NASCAR WWEST: Eric Norris/Jani-King Prolong Racing Notes

19 August 1999

* Eric Norris and the whole Jani-King team believe they can put the run of bad luck they have been having behind them this week at Irwindale. Last month when the NASCAR Winston West teams loaded up after the race at Irwindale Speedway, Norris had recorded a tenth place effort. His last top ten finish. Now after two disappointing outings at Monroe and Portland the #32 team is looking to get back to the top ten.

Norris also hopes to move in on what he believes can be a top five finish in the NASCAR Winston West Series points race. Norris now sits only 70 points out of fifth. So if he can get back on track in the last five races of the season anything can happen.

* In an effort to improve on the teams tenth place finish earlier this year at Irwindale, the Jani-King team and driver Eric Norris tested at the speedway last month. The test was a big success with the team learning what they hope will give them a little advantage on the return trip to the half mile Southern California track.

Unfortunately, the car that Norris tested at Irwindale was also the car he raced at Portland last week, and it was too badly damaged during the race to bring here.

Instead the team is using their speedway car that last raced at Fontana earlier this year. The Jani-King team finished 12th that day.

Eric Norris Quotes for Irwindale Speedway

"I like the Irwindale track. It's a great facility for the West Series to run on. They have done a great job building this track and the people are very enthusiastic about us being here."

"We were an average car when we raced here last month and still got a top ten finish. But after the test a few weeks ago I feel we really have something to come back with that should be good. Unfortunately the car we tested here and wanted to run was badly crashed last week in Portland, so we had to bring another car here. We'll be good regardless."

"The Jani-King team has had a good year but we feel like with a little luck we can be a contender. We just keep having little things happen that have kept us from having the finishes we need."

"With five races remaining on the schedule we need to get some solid finishes so we can finish up the year in a strong fashion. I think we have a top five team in the points, we just have to go out each week and run up front and make it happen."

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