Eric Holmes had the fastest qualifying lap on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway - his second Bud Pole Award this year in the NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series. Eric started on the pole and had a comfortable lead the first 65 laps. Just before the first pit stop Jeff Jefferson took over the lead for 9 laps until the first of five caution flags came out on lap 76. The BRE crew did a fantastic job this week on their pit stops and got Eric’s car out first. Eric drove his Sunoco Race Fuels/Paul Oil/Chevrolet/ Monte Carlo to the front again on lap 84 and kept the lead up to lap 163. That’s when the car started getting hard to handle. On lap 164 Johnny Borneman charged to the high side of turn two to seize the lead and end what had been a dominant run by Eric. Borneman went on to win his first race of the season – he was followed by Mike Duncan, Steve Portenga, Jeff Jefferson and Peyton Sellers. Eric faded to finish ninth. The outcome left Eric and Mike David, who finished eighth, even in the championship standings, with 1189 points each.

The next NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series event will be held this Saturday Aug 5th at Stockton “99” Speedway.