LVMS NOTES OF INTEREST & RMR RECAP

Source: Media Relations
Date: 10/08/2001

2000 REVIEW: Brendan Gaughan won the Bud Pole Award in setting a record in time trials at his hometown track. He led the first one-third of the event, but got shuffled back in the pack after a series of pit stops on lap 36. He was back to the point by lap 60, before again giving up the lead during a pit stop. John Metcalf led for 15 laps, followed by Eric Norris and Austin Cameron. It was David Starr, however, who charged to the front in the closing laps to clinch his first career win.

PARTICIPATING AWARDS SPONSORS: Winston, Aeroquip, Anheuser-Busch, Auto Meter Products, Bowman Distribution, Clevite Engine Parts, Competition Cams, Edelbrock Intake Manifolds, Featherlite Trailers, Ford Motor Company, Gatorade, Goodyear Betts & Hoses, Holley Carburetors, Hoosier Tires, JE Pistons, Jesel Rocker Arms, MAC Tools, Mechanix Wear, Moog Chassis Parts, MSD Ignitions, Raybestos Brakes, Simpson, Spicer Driveshafts, Wix Air Filters, 3M Automotive, 76 Race Gasoline.

WRAPPING UP SALT LAKE CITY:

• Making his 43rd series start, Sammy Potashnick scored his first career win at Rocky Mountain Raceways. His best previous finish was a runner-up finish in Monroe, Wash., last year. Potashnick was the eighth different winner in 12 NASCAR Winston West Series races so far this season.

• After winning his first career Bud Pole Award at Salt Lake City, Brett Thompson went on to pick up a career-best fourth-place finish. It was only his sixth series race for the 24-year-old Jerome, Idaho, driver-

• The Rocky Mountain Raceways event race marked the 55'" consecutive NASCAR Winston West Series start for Kevin Richards- He is fifth on the modern era list to Ray Elder, who started 121 consecutive races between January of 1971 and January of 1976.

• Scott Gaylord, Bill Sedgwick and Potashnick are the only drivers to finish in the top 10 in all three visits by the series to the .375-mile paved oval at RMR.

The 24 Hour Fitness 150 is the 13'" of 14 races on the NASCAR Winston West Series schedule for 2001. It is the second visit to LVMS this year, The circuit visited The Bullring at LVMS in February.

This event is the final of four superspeedway races on the NASCAR Winston West Series 2001 schedule. The circuit also traveled to Phoenix, Los Angeles and Kansas City.

Seven different drivers have visited victory lane in the eight NWWS events on the 1.5-mile facility at LVMS. Ken Schrader has two victories (1996 and 1997) --while Kevin Harvick, Andy Houston, Gary Smith, Jerry Nadeau, David Starr and Richards each have one.

Brendan Gaughan is the only driver with more than one Bud Pole Award on the Las Vegas superspeedway. He won one in the fall event in 1999 and another in the only series visit to the track in 2000. Drivers with a single Bud Pole Award on the big track include Schrader, 1996; Potashnick, 1997; Kenny Wallace, 1997; Harvick, 1998; Mike Chase, 1998; and Nadeau, 1999.

Butch Gilliland, Gaylord and Smith competed in seven of the eight NWWS races on the 1.5-mile track the most among active drivers in the series.

Gilliland tops the list in terms of money won in NWWS competition at the Las Vegas superspeedway- He took home $50,888 in seven races.

Austin Cameron has the most top-five finishes in NASCAR Winston West Series races at LVMS, finishing in the top five in four of the five races in which he competed. Those included runner-up finishes the past two years.

Harvick has led the most laps of NWWS competition at Las Vegas. He led a total of 121 laps -seven in the fall race of 1997, 89 in the spring race of 1998 and 25 in the fall race of 1998. Incidentally, Harvick's first race in the NASCAR Winston West Series was the inaugural LVMS event in November of 1996, in which he started fourth and finished 18t'.

A Chevrolet has been in victory lane for seven of the eight NWWS races on the Las Vegas superspeedway.

The NWWS entry list includes Scott Riggs and Shawna Robinson. Riggs is in the top five of the championship standings in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Robinson has competed this season in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division.

Riggs will be driving the Team ASE/Ultra Wheels/CarQuest Dodge owned by Jim Smith. It will mark the return of Dodge to the West's oldest stock car racing circuit after a 15-year absence.

Several drivers are slated for double duty at Las Vegas. In addition to competing in the NWWS event, drivers also slated to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Sunday include Gaughan, Riggs and Jon Wood. In addition, drivers who have entered the NWWS race and the Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring, race includes Scott Lynch, John Baker and Auggie Vidovich.

Several NASCAR Winston West Series competitors will join with drivers from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in an autograph session in Las Vegas. It is slated at the ESPN Zone in the New York New York Hotel and Casino from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12.

NOTES OF INTEREST: The chase far the series championship continues to be a dose one. With two races remaining, Gaughan holds a slim 25-point margin over Mark Reed. A series champion has not successfully defended his title since Sedgwick won back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992.

With two races remaining, the battle is a close one for a top 10 position in the championship standings and a chance to walk across tire stage at this year's Championship Awards Ceremony. Six drivers in the top 15 are each within 15 points of gaining a spot in the standings. After 12 races a year ago, the top 10 driven; were separated by 388 points. The top 13 drivers are covered by 388 points this season-

In addition to leading the point standings, Gaughan also tops his competition in terms of laps led so far this season. He has had the NAPA/Martin Senour Chevrolet out front for 636 laps.

Stave Portenga has passed the $300,000 mark in career winnings for the NASCAR Winston West Series. He is 15'" on career money leaders list with $304,298.

Drivers celebrating birthdays during the month of October include Tim Woods III, who turns 27 on the 11'; Eric Holmes, who turns 27 on the 12~ Jerry Glanville, who turns 60 on the 140; Sean Woodside, who turns 31 on the 16'°; Jon Wood, who turns 20 on the 25'"; and Tommy Fry, who turns 40 on the 31 at. STATS OF THE WEEK: Three of the eight NW WS races on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track were won from the Bud Pole. Two winners started from outside of the top 10, meanwhile.

NWWS money winnings for 2001;
1. Brendan Gaughan$116,929
2. Mark Reed 85,099
3. Steve Portenga 81,639
4. Austin Cameron 69,064
5. Eric Norris 67,829
6. Kevin Richards 61,439
7. Sean Woodside 55,284
8. Johnny Borneman 54,669
9. Bill Sedgwick 52,779
10. Scott Gaylord 49,869

Rookie-of-the-Year Standings:
1. Mark Reed 115
2. Johnny Borneman 106
3. Tim Woods III 81
4. Ross Thompson 40

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