RACE FACTS & NOTES OF INTEREST>>MAGIC VALLEY SPEEDWAY

WHAT: Napa 150
Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series Race No. 12 of 14

WHERE: Magic Valley Speedway, Twin Falls, Idaho
0.333-Mile Paved Speedway

WHEN: Saturday, September 15, 2001 -- 9:00 p.m. MDT

DISTANCE: 150 Laps/49.9 Miles

POSTED AWARDS: $37,000

FIELD: 24 cars possible. Fastest 17 cars through time trials with two provisional starting positions available to the top 20 drivers based on the current 2001 Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring Championship point standings, two starting positions from highest 30 car owners in the current 2001 Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring Championship point standings, one position for a former champion of the series who has not qualified in the original 21 positions, the final two positions will be filled by the top two highest finishers in the Qualifying Race.

SCHEDULE:
Saturday, September 15
12:00 noon Registration and inspection
1:30 p.m. Drawing to determine order of qualifying
1:45 p.m. Mandatory Crew Chief’s Meeting
2:00 p.m to 4:30 p.m. Practice
4:45 p.m. Mandatory Driver’s Meeting
5:00 p.m. Mandatory Rookie Driver’s Meeting
6:00 p.m. Time Trials (2 Laps). All positions
6:30 p.m. Autograph Session
7:00 p.m. 15-Lap Qualifying Race
9:00 p.m. Napa 150

THE RACETRACK: Magic Valley Speedway is a slightly banked .333-mile paved oval.

QUALIFYING RECORD: Gary Lewis 8/19/00 87.901 mph 13.638 seconds

RACE RECORD: Garrett Evans 9/18/99 68.897 mph 43 min 30 sec

2000 TOP 10 IN THE EVENT
1. Gary Lewis
2. Joe Benedetti
3. Shane Biles
4. Kevin Hamlin
5. Kenny Rich
6. Rick Suran
7. Howard Ford
8. Garrett Evans
9. Brett Thompson
10. Ray Wallace

2000 RACE STATISTICS

Bud Pole: Gary Lewis

Time of Race: 44 min. 25 sec.

Average Speed: 67.475 mph

Margin of Victory: 1.91 seconds

Caution Flags: 3 for 18 laps

Lap Leaders: Hamlin (1-5), Dillon (6-50) Hart (51-53), Benedetti (54-118), Lewis (119-150)

NOTES OF INTEREST:

• Kevin Hamlin leads Joe Benedetti by 116 points for the 2001 Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series championship. Benedetti narrowed the gap on the strength of his top-5 performance at the series last event, the Tri-City 125 in West Richland, Wash.

• Steven Howard, a native of Roy, Wash. is building a successful season for his NASCAR resume in 2001. Howard ran a limited rookie season in 2000 following an accident at Portland International Raceway. With a rebuilt race car, Howard has seven top-10 finishes in 11 starts, including his career best sixth at the series last event, the Tri-City 125. Howard moved as high as second place in the event and continues to improve each race in his quest to be the youngest driver to ever win a Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series race. Howard turned 19 years old in February.

• Should Kevin Hamlin win the 2001 championship, he would become the youngest champion in the history of the series. Hamlin is the holder of the series record for youngest race winner at 19 years, 11 months, established in June of 1999. John Dillon is the series youngest champion at 27 years, seven months. Hamlin will be 22 years, three months old on September 22, 2001.

• Troy Conrad has closed to within one point of John Bender for the 2001 Totem Travel Rookie of the Year award. Conrad has collected the rookie maximum of 10 points per race in each of the last three events. Conrad has also closed the gap between he and Bender in the overall points standings. Bender currently holds fifth place with 1,514 points, while Conrad sits in sixth place, 31 points behind.

• Chevrolet leads all manufacturers in victories at Magic Valley Raceway. In 4 events, Chevrolet has 2 wins followed by Pontiac and Ford with one victory apiece.

STAT OF THE WEEK:

• Gary Lewis holds three of the four Bud Poles contested at Magic Valley Raceway. Lewis also holds the track record in qualifying. The Bothell, Wash. native has one win and two top-5 finishes in his last three starts in Twin Falls. Lewis could tie Garrett Evans as the only back-to-back winners of the Napa 150. Current NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division and former Northwest star, Greg Biffle, is the only other driver to claim a win at Magic Valley.

2000 IN REVIEW:

• Gary Lewis passed Joe Benedetti with 31 laps to go and raced to a 1.91 second margin of victory in route to a $5,233 payday. Rick Suran was the biggest mover of the race. Suran started in 21st place and advanced to sixth in the running order after 150 laps. Kenny Rich was the highest local finisher with a fifth place run after starting eighth.

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