After parting ways with Walker Evans Racing, NASCAR Winston West Driver Sammy Potashnick of Sikeston, Missouri, finished second at Evergreen Speedway's Coors Light 200 in Monroe, Washington, on July 16.
"We really had a lot of extra work to do to be able to come out of this race like we did," Potashnick said. "We just moved out of Walker Evans' shop so I didn't even know that we would be able to get something together for Monroe until the Wednesday before the race. At that point we rented a car from Steve Portenga and had to have everything done by the weekend. It was a ton of work but it was worth it to be able to run in the race like we did."
Potashnick said that he really owes a lot to Ken Small, owner of Small Motorsports. After Potashnick's recent split with Walker Evans Racing, Small sent his race car transporter to Riverside to help Potashnick get all of his equipment and cars out of the shop. Small's son, Jason, is the driver of the number 14 car, and was unable to make it to the race at Monroe because he had broken hand. Potashnick ran the number 14 in the race on Small's behalf.
With assistance from volunteers, as well as Sam Potashnick Sr. and Chuck Day of SP Racing, Craig O'Brien and Shane Thompson of Small Motorsports, and a couple members from Kelly Tanner's crew, Potashnick was able to maneuver his way up from a sixth-place starting spot into a second-place finish. Potashnick finished just 0.19 seconds (about one-half a car's length) behind the race winner, Brendan Gaughan.
"There's been a bit of uncertainty as to what the rest of my race season will consist of, but we're really looking forward to being ready to race at the next Winston West race at Irwindale."
Potashnick qualified in the pole position at the same Irwindale race last year with his team, SP Racing, supervised by Crew Chief Bobby Dotter. Potashnick plans on preparing that same car for this year's race.
The Winston West Irwindale race, which will be held on August 19, will be the
next event for Potashnick. The race at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe received
tape-delayed television coverage by Speedvision which will air on August 6 at
1:00 p.m. and again on August 7 at 12:00 p.m. (EDT).
