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SELLERS SNARES FIRST WIN, SECURES
POINTS LEAD
IN
NASCAR GRAND NATIONAL DIVISION, AUTOZONE WEST SERIES
ROSEBURG, Ore. (July 1, 2006)
After winning the national championship in the NASCAR
Dodge Weekly Series last year,
Peyton Sellers advanced to the NASCAR Grand
National Division with a full-time ride in the
AutoZone West Series as part of a driver development
program between Richard Childress Racing and Bill
McAnally Racing.
Success has followed the 22-year-old Danville, Va., driver to the West
Coast. As the series hit its midway point of the
season on Saturday, Sellers scored his first career
win with a victory in the BI-MART Firecracker 150 by
NAPA Belts & Hose at Douglas County Speedway. With
the win, he moved atop the championship standings in
the AutoZone West Series.
Im blessed to be here, the soft-spoken
driver of the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts/NAPA Belts &
Hose Chevrolet said after the event. Im a long
way from South Boston, Va., where I was racing at last
year.
Sellers, who grabbed his first career Budweiser
Pole Award with a qualifying lap of 117.816 mph,
dominated the event leading 125 of 150 laps. Eric
Holmes, also pursuing his first series win, waged a
strong battle for the lead through much of the event
but slipped to third in the late stages. Sellers
then faced a challenge from Mike David, before
eventually pulling away.
With each team limited to one set of tires for
the entire race, Sellers said he was content to run
his own pace. We wanted to run just hard enough to
keep him behind me, Sellers said of Holmes. A
couple of times he wanted to charge a little more than
I did. It was time to let him go there. He wanted to
go pretty hard, so I let him. I felt like thats
what made my car so good at the end was being able to
keep track position, but save a little bit of my
car.
Sellers gained the lead for the final time on
lap 127 and charged away to win by just over two
seconds at an average speed of 51.878 mph. With the
victory, he netted $7,795 in prize money and posted
awards including the Budweiser Pole Award.
Modesto, Calif., driver, Mike David who
entered the event tied with Sellers in the point
standings took second in the Bennett Lane Winery
Ford. Holmes of Escalon, Calif., was third in the
Sunoco Race Fuels/Paul Oil Chevrolet. Finishing fourth
was Tim Woods III of Chino Hills, Calif., in the Chino
Hills Ford Ford followed by Jim Inglebright of
Fairfield, Calif., in the Jelly Belly Chevrolet.
Completing the top 10 were two-time and defending
series champion Mike Duncan, Brett Thompson, Steve
Portenga, Justin Lofton and Scott Gaylord.
The race featured eight lead changes among
three drivers Sellers, Holmes and David. The pace
of the event was slowed by six cautions for 31 laps.
Sellers leads the standings with 902 points,
with six events complete of a 12-race schedule. David
is second with 887, followed by Holmes with 866.
Duncan is fourth with 850, while Portenga is fifth at
823. They are followed by Brian Ickler at 812,
Inglebright at 806, Thompson at 774, Gaylord at 768
and Lofton at 767.
Sellers also leads the standings in pursuit of
this years Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. He has
49 points followed by Ickler with 46, Lofton with
44, Eric Hardin with 35 and James Bruncati with 20.
Other rookies this year include Eric Humphries and
Brian Pannone each with 16 points, Nick Lynch and
Daniel DiGiacomo each with 15, Spencer Clark with 14,
Justin Fisher with eight and Ed Watson with two.
The next event on the NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West
Series schedule is the King Taco 200 at Irwindale
(Calif.) Speedway July 22.
For
Further Information Contact:
Kevin W. Green, NASCAR Public Relations,
661/392-8543, kgreen@nascar.com
Jeremy Davidson, NASCAR Public Relations,
386/253-0611, jdavidson@nascar.com
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