Rookie-of-the-Year Leader Brandon Whitt Returns to Familiar Territory at Irwindale

El Cajon, CA (May 31, 2002) -  Nineteen year-old stock car racer Brandon Whitt heads to Irwindale Speedway next Saturday with the benefit of considerable experience at the half-mile track. While Brandon and his family-run Clean Line Racing team are competing at many of the Southwest Featherlite tracks for the first time, the team has more than a half-dozen races under their belt at the Irwindale oval.

According to team owner Dan Whitt, (Brandon's father), the team tuned up for this season's assault on the Southwest Featherlite Rookie-of-the-Year title by focusing on a half-dozen regional tracks in Super Late Model races last year. "There was a lot of competition at Irwindale in the Super Late class last year, which was good preparation for Brandon and the team. Once we got our STR chassis last spring, we steadily improved our performance at
Irwindale, culminating at the August 4th "Twin 50" when Brandon finished 4th in one race and 5th in the other."

"I'm psyched to get back to Irwindale in the faster, more powerful Southwest Featherlite car," Brandon says. "I know the track well, so we can focus on setting up the car during practice. Having track experience will feel like a great luxury after our debut at Pikes Peak last weekend, when we had just ninety minutes to learn the track and set up the car before qualifying."

Brandon hopes to continue his streak of starting and finishing every race, and to extend his lead in the Rookie-of-the-Year points standings. Brandon's result at Pikes Peak moved him up from thirteenth to eleventh in the overall standings, and he has the opportunity to break into the top ten with a good finish at Irwindale.

The Southwest Featherlite race will begin at approximately 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 8th at Irwindale Speedway, and will be telecast on Speed Channel on June 17th. Watch for Brandon's first in-car camera on the broadcast!