The O’Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series fires back to action this Saturday night by making the series lone stop of the year atop the semi-banked, 3/8-mile West Plains Motor Speedway red clay oval on Saturday night.
The O’Reilly ASCoT National series’ final stop of the year in Missouri marks the fifth visit in series history to West Plains Motor Speedway, with one stop each season prior to last year’s event being rained out.
Leading the way into the event is three-time and reigning series champion Gary Wright of Hooks, TX. Shooting for another $50,000 championship, “The Texan” has established a 56-point lead over Oklahoma City native Wayne Johnson on the strength of a dozen wins in 29 feature events.
Wright’s banner season has extended his series-best career win total to 118 ASCS National Tour triumphs.
Wright was victorious in the series most recent stop at West Plains Motor Speedway in 2005, with other series winners at West Plains including Tim Montgomery (2004) and Tim Crawley (2002 and 2003).
Fifty-six points off the lead pace, 2000 ASCS National champion Wayne Johnson still has a chance to overtake Wright in the championship points race with six nights of action remaining.
Also still in contention is Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA, last year’s National Sprint Car Driver of the Year. Racking up seven National feature wins this year and 14 overall ASCS wins including Regional victories, “The Ragin’ Cajun” enters the West Plains event 98 points off of Wright’s lead pace.
Forney, TX, shoe Travis Rilat, the 2003 ASCS National champion, enters the event ranked fourth, with leading Brodix Rookie of the Year candidate Foster Landon of Collinsville, OK, rounding out the current top five.
Other top contenders expected to be in action include 2006 Rookie of the Year Nick Smith of Broken Arrow, OK, young gun Brad Bowden of Hernando, MS, three-time ASCS National champion Tim Crawley of Benton, AR, 2007 Knoxville Raceway champion Brian Brown of Grain Valley, MO, A.G. Rains of West Memphis, AR, and three-time Winged Outlaw Warriors champion Randy Martin of California, MO.
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