Old Dominion Speedway / July 20, 2002
McFarland Wins Number 5 .
It was Craftsman Tool Night at the Races Saturday Night at
the Old Dominion Speedway, and Mark McFarland from Winchester Va. had the right tools in
his toolbox, taking home the checkers for the 5th time this season in the 75
lap feature for the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Presented by Dodge Late Model Stock Cars.
McFarland took over the top spot after the halfway point in the event with a bold move to
the outside of early leader Stan Owens to claim the win. The event started out with a
bang, as when the 21 car field came down to complete lap one, Brian Jenkins, who had
started on the outside of row one, spun his machine coming out of turn four, which in turn
collected about three quarters of the field. When the smoke cleared, several of the top
runners had been collected in the melee, including McFarland. But the damage to the
Popeyes Chevrolet was slight, and did not seem to alter the handling characteristics
of the car. A complete restart was called for, which put Owens and Mike Southard on the
front row. The green dropped, and Owens, in the Tires Plus sponsored Chevy, led the charge
of the remaining cars into turn one, with Southard on his back bumper. McFarland, who had
lined up fourth, methodically made his way through the field, and took over the second
spot from Southard before the halfway point, taking the spot using the outside groove.
Then, just past the halfway point, he used the same move on Owens, and took over the lead.
From that point on, there was no stopping him, and he crossed the stripe about 5 car
lengths ahead of Owens at the end. Defending track champ Dustin Storm passed Southard with
just a handful of laps remaining, taking home the third spot, while Southard and Richard
Boswell Jr. rounded out the top five.
Chris Donnelly from Stafford Va. took home his third win in 2002, holding off current
point leader and defending track champ Jimmy Hardin for the win. Donnelly and Hardin broke
away early, and made it a 2 car race for the win, with Donnelly beating the veteran to the
stripe by two car lengths. Rounding out the top five was Ray Terczak, Walter Nichols, and
Mark Miller.
Vince Langan from Centreville, Va. won the 30 lap Mini Stock feature for his fourth trip
to victory lane in 2002. Langan used up the entire width of the 3/8 mile Old Dominion
Speedway oval, holding off the determined challenges of Scott Quesenbery for the final 15
circuits. Rounding out the top five were Mike Carte, Keith Machleit, and Thomas VanDyke.
With his third place finish, combined with the ninth place finish of Sean Dawson, Carte
now re-takes the point lead in the Mini Stock points chase.
Ray Miller powered by James Lucas with just a few laps remaining, and held off the former
Legends driver at the end for his fourth win of the season in the 25 lap Gaston Automotive
Speedway Sportsman feature. Lucas came up less than a car length short at the end.
Rounding out the top five was point leader Jeff Sisak, followed by Jamie DeMattio, and Les
Miranda.
The Legends cars returned to the Old Dominion Speedway for the fifth time in 2002, and 18
year old Kyle Hendershott, the defending track champion, picked up his first ever feature
win in the 30 lap event. Hendershott dove underneath early leader Nick Carson with just a
few laps remaining, and crossed the stripe just one car length ahead of him. The win
marked the fifth different winner in as many races run thus far at ODS in the Legends
division. Rounding out the top five was Roger Austin Jr., current point leader Kevin
Yeatts, and former Mini Stock driver Mike Bryant.
Next Saturday night, the Late Models will compete in Twin 50 lap features. Also on the
schedule will be a 50 lap feature for the Grand Stocks, 30 laps for the Mini Stocks, and
25 laps for the Speedway Sportsman. Qualifying begins at 5:15 PM, with racing action set
for 7:00PM.
Feature Winners From July 20:
Mark McFarland, Chris Donnelly, Vince Langan, Ray Miller, Kyle Hendershott