CARLSON RETURNS TO CHAMPIONSHIP FORM IN

Source: nascar
Date: 09/03/2008

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla — Sept. 3, 2008) – Steve Carlson looks back on 2007 with a special fondness. After a racing career that took him all over the country, competing against a who’s who of drivers, and collecting a multitude of wins and championships along the way, the Wisconsin driver captured the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship.

“Last year was really special,” Carlson said.

While this year hasn’t produced the exact same results, Carlson again earned an invitation to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet by successfully defending his Late Model division title at LaCrosse (Wisc.) Fairgrounds Speedway. The awards banquet is Friday, Nov. 7 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas.

This season was extraordinary for Carlson in a number of ways. He saw his teammate, Kevin Nuttleman, record his 100th career win. And Carlson watched his 20-year-old son, Mike, win his first career feature in April.

“He earned it, because I was really trying to beat him,” said Steve Carlson, who finished second in that race. “One of the really neat things is racing in front of the hometown fans and friends. And I get to pit next to my son; I get to help him race.”

Carlson finished the season with five wins, 16 top fives and 17 top 10s in 18 starts. He didn’t get his first win until June, and an 18th-place finish combined with a spring full of rainouts, negated a chance to defend his national title.

“We did get off to a bit of a slow start,” said Carlson, who is ranked 18th in the nation. “I really thought we were going to take off right where we left off last year. About six weeks into the season, we got it turned around again and got going.”

In addition to his third LaCrosse championship – he won his first track title in 1984 – Carlson holds a 37-point lead over Brent Larson of Cedar Lake Speedway for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Wisconsin state title. While Carlson’s season at LaCrosse is over; Larson has one race remaining.

The race to follow Carlson as the 2008 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion is down to two drivers: Brian Harris of Iowa and Philip Morris of Virginia.

Harris had a win and a second-place finish in three starts over the weekend in his dirt Late Model to increase his points total to 937.

Harris clinched the track title at Farley Speedway. He has the final races of the season remaining this weekend at West Liberty Saturday and Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway Sunday.

Harris has 17 wins and 32 top fives in 34 starts. And he’s been paying close attention to Morris’ asphalt Late Model success in the Southeast.

“It’s pretty neat to run against people from all over in different types of cars,” Harris said. “It’s a lot of fun – it’s going to be a lot more fun if we win the national championship. We just try to stay positive.

Whatever’s going to happen will happen.”

Philip Morris won Saturday night’s feature Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., to improve to 926 points. He has two scheduled races

remaining: Sept. 6 and Sept. 13 at Motor Mile.

The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season concludes Sept. 14.

The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion also earns a secure spot in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, to be held at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.) Jan. 23-24, 2009.

Under the points structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner will receive two points for every car in the event up to

25 cars. Second place will receive two fewer points, and so-on through the field. For example, if there are 25 cars, the winner receives 50 points, second gets 48 and third 46. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 30 points, second gets 28 and third 26. New this year, drivers receive five bonus points for a win.

FEATURE DIVISION

National Top 25 NASCAR Leaders

PosDriver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10

Pts

1 Brian Harris West Liberty Raceway 34 17 32

32 937

2 Philip Morris Motor Mile Speedway 23 10 19

21 926

3 Marty Ward Greenville-Pickens Speedway 20 11

20 20 907

4 Keith Rocco Waterford Speedbowl 44 9 29

34 869

5 Jeff Strunk Grandview Speedway 20 4 19

19 868

6 Andy Eckrich Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway 35 6

28 32 848

7 Coleman Pressley Greenville-Pickens Speedway 27

7 24 26 828

8 Jason Gilbert Altamont Motorsports Park 19 9

16 18 827

9 David Roberts Greenville-Pickens Speedway 26 3

19 23 809

10 Woody Pitkat Stafford Motor Speedway 26 6 13

16 766

11 Gary Glenn All American Speedway 28 5 20

22 761

12 Jeremiah Hurst West Liberty Raceway 34 2 16

27 760

13 Jimmy Blewett Thompson Intl Speedway 28 4 12

19 754

14 Kenneth Headen Greenville-Pickens Speedway 20 0

17 20 752

15 Nick Joanides Toyota Speedway At Irwindale 17 9

15 15 711

16 Doug Manmiller Grandview Speedway 20 0 9

14 708

17 Jonathan Bouvrette Autodrome St. Eustache 22 7

12 20 705

18 Steve Carlson Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway 18 5

16 17 705

19 Guy Jubinville Autodrome St. Eustache 20 7 14

16 703

20 Doug Coby, III Waterford Speedbowl 31 3 13

19 697

21 Anthony Anders Greenville-Pickens Speedway 21 3

11 18 695

22 Ralph Carnes Greenville-Pickens Speedway 23 0

7 23 694

23 Tony Hanbury Chemung Speedrome 30 11 22

26 684

24 Brent Larson Cedar Lake Speedway 15 6 13

15 668

25 John Hightower Greenville-Pickens Speedway 18 0

9 17 666

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