ANTELOPE, California — Rookie of the Year contender in the NASCAR Camping World Series West, Paulie Harraka drove the No. 12 NAPA AutoCare/Adaptive One Brakes Toyota Camry to a thirteenth place finish in the Toyota/Bi-Mart“150” presented by NAPA AUTO PARTS at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon.. He is currently sixth in the chase for the championship and only 26 points out of the top-five.
“On race day, we were fighting some pretty big issues in the first round of practice, making only minimal gains,” said Harraka. “So, between practices, we made some huge changes. The No. 12 NAPA AutoCare Toyota Camry was definitely a good deal better, as I could finally put all of the power down on the curved front stretch. The team made some more changes during the session, improving the car even more. Unfortunately, we were one of the first cars to go out for qualifying. We had a decent lap, landing us 8th on the starting grid.
“After an autograph session at the Toyota display and an appearance at NAPA’s hospitality area, I headed back to the pits and got ready for the race. Driver introductions were fun, as I received two awards from Iowa, one for being the highest finishing rookie and one for passing the most cars. After getting strapped into the car, we were told to fire the engines and started rolling.”
“Starting on the outside at Roseburg is tough, so I knew I would need to get to the bottom quickly. I was able to do that, sliding down in front of the 21 car down the backstretch, putting us into seventh. Just as I was starting to work under my teammate, Moses Smith, a car that was about to get lapped lost an oil line, covering the track with oil. We all went sliding and, as I begun to slow down, the car behind me got into the back of my NAPA Toyota. I don’t blame him, as there was nothing any of us could really do, but that ended up putting us in the wall. The car was pretty severely damaged as I limped back to the pit area.”
“The guys did what they could, but the rear end was knocked out of alignment by about an inch when I headed back onto the track. That meant 140 laps of just riding around, hoping to pick up whatever positions we could. It certainly made for a long evening, but sometimes that’s what it takes. I was sure to stay out of the way of all of the lead lap cars, as I know how frustrating it is to be racing for third place and have a lapper get in your way. It was certainly a rough night, but that’s part of racing.”
The NASCAR Camping World Series West race the Toyota/Bi-Mart 150 had a near capacity crowd on hand. Over 1000 fans took advantage of VIP Hospitality. The NASCAR Camping World Series West race will be televised nationally on SPEED Channel’s Racing Across America on June 18th at noon PST. The next race will be at Infineon Raceway on June 20th.
BMR would like to thank the continued support of our race partners. We would like to welcome Copart, a web-based automotive reselling agency, to the BMR family. For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and our race partners, please visit our website at www.billmcanallyracing.com. BMR is also home to the BMR NAPA AutoCare where customers can have their vehicle serviced by a championship winning team. Check our website for our latest discount coupons and to make an appointment for service.
