NASCAR WWEST: Reed looking for positive end to 2000 season
10 November 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Mark Reed is looking forward to the last race of the Winston West season this Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway.
"We have a great opportunity to end our season on a high note in the Home Depot 300", Reed said. This will be Reed's fifth Winston West Series race of the season and his second race in the series at Irwindale Speedway. He qualified 2nd for the Home Depot 250 in August and finished the race in 9th place. "We had a top-5 car at Irwindale in August", said Reed.
"We ran out of gas during a long green flag segment while running 3rd on lap 235 and lost a lot of track position. I'm confident we won't have that problem again". Reed's confidence is well founded. He recently hired Jerry Pitts to be the crew chief of the Reed Motorsports team. Pitts has spent the last several years working for various Winston Cup teams, and most recently held the crew chief position at Melling Racing for driver Stacy Compton. "Jerry's knowledge of the Winston Cup style chassis and his experience with pit stop strategy will be a big help to the team", said Reed.
Mark Reed recently reached an agreement that will continue his Food 4 Less sponsorship through the 2001 season. The Food 4 Less stores of Southern California will sponsor the Reed Motorsports team in the Winston West Series and selected events in the Featherlite Southwest Series. The sponsorship from Food 4 Less will allow Reed to build a championship caliber team to compete for "Rookie of the Year" in the Winston West Series.
"We will build a new Southwest Series car and purchase two Winston West cars prior to the start of next season at Phoenix International Raceway", said Reed. "We are working with Joe Gibbs Racing to purchase one or possibly two additional cars from them". Reed purchased an intermediate track car from Gibbs earlier this year that he has campaigned successfully on , 1 , and 2 mile length race tracks. "Our plan is to buy one short track car and one super speedway car", said Reed.
A top-5 finish in the Home Depot 300 would give Reed and the members of his team plenty of momentum going into the off-season. "If we qualify up front like we did in August and stay out of trouble, we should have a good finish", said Reed. Unfortunately last weekend in the Featherlite Southwest Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, Reed wasn't able to stay out of trouble. He was caught up in a first lap wreck that started at the front of the field and involved several cars causing heavy body damage to the front end of the Food 4 Less Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The team was able to make repairs and Reed finished the race in 19th position.
Text provided by Doug Stokes
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