SELLERS SNARES FIRST WIN, SECURES POINTS LEAD

Source: NASCAR Public Relations
Date: 07/02/2006

IN , AUTOZONE WEST SERIES

ROSEBURG, Oregon --After winning the national championship in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series last year, Peyton Sellers advanced to the NASCAR Grand National Division with a full-time ride in the AutoZone West Series as part of a driver development program between Richard Childress Racing and Bill McAnally Racing.

Success has followed the 22-year-old Danville, Va., driver to the West Coast. As the series hit its midway point of the season on Saturday, Sellers scored his first career win with a victory in the BI-MART Firecracker 150 by NAPA Belts & Hose at Douglas County Speedway. With the win, he moved atop the championship standings in the AutoZone West Series.

“I’m blessed to be here,” the soft-spoken driver of the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts/NAPA Belts & Hose Chevrolet said after the event. “I’m a long way from South Boston, Va., where I was racing at last year.”

Sellers, who grabbed his first career Budweiser Pole Award with a qualifying lap of 117.816 mph, dominated the event – leading 125 of 150 laps. Eric Holmes, also pursuing his first series win, waged a strong battle for the lead through much of the event – but slipped to third in the late stages. Sellers then faced a challenge from Mike David, before eventually pulling away.

With each team limited to one set of tires for the entire race, Sellers said he was content to run his own pace. “We wanted to run just hard enough to keep him behind me,” Sellers said of Holmes. “A couple of times he wanted to charge a little more than I did. It was time to let him go there. He wanted to go pretty hard, so I let him. I felt like that’s what made my car so good at the end was being able to keep track position, but save a little bit of my car.”

Sellers gained the lead for the final time on lap 127 and charged away to win by just over two seconds at an average speed of 51.878 mph. With the victory, he netted $7,795 in prize money and posted awards – including the Budweiser Pole Award.

Modesto, Calif., driver, Mike David – who entered the event tied with Sellers in the point standings – took second in the Bennett Lane Winery Ford. Holmes of Escalon, Calif., was third in the Sunoco Race Fuels/Paul Oil Chevrolet. Finishing fourth was Tim Woods III of Chino Hills, Calif., in the Chino Hills Ford Ford – followed by Jim Inglebright of Fairfield, Calif., in the Jelly Belly Chevrolet. Completing the top 10 were two-time and defending series champion Mike Duncan, Brett Thompson, Steve Portenga, Justin Lofton and Scott Gaylord.

The race featured eight lead changes among three drivers – Sellers, Holmes and David. The pace of the event was slowed by six cautions for 31 laps.

Sellers leads the standings with 902 points, with six events complete of a 12-race schedule. David is second with 887, followed by Holmes with 866. Duncan is fourth with 850, while Portenga is fifth at 823. They are followed by Brian Ickler at 812, Inglebright at 806, Thompson at 774, Gaylord at 768 and Lofton at 767.

Sellers also leads the standings in pursuit of this year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. He has 49 points – followed by Ickler with 46, Lofton with 44, Eric Hardin with 35 and James Bruncati with 20. Other rookies this year include Eric Humphries and Brian Pannone each with 16 points, Nick Lynch and Daniel DiGiacomo each with 15, Spencer Clark with 14, Justin Fisher with eight and Ed Watson with two.

The next event on the NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series schedule is the King Taco 200 at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway July 22.

See Also .:

• Peyton Sellers Driver Card
• Douglas County Speedway Track Page

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