FONTANA, Calif. (April 26, 2001) Brendan Gaughan qualified his No. 16 NAPA/Martin-Senour Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the eighth starting position today for Saturday's NASCAR Winston West Pontiac Widetrack Grand Prix 200 at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Teammate Hershel McGriff overcame mechanical problems and qualified his No. 04 MBNA/Park Corp. Chevrolet Monte Carlo 20th in the starting grid for Saturday's 10 a.m. race.
Gaughan turned a 40.197-second lap, only .548 behind Mark Reed's fast time of 39.649. Gaughan's 179-mph lap starts him in the fourth row for Saturday's race. McGriff turned a 41.987-second lap, at 171 mph, and will start in the 10th row.
"The MBNA car is fine," said crew chief Roy Pryor. "Our qualifying effort today doesn't show what the car and the driver can do. We just didn't have enough track time today to show it."
This weekend is a big one for Orleans Racing, owned by Bill McAnally. NAPA is a primary sponsor of the Orleans Racing team car driven by Brendan Gaughan, and is also the title sponsor the NASCAR Winston Cup NAPA 500 race on Sunday. There are many NAPA storeowners, NAPA customers, and NAPA fans at California Speedway this weekend.
The NASCAR Winston West race will be televised on a tape-delay basis on Fox Sports NET. For more information about Orleans Racing, visit our websites at www.orleansracing.com and www.hershel-mcgriff.com.
