WS: Roseville II: Greg Pursley race notes

Pursley Rolls Pair of Three's at All American
Gene Price Motorsports Driver Greg Pursley Finishes Third in Race and Points

PARKER, ARIZONA (September 28, 2009) -- Greg Pursley, driver of the Gene Price Motorsports Chevrolet on the NASCAR Camping World Series, scored his eighth top five finish of the season with a third place performance Saturday night in the season finale. Pursley fought a tight condition late in the race but the finish was good enough to secure third place in the final point standings and a trip to the NASCAR awards banquet in Concord, NC in November.

Pursley qualified seventh at the tricky one-third mile paved oval in Roseville, CA and was really optimistic about the car for later in the race. "We would like to have qualified better but the way the car felt in practice and qualifying gave us confidence," Pursley stated. Jason Jefferson (interim crew chief) and the rest of the team did a fantastic job all day."

After starting the race in the seventh position, Pursley used the first few laps to allow the tires to come in and set his sights on the top five. It did not take him long to move up and once inside the top five he never looked back even though he waged a spirited battle with Moses Smith during the later portion of the 150-lap race.

Pursley moved up to second on lap 28 and held the position through several early race restarts due to cautions. Pursley then lost the second spot to Eric Schmidt on lap 51 after several lapped cars tangled in front of the leaders and blocked the front stretch. Pursley narrowly missed being collected but did lose the spot.

Pursley dogged Schmidt over the final 100 laps while holding off a determined Smith, but was never able to get the car to turn under Schmidt and had to settle for a third place finish; a finish not without its rewards. "Another top five, well take it," Pursley said after the race. "I think we had a shot early but our car just got too tight. This was the best short track car we have had all season and we are pretty excited about how the race and the season went."

Normally a start team may need a year or two to work out all the kinks, not so for the Gene Price Motosports team. "It has really been a great year for the Gene Price Motorsports team," Pursley stated. "We are so much further ahead then we envisioned at the beginning of the year I know we will be a contender again next season. I really need to thank Gene Price for the opportunity to drive his race car and the whole team for their support all season."

With his third place finish, Pursley secured a third place final point's finish and a trip to concord, NC for the NASCAR regional awards banquet. In his first season driving for Gene Price Motorsports, Pursley has one win, eight top five and eleven top ten finishes in 13 starts.

While celebrating the accomplishments of the season is a matter of course, the team will have little time to relax as preparations are already underway for the 2010 campaign that will include new crew chief Jerry Pitts who guided Eric Norris to his NCWS championship back in 2002. Pursley will also stay busy running the Gene Price Motosports shop and participating in several Late Model races over the winter.

Greg Pursley completed his second full season of competition in the NCWS after making his NCWS series debut back in 1999 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, CA. Pursley has 29 career series starts with one win (Thunder Hill 2009), ten top five and 16 top ten performances. Pursley is the 2004 NASCAR Whelen All American Series national champion where he competed at Toyota Speedway and was a multi-time winner on the now defunct NASCAR Southwest Tour where he competed for many years. The Toyota/Copart "150" from All American Speedway will be televised on SPEED Channel Thursday, October 8 at 12 noon PT. The NASCAR Camping World Series concluded its 56th season of competition and is one of the nation's oldest stock car racing series. The next event for Gene Price Motorsports and driver Greg Pursley in the NASCAR Camping World Series will be the annual NASCAR Toyota All Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, CA January 29-30, 2010 live on SPEED Channel.

-credit: gpm