ANTELOPE, California — The three-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion from Bill McAnally Racing, Eric Holmes and the No. 20 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota team brought home a second place finish for a second week in a row. With a second place finish, Holmes duplicated his finish from back in 2006 when the series last raced at Stockton 99 Speedway.
"It was a good points night for our NAPA team."— Eric Holmes
Holmes and the NAPA Toyota team from BMR showed that they were fast when they put the No. 20 NAPA entry at the top of the timing chart in the final practice. With an early draw for qualifying, Holmes managed to secure a starting position on the inside of the second row for the 150 lap race.
Under the “Super Moon”, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West field took the green flag. The first caution came out at lap 19 at which time Holmes radioed in that the No. 20 NAPA Toyota was running warm in the tight traffic. Two cautions later at lap 59 while running in third, there was a multi-car incident in turn two. Holmes did his best to avoid being a part of it and lost four positions in the effort. The race was ‘red flagged’ at lap 68 to continue the clean-up. Holmes moved into 5th at lap 88. With green flag racing for more than 35 laps enabled Holmes to move up to 4th. With 10 laps to go, the No. 20 NAPA Toyota Camry was up to 3rd and would gain one more spot at lap 145 moving into 2nd. The race would finish under a green-white-checkered scenario with Holmes challenging for the lead at the restart but not able to secure the position.
“The NAPA Toyota was really good,” said Holmes. “We were just trying to cruise during the first half of the race trying to save our equipment for the end. It was a frustrating night racing with some drivers that didn’t have enough experience to be racing at the level of competition we have in this series. It ruins this race for a lot of the teams running for the championship. Unfortunately it hurt me tonight when the NAPA Toyota got damaged and pushed me back to 7th.”
“It was a good points night for our NAPA team. I’m not happy about finishing in second but happy that I got back up to second.” Holmes is fourth in the chase for his fourth series championship and only 13 points out of first.
The Pick-n-Pull “150” will be shown on SPEED Channel on Thursday May 17th at 3 pm EST. Please check your local listings. The next race event will be at Iowa Speedway on May 19th. The Graham Tire “150” is a 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series Combination race. For the most up-to-date information all weekend long, please visit www. hometracks.nascar.com/series/kn_pro_series_west.
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