SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (Nov. 6, 2000) - The NASCAR Winston West Series will wrap up its 2000 season at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway with the Home Depot 300 on Saturday, Nov. 11.
Thirty-four entries have been received for the $142,891 event, which will be televised to a national audience on the Speedvision cable network. It will air on a tape-delay basis at 6 p.m. PT on December 2.
With a 168-point lead in the championship standings, Brendan Gaughan is set to clinch his first NASCAR title. The 25-year-old Las Vegas competitor can wrap up the championship by taking the green flag Saturday night at the state-of-the-art .5-mile facility.
While Gaughan holds a significant margin in the chase for the crown, a tight battle is to be settled for the other top 10 positions in the final standings. Steve Portenga of Sparks, Nev.., is second in the standings with 1,618. Portenga, who won at Irwindale last year, hopes to solidify his runner-up position with a return to victory lane in the season finale.
Bobby Dotter of Charlotte, N.C., is just six points back - third in the standings with 1,612. Dotter has three wins this season, including one at Irwindale in June. Two-time series champion Bill Sedgwick of Acton, Calif., is fourth in the standings with 1,565 points. Sedgwick is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all four of the NASCAR Winston West Series races held at Irwindale. Kevin Richards of Spokane, Wash., is six points back in fifth with 1,559.
John Metcalf of Aurora, Colo., is sixth in the standings with 1,540; followed by Eric Norris of Dallas, Texas, with 1,494; series rookie Mike Duncan of Lamont, Calif., with 1,458; Scott Gaylord of Lakewood, Colo., with 1,426 and Joe Bean of San Diego, Calif., with 1,424. Norris picked up his first career win in the most recent event in the series last month. Bean was victorious, meanwhile, when the series visited Irwindale in August.
Other series regulars entered in the season finale include Sammy Potashnick of Sikeston, Mo.; Jason Small of Bakersfield, Calif.; veteran driver Jack Sellers of Sacramento, Calif.; and rookies Troy Cline of Hawthorne, Calif; Rick Bogart of El Cajon, Calif.; Jeff Jefferson of Naches, Wash.; Mike Grady of Farmington, N.M. and Gene Christensen of Garland, Texas.
This event wraps up the 47th season for the NASCAR Winston West Series, the oldest stock car racing circuit in the West. The NASCAR Winston West Series is one of nine NASCAR Touring Series' that blanket the United States, bringing special events to many NASCAR Weekly Racing Series tracks and same NASCAR superspeedways and road courses. NASCAR Touring Series can provide a competitor with an entire career or they can provide valuable experience to competitors moving through the NASCAR ranks. Corporate sponsors make significant contributions to NASCAR Touring Series point funds. These sponsors include Anheuser-Busch, Featherlite, Goody's Headache Powders, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Raybestos Brakes, REMAX International, Inc., Slim Jim, and RJ Reynolds brand, Winston.
