Auggie Vidovich won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Toyota Speedway on Saturday night as one of his contenders fell off the pace and stalled with two laps to go.
Vidovich won the first West Series race of his career. It was his first win in three West Series starts this year.
Brennan Newberry of Bakersfield was running in second place when his car slowed in the waning laps of the King Taco 200. He stalled in turn 2 with two laps to go. Blake Koch passed him for second place and Brett Thompson benefited with a third-place showing, matching his best finish at Irwindale in 14 West Series starts.
“The car was all right,” Vidovich said. “Blake, I thought he was the one who was going to get me. I was driving my heart out. Then Newberry got in position and I didn’t see much out of him, so then I just rode. When he stalled, I had a big enough lead. It really didn’t matter I don’t think.”
For Blake, it was his third top-five finish and his fourth top-10 finish in six West Series races this year.
“In the first half of the race, I was cool right there in fifth just holding my own,” Koch said. “We had a pretty good car on the bottom. Toward the end, we got a couple restarts with Auggie. I saw earlier that I could catch him and he had to go to the bottom. I knew if I could clear him once and stick him on the bottom, it would be tough for him to get back by me. I did it once, he got back behind me. We were racing good and clean. Auggie had a real good car.”
Thompson posted his second top-10 finish in three West Series races this year.
“We’re happy with a third place,” Thompson said. “We’ve had such a rough season to begin with. To bring it home in the top three, we’re pretty proud of that.”
Greg Pursley won the pole and led the first 42 laps of the race. He hit the backstretch wall on lap 43 and had to pull into the pits. He finished 29th.
Eric Holmes, who entered the Irwindale race at the leader in the West Series standings, finished 10th.
The next NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race is at Portland International Raceway in Oregon on July 18.
In the NASCAR Late Model race at Irwindale, R.J. Johnson, a driver from Canyon Country, won his fifth race of the season and closed in on the lead in the Late Model standings at the track.
Johnson is two points behind Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills, the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale. Joanides finished second. Derek Thorn was third.
Photo: NASCAR K&N Pro Series West driver Auggie Vidovich won the King Taco 200 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.
