DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Jim Pettit II of Prunedale, Calif. continues to expand his legend in the Central Valley of California. Pettit thrilled a partisan crowd Saturday night to claim his second win of the season and third in NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series competition. Pettit blazed through the field of 22 starters from the back to post a 2.3 second margin of victory over Todd Souza. Souza posted his best performance of the season with championship contender Burney Lamar finishing a close third. Steve Belletto and Nick Joanides rounded out the top five finishers in the 125-lap race sponsored by Star Nursery.Com. Pettit swept both races at Madera Speedway this season closing the gap on point’s leader Craig Raudman.
Craig Raudman of Bakersfield, Calif. collected his 29th career Bud Pole Award (record) with a quick lap of 14.633 seconds/81.924 mph around the one-third mile paved oval. Lamar posted the second quick time to start beside his teammate for the third time this season. Steve Belletto, Jeff McCoun, and Jeff Belletto rounded out the top five qualifiers, sending Thomas Martin, Nick Joanides, Danny Burson, Tracy Bolin, Todd Burns, and Richard Johnson to battle in a ten lap non-qualifiers race. Martin and Joanides transferred into the feature event sending the other drivers to the grandstands as spectators.
Autometer Rookie-of-the-Year contender Nick Lynch started on the pole after fast time qualifier Raudman drew a ten car invert. Starting alongside Lynch was Jeff Seifert, who won when the series visited Cajon speedway earlier this season. Seifert got the jump on Lynch at the start and led the first 22 circuits. Lynch took over on lap 23 and held the point until his car started to tighten up on lap 39.
Mike Mendenhall, making only his third appearance of 2004, took over the lead from Lynch on lap 40 and pulled out to a two second lead on the field. Title contenders Raudman and Eric Holmes tangled on the backstretch on lap 50 sending 2001 series champion Raudman spinning. Raudman lost a lap in the process momentarily damaging his point lead. Holmes spun three laps later, also losing a lap.
Mendenhall continued to pace the field as Raudman and Holmes fought to get their lap back. Both made the pass of Mendenhall on lap 62 and distanced themselves for the leader. The third of five cautions came out on lap 73 for Seifert who lost his motor entering turn one. Seifert ended his night on the hooked but the oil spill also claimed Dan Holtz who had no where to go once his car hit the oil. NASCAR officials displayed the red flag in order to clean up the extensive slick. While under red Medenhall’s Chevrolet started overheating and blew a radiator hose ended his chances for the victory.
Once the action resumed, Greg Voigt moved his car to the lead and held the point for the next nine laps until a hard-charging Jim Pettit blistered his way to the front. Pettit would not relinquish the lead and went on to score a crowd pleasing victory and reducing Raudman’s point lead to only 13 points with six races left on the Southwest Series schedule. Todd Souza made a disappointing season better with a strong second place performance, with championship hopeful Burney Lamar scoring his fourth straight top-three finish.
“Our team really needed this,” Pettit said. “My crew is very dedicated and this victory is for them. We feel a bit of redemption after Infineon where we broke an axel running in the top five. We would have the points lead right now, but this is why we race. Craig (Raudman) had a little bad luck tonight, but we are going to have to finish ahead of him the rest of the year. If we do that, then the championship is a real possibility.”
Posting his best finish in over two years was Todd Souza from Aromas, Calif. Souza was nearly perfect, dodging the action on the track. “This was a fun race,” Souza said. “After the season we have had it feels great to run up front again. Pettit had us covered, but we showed what kind of performance this team this team is capable of.”
“It took me a little longer to get through traffic then I wanted,” said Lamar, who scored his fourth straight top three performance. “This team is really proving we have what takes to win and I know it is going to be exciting down the stretch racing with Jim (Pettit) and Craig (Raudman).”
Finishing sixth to score his fifth top ten of the season and moving him up to fourth in the standings was 2002 series champion Eddy McKean. “We changed the whole car around after qualifying,” McKean said. Since NASCAR impounds the cars after qualifying, McKean had to start at the rear of the 22-car starting grid. A penalty he felt was worth it. “We had nothing to lose,” McKean offered. “I knew I could not drive it the way it was. It took me about 40 laps to figure out what the car was going to do, and then I just started to move up. Finishing sixth was certainly a boost of confidence after the past several races.”
Rounding out the top ten finishers were Jason Fensler, Eric Holmes, Joe Herold, and Craig Raudman. Raudman maintains a slim advantage over Pettit heading into the ninth race of the season at Colorado National Speedway in Erie, Colo. August 21. Lamar holds onto third, with McKean and Herold swapping positions after eight races.
The race took 44 minutes, 20 seconds at an average speed of 55.827 mph with Pettit’s margin of victory a scant 2.3 seconds. Craig Raudman scored his series record 29th Bud Pole Award with a lap of 14.633seconds/81.924 mph Todd Souza collected the POWERADE POWER MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD for improving the most positions (18) from his original starting spot, while Eric Holmes collected the FEATHERLITE AWARD for improving the most positions from the previous race. The AUTOMETER ROOKIE-OF-THE-RACE AWARD went to Nick Lynch for his 11th place finish. The action was slowed five times for 34 laps (23-27, 50-54, 73-81, 97-103, 106-113) , and there were four lead changes among five drivers; Jeff Seifert 1-22, Nick Lynch 23-39, Mike Mendenhall 40-73, Greg Voigt 74-83, Jim Pettit II 84-125. Mike Mendenhall led the most laps (33).
The next event for the AutoZone Southwest Series is Saturday, August 21 in the 3/8-mile newly paved oval in Erie, Colorado. For all the latest news and information log onto www.nascaregionalracing.com .
