Doug Pace: Nicole Behar gets opportunity to race in Southeast

Otis Orchard native Nicole Behar, a member of the NASCAR Next program and the reigning K&N Pro Series West Most Popular Driver, signed with David Gilliland Racing during the off-season to drive their No. 97 late model in selected races across the Southeast while also running in key late-model and K&N Pro Series events on the West Coast.

Behar is set to compete across the country nearly every weekend from April to November.

Behar’s selection came about from a combination of strong 2015 runs and a budding relationship with Toyota. Gilliland is running in selected NASCAR races this year in the Sprint Cup and Truck Series for multiple car owners, which allows for more coaching with his development team, Behar said.

“The opportunity arose for me to move back east and team up with TRD and David Gilliland Racing,” Behar said. “The better I do, the more opportunities that I will be given. My goals for this season are to have good solid finishes and some wins. To be given the opportunity to run for Toyota and DGR means so much to me and I will do everything in my power to make the most of it.”

While not running for a championship in any one series this year, Behar believes the number of races between her Spokane-based team and Gilliland’s North Carolina organization will lead to positive results.

“Trying to hit 30-plus races this year with Super Late Models back east is our priority,” she said. “Unfortunately, several of them overlap with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series races (on the West Coast), but I will still be racing some K&N and even some ARCA races in 2016. We are trying to get me in as many races as possible. When I have an off weekend (back east), I will hit the races I can near home. Getting seat time to develop and further my racing career (is the overall goal).

Having a car owner from the West Coast that believes in her talents makes for a great opportunity in her young career, Behar said.

“Having someone like (California native) David (Gilliland) with so much knowledge and experience about racing and all the dynamics is a huge benefit to me,” she said. “That knowledge and experience he brings to development drivers will help tremendously long term in our racing careers. I really enjoy being part of David Gilliland Racing.”

DGR has focused in recent years on developing Gilliland’s son, Todd, to become a fixture on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. The 15-year-old Gilliland has already amassed three consecutive race wins since his debut on the series. With the addition of Behar the DGR program will continue to gain momentum this season.

“Todd’s primary focus this year is the K&N Pro Series, which he is doing very well at,” she said. “I will be running with him in some Super Late Model races, which I look forward to. He is a great kid.”

In her first DGR race of the year, Behar showed she was competitive from the start with a 16th-place effort on the prestigious PASS South Late Model Series. Her night was cut short on lap 82 of 125 while running among the top 10 cars in the field

“I clipped the right front on the wall breaking the spindle arm and that took us out of the race in the late going,” she said.

Behar resumes her Northwest racing next weekend as she leads her family-owned team to Yakima for the running of the 50th annual Apple Cup at Yakima Speedway. Being able to record a victory in the race would be a big boost to her 2016 campaign.

“As a race car driver winning any race is huge and means a lot, but the 50th annual Apple Cup would be a great start to kick off the (Northwest portion of the) 2016 racing season,” she said.