(Mar. 19, 2001) Mark Reed and his Food 4 Less Motorsports team had another strong run on Sunday afternoon in the FOODS CO 200 presented by Pepsi. The game plan for the team at the beginning of the season was to qualify in the top-10 and finish in the top-5 for each NASCAR Winston West Series event. The team stuck to their game plan Sunday with a sixth place qualifying effort and a fifth place finish.
Reed was able to advance from his sixth place starting spot early in the race to take the lead on lap-12. “Our goal was to lead the race early if we could, to get the extra five points for leading a lap”, said Reed. Brendan Gaughan took the lead from Reed on lap-17. “I just wanted to get in a rhythm that wouldn’t abuse the tires”, Reed said. He was eventually passed by Bill Sedgwick and Austin Cameron around lap 30 and settled into a battle for fourth place for the next 70 laps of the race. When the yellow flag waved for an accident on lap 101, Reed was running in the fourth position ahead of Mike David. Austin Cameron was leading the race followed by Steve Portenga and Gaughan. As soon as pit lane was opened, Reed brought the FOODS CO Pontiac Grand Prix in for a four-tire change and a slight chassis adjustment to the right-rear spring. “The car was a little tight in the middle of the turns”, said Reed. The crew made an adjustment to loosen the car up a bit”. Reed came out of the pits in sixth place and was running seventh when the caution flag waved again on lap 121. He moved up to 5th prior to the restart on lap 128 when Eric Norris and Brendan Gaughan decided to pit again for two tires. Reed moved to third behind Portenga and Cameron on lap 130 and was running fourth when the yellow flag waved again on lap 142. Reed’s crew chief (Jerry Pitts) had saved the best set of tires for the end of the race and elected to bring the yellow and black #4 into the pits at that time. Since many of the cars on the lead lap elected to stay on the track, Reed rejoined the race in 13th position after the pit stop. The race resumed on lap 153 with Portenga still in the lead. Reed worked his way to seventh by lap 170 and was running sixth at lap 176 when the yellow flag came out for the last time. The green flag waved again on lap 180 and Reed was able to work his way into 5th place by lap 186. When the checkered flag waved at the end of 200 laps, Portenga crossed the finish line first followed by Cameron, Gaughan, Norris, and Reed. “The late caution flag didn’t work to our advantage”, said Reed. “My car worked better on the longer runs”.
Reed maintains the Winston West Series points lead after the conclusion of the FOODS CO 200 presented by Pepsi at Mesa Marin Raceway. The next stop for the series will be at California Speedway in Fontana on Saturday April 28th.
