Eric Holmes has been looking forward to racing on some of the short tracks on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule. He won at the tiny Montana Raceway Park on Saturday night and padded, if ever so slightly, his lead in the West Series standings.
Holmes won the inaugural race at the quarter-mile, high-banked oval in northwest Montana. It was his third win of the season and his first since winning at Douglas County Speedway in Oregon in June.
Holmes started seventh and had to work his way through the field to take the lead. The race went 103 laps caution free before the first yellow flag came out for debris. After that, a series of caution periods bunched up the field and helped Holmes close in on David Mayhew.
Mayhew led the most laps in the race. But Holmes took the lead on lap 113 and held it for the final 38 laps of the race.
"The late yellows there were a little nerve racking having to go through those restarts again," Holmes said. "The car was real good on the bottom, got some great restarts, brought the NAPA Toyota back to victory lane."
Mayhew finished second, followed by Moses Smith in third. Smith was able to avoid a late crash between Travis Bennett, Paulie Harraka and Greg Pursley.
Pursley won the pole and led the first 18 laps of the race. Mayhew took the lead on lap 19 and held it for 94 laps. Mayhew and Holmes raced side-by-side over the last 20 laps, but Holmes was able to pull away at the end.
Jonathon Gomez finished fourth, followed by Gary Lewis in fifth. Lewis, a driver from Bothel, Wash., won the Best of the West Tundra 125 late model race at Montana Raceway Park earlier in the night.
