NAPA AUTO PARTS “150” Race Recap from Kern
The inaugural NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Kern County Raceway, the NAPA AUTO PARTS “150” netted BMR two top ten-finishes with series veteran Eric Holmes taking third and rookie Shane Golobic finishing in eighth.
Three-time series champion, Holmes pilots the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry. Holmes, who began the season running a limited schedule, broke into the top 10 in points by finishing the NAPA AUTO PARTS “150” in third place. He is ninth in the chase with one race to go.
Holmes started the 150-lap race on the outside of row three. He ran there until the scheduled break that was called at lap 69. At the restart of the race, Holmes began his charge, gaining a position after the restart. With forty to go, he moved up to fourth and with thirty to go, moved into third. Holmes closed the gap and was within .42 seconds of the leader as they took the checkered flag.
“This was a lot of fun,” said Holmes. “We were taking care of the No. 16 NAPA Toyota pacing ourselves to be in a good position to take the checkered flag. We fought a car that was a little tight in turn four but it was really good on the long runs. Our NAPA Toyotas keep getting better and better. I want to thank the NAPA team led by crew chief Roger Bracken. And thank you to all the NAPA fans that came out to Kern County Raceway and made this such a great inaugural event.”
Driving the No. 20 Ray Scheidts Electric/Cobe Construction Toyota Camry was the 2013 World of Outlaws feature winner in Antioch and 2012 Ocean Speedway Sprint Car Champion, Shane Golobic. This was Golobic’s second start for BMR with his first being at BMR’s home track of All American Speedway where he finished in eighth.
“We had another strong 8th place run in the No. 20 Ray Scheidts Electric, Cobe Construction Toyota Camry!,” said Golobic. “I learned a ton in my second career K&N race and I cannot wait to get back behind the wheel! Trip Bruce and the rest of the crew gave me a strong car that only got better as the race went on. I just need to figure out how to qualify stronger so we can start the race up front and contend for a podium rather than having to fight our way up from the back! Thank you to everyone who has helped get me this opportunity! I am excited to head to Phoenix in two weeks to give it another shot!!”
Driving the No. 99 Peak/T-REX Toyota Camry was Chase Briscoe. The eighteen-year old who hails from Mitchell, Indiana is best known for racing a sprint car. This was his second start in the West Series with BMR. After a great qualifying effort, he started on the fourth row. Briscoe tangled with another competitor on the white flag lap sending the No. 99 Peak/T-Rex Toyota Camry spinning recording an 13th place finish.
“Not the night I wanted to have at Kern County.” said Briscoe. “We qualified pretty good and started in 8th. At the start of the race, we were just way to loose and it took about 25 laps for the car to come in and by that time we were back to around 15th. We drove back to 9th and had a restart with 50 laps to go. We battled a guy for the last 40 laps but could never clear him and gain more positions. Unfortunately on the last lap, we got together and it resulted with us spinning out and finishing in 13th. I want to thank Bill McAnally, Robert Hillin Jr, and Danielle S. Randall once again for this amazing opportunity. Also I want to thank Duane Knorr for being my crew chief, Jay T Williams for being my spotter, Jason Rutherford, Randy Stalter and Brian Alvord from BMR who worked their tails off all weekend. Thank you guys so much!”
The season finale for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will be on November 9th at Phoenix International Raceway.
For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and our race partners, please visit our website at www.bmrnapa. Become a fan of Bill McAnally Racing and follow us on our Facebook Fan page. We can also be followed on Twitter @BMR_NASCAR.