Whitt Enjoys "Day Off" Finishing

3rd in SRL Race at Madera

Madera, Calif (July 13, 2002) - Southwest Featherlite Tour rookie Brandon Whitt made the most of his "day off" last Saturday, starting and finishing third in the SRL "Wild West Late Model Shootout" at Madera Speedway.  Brandon's qualifying lap of 14.72 seconds tied the pole-sitter, yet Brandon started third due to a top-four invert.

Brandon and his Clean Line Racing team entered the SRL event to gain valuable experience on the Madera oval in preparation for the upcoming Featherlite race on July 27th.   The race was Brandon's first event outside the Featherlite tour this season, and his first career STR race.

"I had a blast," Brandon exclaimed after his best finish of since winning at Las Vegas last November.  " It was good racing.  Every lap we were battling with someone, and up until lap 85 it was side by side all the time.  The SRL series has a  good bunch of guys to race with, and I would do it again in a second."

Although the SRL series uses the same cars as the Featherlite Tour, there are a few crucial differences. The SRL series runs on Hoosier rather than Goodyear tires, and features exciting double-file restarts after every caution period.  "The double-file restarts were a lot of fun," explained Brandon.  "The outside groove was fastest, so you'd end up having the advantage on certain restarts when you happened to be in an even numbered position."

Leading the rookie-of-the-year standings with six races remaining in the season, nineteen year-old Brandon and his family-run Clean Line Racing team will return to the NASCAR Southwest Featherlite Tour this Saturday at Altamont Raceway Park.  Brandon hopes to extend his lead in rookie points, and move back into the top ten of the overall standings after dropping from
ninth to eleventh after the last race at Mesa Marin.