TOM SWEATMAN SWEATS IT OUT AT YAKIMA SPEEDWAY

Source: NASCAR Public Relations
Date: 07/25/2004

YAKIMA, Washington -- Tom Sweatman lived up to his nickname, “The Sweathog”, Saturday at the Frank’s Chevrolet 125 at Yakima (Wash.) Speedway in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Northwest Series as afternoon temperatures soared to over the 100-degree mark. Sweatman earned his first win of the 2004 season and the fifth of his career in the Northwest Series.

The key to the win for the Cosmopolis, Wash. product was keeping the tires on his Yakima Implement Chevrolet in solid form due to the triple-digit track temperature. “I had a great car tonight,” said Sweatman. “But I had to make sure that I had enough tire to get to the end.” Sweatman spent the last 45 laps holding off eventual runner-up Pete Harding racing in the L.P. Body Shop/Yale Forklift Chevy.

Harding, racing out of Surrey, B.C. Canada, has won five Northwest Series events at Yakima Speedway and always seems to be able to get around the 1/2-mile oval in quick fashion. But on this night he was unable to move past Sweatman. “I was able to get a couple of looks, but I got the tires so heated up to get there that I had to back off and try again,” said Harding. Eventually Harding ran out of the laps and Sweatman was able to win by .36 of a second.

“I knew Pete was there and he always runs great here,” said Sweatman. “I tried to lay off the tires for a while to save something for the end. I thought maybe I rested too long, but Pete was fighting the same tire problems. It is really easy to run the tires off a car when it is this hot.”

Auburn, Washington’s Joe Benedetti led the race’s first 45 laps before being overtaken by Sweatman, but was able stay up front and finish in third for his second top-five finish of the year. The driver of the Bret Chevrolet/RaceCals Chevy said, “This was a good run for us. I would have liked to picked up the win, but Tom and Pete are great drivers and had tremendous cars tonight.”

Benedetti started on the pole for the race by virtue of a 10-car invert to begin the event. Defending series champion Jeff Jefferson notched his third Bud Pole Award of the year with a lap speed of 92.999 mph, but had the unfortunate draw in a series-mandated six, eight or ten-car invert. It was the second time in his three pole wins that the Naches, Wash. resident drew a ten.

That, perhaps, was an omen of bad things to come for Jefferson as mechanical difficulties forced him to park his Sunfair Chevrolet/LeMay Car Museum Chevrolet after just 27 laps. “These things happen,” said a disappointed Jefferson. “But don’t count us out of the points race just yet.”

Another driver benefiting from the 10-car invert was Jason Jefferson, Jeff’s younger brother. Jason ended up starting third and was able to bring his Mike Olson Dodge/Simmonson Automotive Dodge around for a fourth-place finish. It was the younger Jefferson’s first top-five effort since winning the first two events of the season possibly setting up a championship run for last year’s runner-up.

Finishing fifth, equaling his season-best finish, was Steven Howard hailing from Roy, Wash. Howard, the series’ youngest driver, has driven his Great Northwest Homes/Seddon Marketing Group Chevrolet to five top-10 finishes in seven events in 2004.

Rounding out the top ten were Bryan Wiener, Jody Tanner, Garrett Evans, Travis Bennett and Gary Lewis.

As the series moves into its final stages for 2004, drivers are beginning to feel the pressure of the championship hunt and a spot in the season’s top 10 in points to earn a berth in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown to be held at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in November. In that event, the top ten drivers from each of the four NASCAR Elite Divisions will race to see who the best of the best really is.

Evans, the season points leader coming into the race, held on to the top spot and was able to increase his lead to 47 points over second-ranked Bennett by finishing one spot ahead in this race. With his second-place effort, Harding was able to leap from eighth to third, 81 points off the pace of Evans.

The battle for the final three spots in the top 10 is every bit as tight as the fight at the top where 95 points is the difference from first to fifth. Just 111 points separate seventh and 13th places.

Next, the Northwest Series will roar into Kalispell, Mont. on August 7 for the 6th Annual Rumble in the Rockies at Montana Raceway Park.

See Also .:

• Yakima Speedway Track Page

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