STOCKTON, California -- It did not take long for Austin Cameron to return to victory lane in NASCAR Grand National Division, Winston West Series competition. Cameron, who missed four races earlier this season while undergoing cancer treatment, dominated the action at Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 16, in winning the NAPA Auto Parts 200 by Dodge Country and Havoline.
It was just his second race since returning to competition last month.
"It feels like the first one," the 26-year-old El Cajon, Calif., driver said of the victory. "I don't even know what to say. I wanted to cry almost. Just to come back after everything my family has gone through and what I've been through . it's pretty emotional."
The dominant fashion in which he won was reflective of Cameron's performance of a year ago in which he won five of 10 races on the series schedule. "I was on another level," he said after setting a track record and leading 154 of 207 laps. "I just felt awesome. The car was great."
Cameron did not go unchallenged, however. "The only slip up I had was when Mike David got under me," he said of being passed on lap 17. "That was only because I was being very cautious. My spotter said there was a wreck. There was a car up against the wall. So, I assumed a yellow was coming out. David snookered me. He got underneath me."
Despite track position being so critical on the tight quarter-mile Stockton track, Cameron said he was confident of being able to get the lead back. "I could pretty much tell how David was driving the car," Cameron said. "He was getting all of it out of it. I didn't think I was using mine up that much. He kept getting loose on the exit. I knew that if I gave it 20 or 30 laps that we'd be right there."
Cameron nosed his NAPA/NAPA Belts & Hose-sponsored Chevrolet by David's Ford on lap 70 and paced the field to the midway point. He opened up a bit of a margin in the second half of the race, as David and Steve Portenga battled for the runner-up spot.
Cameron saw his lead evaporate, however, when a late-race caution caused the scheduled 200-lap event to be extended with a green-white-checkered finish. Cameron held on to win by .806 of a second - at an average speed of 46.645 mph. His victory netted him $8,241 in prize money and posted awards, including the Bud Pole Award. Cameron led nine other drivers in eclipsing the track record - with a lap of 63.672 mph. It marked Cameron's ninth career Bud Pole Award, to go along with his seventh career victory in the series.
"To come back and win the second time back is pretty phenomenal," he said. "I can't say enough about NAPA Auto Parts and Bill McAnally for putting me back in the car."
Portenga, who led the championship standings by one point coming into the event, finished second in the King Taco/Smart & Ford. David of Modesto, Calif., took the third spot in the Injury Helpline.com Ford - with Brett Thompson of Jerome, Idaho, coming home fourth in the Rich Thompson Trucking Chevrolet. Johnny Borneman of Ramona, Calif., finished fifth in the Borneman Plastering/Red Line Oil Ford. Completing the top 10 were Mike Duncan, Mark Reed, Kevin Richards, Scott Lynch and Scott Gaylord.
The race was slowed by five cautions for 36 laps.
With his runner-up finish - Portenga of Sparks, Nev., built his lead in the championship standings to 33 points (1,238 to 1,205) over Lynch, the leading Raybestos Brakes Rookie of the Year Candidate. Duncan remains third in the standings with 1,201 - trailed by Gaylord with 1,173 and Richards with 1,162. Borneman at 1,138, Thompson at 1,096, Jim Inglebright at 1,093, Reed at 1,086 and Gene Woods at 970 complete the top 10 in the standings.
The next event on the Winston West Series schedule is the NAPA
200 at Rocky Mountain Raceways near Salt Lake City, Utah, on Aug. 30.
