WS: Irwindale: Jonathon Gomez race report

Jonathon Gomez Gains Points in NASCAR K&N Pro Series
Solid Performance Boosts Gomez in Championship Hunt After Irwindale Event

TWIN FALLS, IDAHO (July 5, 2010) Jonathon Gomez of Twin Falls, Idaho continues to close the gap in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series championship after a solid performance Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Iwindale (CA) in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. Gomez muscled his Heritage Cattle Co./Century Boatland Chevrolet most of the race hanging on to the lead lap and over the final 50 circuits of the 200-lap event he moved his car to the front and crossed the finish line in the sixth position.

Gomez qualified ninth for the King Tacpo "200" but as quickly as the race began he started to lose positions as his car was too free for the track conditions. Most of the first 100 laps he spent just hanging on dropping to as low as 21st in the field. The Craig Raudman led crew called for Gomez to pit during a caution on lap 42 making a track-bar adjustment and removing right rear spring rubbers.

After the restart on lap 50 Gomez still found the going rough and only managed to move up to the 18th position over the next ten laps. When the field took the mandatory 10-minute halfway break, Gomez was running 18th.

The Heritage Motor Sports crew went to work making numerous adjustments to the car. The crew changed right-side tires, added a left rear spring rubber, and moved the track bar.

The adjustments appeared to work as over the next ten laps under green, Gomez maneuvered his way through the field up to the 12th position. By lap 130, he had found his groove and began picking up a position a lap and by lap 150, Gomez had moved up to the 7th position and was closing in on the top five.

On lap 166 Gomez dove low for the fifth position but lost the handle as the rear started to take off on him. He gathered his machine but fell back to the 8th position loosing the two positions he had worked the last 25-laps to gain. Over the final 30-laps, Gomez was determined to close the gap on the leaders and crossed the finish line in sixth for his fourth top ten finish of the season.

"I really wanted the fifth position but this car was a handful," Gomez said. "We just missed the setup a bit to start the race and I am really happy that we had no incidents and rolled the car on the trailer without a scratch."

When told he was running lap times as fast as the leaders at the end of the race, Gomez was a bit surprised. "My car was a handful to drive," Gomez offered. "I can't say I had a fun but I sure did learn a lot and it is races like these that will make the difference in the points. I know we picked up points on the some guys and that is important in the big picture."

Gomez has climbed up to third place in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series-West standings, just 30-points out of second and 94-points out of the lead with six races left to go in the 2010 campaign. Through the first half of the season, Gomez has two top five and four top ten finishes in six starts with his best finish of second place among the drivers in the NKNPS-West at Iowa Speedway back in May.

-source: jonathon gomez PR