 Justice Brothers/High-Point Distributing Chevy Monte Carlo hard and made all the right choices. In claiming this victory, she also becomes the second first-time winner of the series.

An ecstatic King said that it “was a crazy race.” She also said: “it was a long time coming.” She noted that he has been very focused during the race and hadn’t even realized the race was over. She also thanked Nick Joanides, who placed second, for not passing her, and the owner of her car, Tim Huddleston, her crew and her sponsor Racecar Factory. This was not King’s first race on the track and it seems that she learnt from the mistakes she made on July 26. King also noted that this was her first main event win in three years. Tim Huddleston finished in third place, hot on the tail of Joanides. The entire race took 15.25.264 for her to finish and there were about 4000 people to witness the spectacle. A lot of them stuck around afterwards to hear what King had to say before she was whisked off for a champagne shower in the pits by her jubilant team.