LEWIS CAPTURES SECOND CONSECUTIVE VICTORY

ON RAYBESTOS BRAKES NORTHWEST SERIES

TENINO, Wash. (August 3, 2002) – Gary Lewis held off a hard charging Kevin Hamlin to capture his second consecutive Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring victory of the season. With the South Sound Speedway crowd roaring in approval, the final 10 laps of the Pepsi 125 was an awesome display of driving talent as Hamlin came home second, only .043-seconds behind Lewis.

above: Gary Lewis picks up his first 2002 Bud Pole Award on his way to the win and a clean sweep for the night

 (photo courtesy of NASCAR)

Shane Biles finished in third place followed by Jeff Jefferson. Chris Hart rounded out the top-5. The race was run in 39 minutes, 12 seconds for an average speed of 71.900 mph. Lewis blistered the field in qualifying to earn his first Bud Pole Award of the year. The Bothell, Wash. native ran a lap of 14.147 seconds at 95.427 mph and started sixth based on a six-car invert.

Hart and Biles led the field to the green flag with Biles taking the lead exiting turn No. 4 at the completion of the first lap. Over the next 25 laps, Biles would fend off several challenges from Hart for the lead.

By lap 49, Lewis had moved to fourth place in the running order. On lap 57 Lewis made the pass of the evening entering turn No. 3. Using the outside groove, Lewis passed Hamlin for third place, then grabbed second from Hart on the next circuit.

Biles and Lewis raced side-by-side from lap 69 through 70 but Biles would hold the lead, as Lewis was never able to clear Bile’s Angel Racing Ford for the position. The race for the lead settled down until lap 75 where the action picked up as the leaders moved into lapped traffic.

As lap 81 began, Lewis challenged Biles for the lead entering turn No. 2 and gained the front spot in the running order exiting turn No. 4 as lap 82 began. Over the next 19 laps, Lewis and his Sign Factory USA Pontiac built a .746-second lead on Biles.

Biles began to loose air pressure in his right rear tire and this allowed Hamlin to close in for second place by lap 108. By lap 114, Hamlin had caught Lewis and the two closed out the Pepsi 125 in dramatic fashion.

Over the races final 10 laps, Hamlin moved the nose of his American Dream Motorsports Chevrolet to the lead, only to have Lewis battle back on the outside of the tight .375-mile track. Lap 124 saw Hamlin make the pass again but he was unable to clear Lewis and fell by half a car length to the winner at the checkers.

“We had an awesome car for the whole race but with about 20 laps to go she just started getting loose on me,” Lewis said. “I saw Kevin catching up there at the end and I knew we were going to be racing side by side for the win.”

“I had to run the high groove and we were bumping and sliding, man that was good racing. We had a lot of bit off the turns but I was loose in the middle of the turn. Kevin is a good guy and he raced me clean. Everybody is afraid to go the outside here but you know if you can’t do it the car will go to the back and we were able to run out there and hold him off,” he added.

Hamlin used everything his car and body had to get by Lewis in the closing laps. “When I got under him, I just didn’t have enough to get around him there in the end,” said an exhausted defending series champion. “The car stayed the same all night, it’s just a tribute to this American Dream pit crew, they worked their tails off all week and we would not be here with them.”

Biles was disappointed to have the tire go down late in the race but was happy to come home with his highest finish of the season. “This field is so close, it’s unfortunate that we had the tire go down and it effected the stagger. Third place is our best finish of the year, we’re just trying to right the ship. This was a good run for us and we’re going to be strong when we get to Kalispell (Montana) next week.”

View the Northwest Series on NASCAR.com with Results - Standings & Driver Profiles