LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (March 1, 2001) Orleans Racing was prevalent in the NASCAR Winston West NAPA 300 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Michael Waltrip, NASCAR Winston Cup regular and winner of the Daytona 500, drove a NAPA-sponsored car fielded by Orleans Racing, along with fellow Orleans Racing drivers Brendan Gaughan, the 2000 NASCAR Winston West champion, and the legendary Hershel McGriff. Waltrip wasn’t lucky this time in Las Vegas. He crashed his No. 18 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Monte Carlo on lap 92. Gaughan, driving the No. 16 NAPA/Martin-Senour Chevrolet Monte Carlo, went three laps down due to a small accident, but made two of three laps up, and finished in 8th place.
“Oh well, we tried,” said Gaughan. “We almost made it back onto the lead lap. The car handled great and we were flying.”
Seventy-three-year-old McGriff qualified 17th out of 30 in his No. 04 MBNA/Park Corporation Chevrolet Monte Carlo. With oil on the track, McGriff and others spun and made contact, causing major front end damage to the No. 04 car. The MBNA team put the car back together to salvage an 18th place finish, 62 laps down.
Bill McAnally, president of Orleans Racing, is confident that he will see better results soon for the two-car team.
“This has been a rough start – our roughest start in five years,” said McAnally. “But with only two races into the season, I know that we can turn this around as we head to Tucson. We won the last race at Tucson and I think that that is where we will turn our luck around.”
The second race of the season was proudly sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts, and NAPA affiliates came out in full force. In addition to their incredible support for the NASCAR Winston West series, NAPA employees, store owners and customers are NASCAR fans. At The Bullring race over 300 NAPA race fans were among the crowd. NAPA successfully utilizes racing events and their affiliation with Orleans Racing to build customer goodwill and increase sales for NAPA. For their generous involvement in the Winston West series, NAPA received the prestigious NASCAR Award of Excellence at the 2000 Winston West banquet. To find a NAPA store near you, call 1-800-LET-NAPA.
For more information about Orleans Racing, Hershel McGriff and Brendan Gaughan, visit our websites at www.orleansracing.com and www.hershel-mcgriff.com.
