DUNCAN FIRST TO SURPASS $1 MILLION IN WINNINGS IN NASCAR GRAND NATIONAL DIVISION, WEST SERIES

Source: NASCAR/kg
Date: 10/26/2007

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – With post-season awards of more than $77,000, Mike Duncan wrapped up his 2007 season by becoming the first driver to surpass the $1 million mark in career winnings in the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series.

The two-time series champion from Bakersfield, Calif., moved atop the list of career money leaders in the series with $1,040,109.

“It’s obviously neat to know that we’ve accomplished something that nobody else has, but in reality though we’ve been probably one of the longest to stay in the West Series,” Duncan said. “Hopefully, it doesn’t take as long to get to the second million.”

Duncan received awards representing $77,536 during the recent West Series end-of-year awards ceremony. In addition to a bonus of $32,500, he will receive more than $18,000 in team winnings from the NASCAR point fund. Along with accepting the driver and car owner trophies for finishing second in the championship standings, the 45-year-old series veteran was also presented with this year’s Bud Pole Award, accompanied by $5,000.

In addition to his post-season winnings at the awards ceremony, Duncan netted $17,000 for his third-place finish in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown last week.

Ironically, his record-setting mark in career series winnings follows what he considers a sub-par season. “I don’t feel like it was one of our best seasons, for several reasons,” Duncan said, despite finishing as the runner-up in the championship standings. “We had some bad luck and we were trying a lot of different things. For a lot of ‘06 and for a lot of ‘07, we were chasing something that we didn’t quite have a handle on it yet.

“I feel like a lot of things were learned in the last couple of races and the Showdown,” Duncan said of efforts by his crew chief Bill Sedgwick. “Bill has been working hard at what we need to accomplish. I feel like he is definitely on track now and I think he’s got a good direction for the future. I’m excited about doing it again – it’s just that we just need to secure sponsorship. I really feel like we’re ready to go again at the pace we were on in ’04 and ’05.”

Duncan – a former minor league baseball player who began his racing career in 1997 – has eight career wins, 20 Bud Poles, 44 top-five and 64 top-10 finishes in 96 series starts since joining the West’s oldest stock car racing circuit in 1999.

“I have high expectations and Bill has high expectations,” Duncan said of the stats he has accumulated. “I know that we have the potential to run up front everywhere we go and we expect that.”

Duncan’s post-season awards moved him atop the list of career money leaders, past Austin Cameron with $982,541. Scott Gaylord is third on the list, with $925,248, followed by Butch Gilliland with $759,252 and Steve Portenga with $744,467.

This year’s West Series champion, Mike David, moved to eighth on the list of career money leaders in the series, with $707,889. David’s team winnings for 2007 totaled $236,537.

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