SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (May 26, 1998) - - Butch Gilliland began this season in a familiar place- -victory lane. But the defending champion in the NASCAR Winston West Series failed to crack the top 10 in four consecutive races after that - - finishing 16th, 23rd, 27th and 22nd.
He rebounded with a victory in the Re-refined Oil Memorial Day 200 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., on May 24. "We had a little string of bad luck these past three races, but we just kept working hard," Gilliland said of his team. "We knew it could only get better."
It appeared that Gilliland's bad luck was going to continue in this event, as he fell a lap behind the leaders after spinning out with a flat tire near the midway point of the race. But he took advantage of a subsequent series of cautions to get the Mission Foods Ford Taurus back on the lead lap. From there Gilliland Ran up front the rest of the night, leading three times for 41 laps.
Gilliland won by 08 of a second, claiming $11,895 in race winnings. It marked the 10th career NWWS victory for the 41 year-old Chino Hills, Calif. Competitor. He is second on the list of NWWS career money leaders with $536,468.
Shadowing Gilliland to to finish line was Gary Smith of Malahat, British Columbia, in the Napa/Martin Senour Chevrolet. Blair Aiken of Lakeport, Calif., picked up his best career finish in the series, taking third in the airport auto brokers Chevrolet. Fourth went to Sean Monroe of Malibu, Calif., in the Small Motorsports Chevrolet - - followed by Jerry Cain of Canyon Country, Calif., in the Deist/NEO Oil/Mechanix Wear Chevrolet. Rounding out the top 10 were Kevin Richards, Sean Woodside, Bruce Bechtel, Jeff Davis and Austin Cameron.
Kevin Harvick, who led the NWWS championship standings going into the event, won this fourth Bud Pole Award of the season with a lap of 94.872 mph. The Bakersfield, Calif., driver finished 21st, however, after dropping out with engine trouble. The race had 13 lead changes among six drivers with Woodside leading 106 of the laps. Other leaders were Gilliland, Smith, Aiken, Davis and Harvick. The average speed of the race was 57.170 mph.
Woodside's seventh-place finish was enough to move him into the lead I the NASCAR Winston West Series Championship standings, with 954 points over Harvick with 944. Smith is third with 861, followed by Richards at 816 and Tony Toste at 813. Completing the top 10 are Craig Raudman 794, Kelly Tanner 767, Gilliland 748, Cain 710 and Davis with 708.
Richards leads the chase for the title in the Sears Point Raceway Rookie-of-the-Year Program. He has 45 points, followed by Raudman, Tanner and Toste with 39 each. Other freshman drivers in the hunt include Cameron with 33, Cain with 322, Brandon Ash with 28, Ron Burns with 25, Eric Norris with 15 and Bruce Bechtel with 13.
Chevrolet, with 45 points and three wins, leads in the challenge for the Manufacturers' Championship in the series. Ford has 36 points and two wins, followed by Pontiac with 33 points and one win.
Prior to the start of the Re-refined Oil Memorial Day 200, the top 15 drivers in the point standings were presented with a combined $50,000 from the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., as prize money for the first leg of the schedule. Dennis Huth, NASCAR Vice President for Administration, and Dan Henley, RJ Reynolds senior manager for the NASCAR Winston West Series, mad the presentations.
Harvick took home $10,000 - - followed by Woodside with $6000, Raudman with $4,000, Toste with $3,750, Smith with $3,500 Richards with $3,250, Tanner with $3,000, Ash with $2,760, Gilliland with $2,500 and Davis with $2,250. Other drivers sharing in the prize money were Scott Gaylord with $2,000, Cain with $1,900, Burns with $1,80000, Cameron with $1,700 and Norris with $1,600.
In addition to the prize money for the first leg, the top 15 drivers who accumulate the most points from the sixth through the 10th races will receive and additional $50,000.
The next event on the NASCAR Winston West Series Schedule is the Spears Manufacturing 200 at Altamont Raceway Park in Tracy, Calif., on June 13 and 14.
