BOTHELL, Washington --Gary Lewis returns to the sight of his second victory in the 2006 NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Northwest Series season with the goal of adding to his points lead over Travis Bennett.
The team’s first run outside the top-10 running order this year allowed Bennett to cut an 80-point lead to less the 40; something that Lewis would like to raise at Yakima Speedway this weekend, he said.
“We need to stay focused on our goal of winning a championship If we can do that whether we win or lose at least we know we did our best.”
Running fifth with a handful of laps to go last weekend at Evergreen Speedway Lewis’ Sign Factory USA/Victory Circle Chassis Chevrolet picked up a flat tire under yellow flag conditions forcing the 1998 series champion to the pits as the pack was heading towards the restart.
Taking a 12th place finish one lap down to winner Brandon Riehl was simply racing luck, Lewis explained.
“The flat tire was something out of our control. We need to work on what is in our control and we’ll be fine.”
Surviving the race last weekend was a small victory as Lewis pointed out several contenders ran into trouble during the course of the evening that forced long hours this week while the Emery Transportation pit crew had routine maintenance to do on Lewis’ race car.
“It’s great that we came out of there in one piece,” Lewis said. “The team is still working very hard to make everything the best it can possibly be for this weekend. We even had a special guest this week, Jaelen Pace, who helped us work on the car. He’s a karting driver with a lot of talent who’s the son of some good friends of ours that came over this week to help out the team.”
With a win under their belts at Yakima earlier this summer, Lewis’ team has an idea of what to do to power the Nutter Racing Engines Monte Carlo to the front, he added.
“The good thing about winning the last trace there in Yakima is that we should be able to make correct adjustments to have an even better car. We took great notes on that set-up (from June’s victory) and should be able to start right off where we had it before. After consulting with my shock expert Mike at Leary Racing Products we believe we know what to change to make the car even better to handle on Saturday.”
Practice under extreme heat of the day versus a cooler evening is a challenge to a nighttime set-up, Lewis added.
“The track will get very greasy during the heat of the day. You’ll just need to make sure that you don’t stray to far from what you already know will work that night.”
Several Yakima Speedway graduates such as Mike Longton, BJ Tidrick, Troy Trammell and Brandon Riehl have put together solid early starts to the season, something Lewis notes may give them confidence returning to their home track.
“Every one of those guys are great drivers and they could win at any time.
They will make us have to work harder to get a win at Yakima this
weekend.”
