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 Popeye’s 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