Consistency was a key to Sean Woodside's successful rookie season in the NASCAR Winston West Series last year. Woodside and the Golden West Motorsports team owned by Ray Claridge are demonstrating that same consistency again this season, and Woodside hopes he can make it pay off in Sunday's Re-refined Oil Memorial Day 200 at Mesa Marin Raceway.
Woodside is the only driver to finish in the top-10 in the series' first five races and he is also the only one to complete all of the 624 laps run in those five events. In the fifth race, the May 17 LUKOil 250K at Heartland Park Topeka, he demonstrated the strength of the team by winning the series' inaugural event on the 2.1-mile road course.
Even so, Woodside still trails point leader Kevin Harvick -- who may have a "home track advantage" at Mesa Marin, where he began his racing career -- by 41 points.
At Heartland Park, Woodside started on the outside of the front row and ran in the lead pack throughout the 74-lap race. The 27-year-old Saugus, Calif., competitor was one of seven drivers who swapped the lead 14 times. He took the top spot for good just two laps from the finish and held off a fierce last lap scramble to win by four seconds.
Kevin Richards of Spokane, Wash., was the top finishing rookie, taking second in the Monaco Enterprises Chevrolet. Another rookie, Kelly Tanner of Woodinville, Wash., was third in the Yoshida's Pontiac. Finishing fourth was the Bud Pole Award winner Harvick, in the Spears Motorsports Chevrolet.
Harvick, who led the most laps in the race, turned a speed of 87.704 mph during Bud Pole Qualifying. Scott Gaylord of Lakewood, Colo., was fifth in the Oliver Gravity Separators Chevrolet. Rounding out the top-10 were Craig Raudman, Gary Smith, Ron Burns, Austin Cameron and Blair Aiken.
The seven leaders of the race included Woodside, Harvick, Richards, Gaylord, Cameron, Lance Norick and Ken Schrader. The average speed of the event was 70.326 mph. It was slowed by six cautions for 20 laps.
This weekend, Harvick will have to deal with the headache of commuting from Odessa, Mo., where he will compete in the Yellow Freight 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday.
Third in NASCAR Winston West points is Raudman with 703, followed by Tony Toste, Smith, Richards, Tanner, Brandon Ash, Butch Gilliland and Jeff Davis.
Raudman leads the standings in the chase for the Sears Point Raceway Rookie of the Year title. He has 38 points, followed by Richards with 36, Toste at 35, Tanner, Cameron, Ash, Jerry Cain, Burns, Eric Norris, Darrel Krentz, Craig Rayburn and Bruce Bechtel.
Chevrolet is in front in the race for the manufacturers' championship with 39 points and three wins. Pontiac is second with 29 points and one win, followed by Ford with 27 points and one win.
