The Spears Manufacturing 250 is the 11tH of 12 races on the NWWS schedule and the Second of two visits by the series to Mesa Marin Raceway this season.
This race will be part of the 24th annual "October Classic" at Mesa Marin Raceway. The award-winning program features three days of racing - including the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series on Friday, Oct. 20; NASCAR's Featherlite Southwest Series on Saturday, Oct, 21; and the NASCAR Winston West Series on Sunday, Oct. 22.
Fifteen drivers in the series will share a combined $50,000 from R.J- Reynolds Tobacco Co., as prize money for the second leg of the 2000 schedule is to be distributed at Mesa Marin Raceway prior to the start of the race.
This event will mark the return to the series for Kevin Harvick-who drives for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division. The Bakersfield native won the NASCAR Winston West Series championship in 1998. His best NWWS finish on his hometown track was third in May of 1999.
Sean Woodside. the 1999 NASCAR Winston West Series champion, will be shooting for a record fourth consecutive win in this event. Last year, he edged Sedgwick to nail down his third in a row and tie Sedgwick's record of three straight wins - set in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Woodside will have a busy weekend at Bakersfield. He is scheduled to compete in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series late model stock car race on Friday; as well as the Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring race on Saturday and the NASCAR Winston West Series race on Sunday_
Woodside and Gary Smith were the only drivers to fnish in the top five in this event in 1997, 1998 and 1999. While Woodside won all three, Smith fnished third, second and fifth, respectively.
Sedgwick, with six victories, has the most overall NWWS wins at Mesa Marin Raceway. He rolled into victory lane once in 1990, once in 1991, once in 1992, twice in 1993 and once in 1995. He was behind the wheel of the Spears Motorsports Chevrolet all six times.
In addition to Sedgwick and Woodside - other former winners at Mesa Marin Raceway who have entered this event include Gaughan, who wan earlier this year, and Joe Bean, who won in 1996.
Sedgwick has won seven Bud Pole Awards at the high-banked 1/2-mile oval, which is tops in that category. Butch Gilliland is second on the list with five.
Sedgwick also leads in terms of money won in NWWS events at the Bakersfield track. His winnings for the 22 races he has competed in total $101,281.
Among drivers active in the series this season, Jack Sellers has run the most NWWS races at Mesa Marin Raceway. He has taken the green flag there 25 times.
ban Obrist will be racing at Mesa Marin Raceway for the frst time since May of 1997. In the eight NWWS events he has competed in at the Bakersfeld facility, his best fnish was third in October of 1996.
Davy Lee Liniger will be making a return to the series as a driver at Bakersfield. He last competed in the series in August of 1999 at Portland --where he fnished a career-best ninth.
Chevrolet leads in manufacturer wins at Mesa Marin Raceway with 17, including the last two. Ford trails with nine, followed by Pontiac with seven, Buick with three and Oldsmobile with two.
