(Mar. 15, 2001) Mark Reed ran the NASCAR Winston West Series race last March at Mesa Marin Raceway, his first in the series since 1991. The Food 4 Less Motorsports team had an excellent outing with an 8th place qualifying effort and a 5th place finish. Reed, who is leading the 2001 series points after three races with a 32 point advantage over Austin Cameron, is hoping for the same type of performance on Sunday in the FOODS CO 200 presented by Pepsi. “We’re running the same car this weekend we ran here last year”, said Reed. It is also the same car the Food 4 Less team used for the last two races in Las Vegas and Tucson. “We would be happy with another top-5 finish on Sunday”, Reed concluded.
The week leading up to the race this weekend at Reed’s home track will be hectic. “This is one of our busiest weeks of the year”, said Reed. “Our sponsor, who operates several warehouse style grocery stores in Bakersfield and Northern California under the FOODS CO banner, is the title sponsor of the race. Our team is very involved in handling the details and implementation of all sponsorship programs for our sponsor”. In addition the Reed Motorsports team will host approximately 150 guests at a hospitality tent in the turn-1 area for the race. “We have had a great response for tickets”, said Reed. “It will be exciting to have such a large cheering section for the race on Sunday”.
Mark Reed has also been on a media blitz the last couple of days. He was a guest on a Fresno-based race talk radio show Tuesday evening. Reed was back at his shop on Wednesday morning at 5:00 AM to do a live segment for the local Bakersfield NBC affiliate’s morning show. “It was a little early in the morning, but we had a great time doing the show”, said Reed. “During our three segments of the show, it gave us an opportunity to showcase our new shop and demonstrate our new NASCAR race simulator show car”. Reed ended his day on Wednesday with an appearance on NASCAR Live with Larry Collins presented by Time Warner Cable on channel 31 in Bakersfield. “We had the opportunity to do the show with Larry last year prior to the Craftsman Truck Series weekend”, said Reed. “I really enjoy the opportunity to do the show. It is a lot of fun to be able to answer questions for a live call-in audience”.
Mark Reed will also participate in the NASCAR Downtown Street Festival on Chester Avenue in Bakersfield Thursday evening from 6-9 PM. “The street festival is always a lot of fun”, said Reed. “This year we’ll have our race simulator car for the race fans. We’ll also have FOODS CO balloons and $2 discount coupons good for the FOODS CO 200 presented by Pepsi on Sunday”.
