Bowles wins NASCAR West Series championship.
There was little doubt that Jason Bowles would win his first stock car championship Saturday when his biggest rival wrecked out. An early accident cost second-place Eric Holmes a chance to upstage the Ontario driver Bowles, who won the Toyota/Copart 150 in Roseville to clinch the NASCAR Camping World West Series championship.
From NASCAR.com:
ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- Jason Bowles captured his first NASCAR championship with a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Series finale at All American Speedway. Rookie Paulie Harraka won the Coors Light Pole Award and led every lap in winning the Toyota/Copart 150 presented by Golden State Steele & Stair.Bowles, from Ontario, Calif., needed only to finish better than 16th to claim the championship. The title, though, was decided early on when defending champion Eric Holmes was involved in an accident in the opening laps. Although Holmes eventually returned to the track, he had to pit later for a flat tire. Meanwhile, Bowles was able to cruise to his 10th top five in 13 races. Bowles also had three wins.
It was a reverse scenario from a year ago, when Bowles entered the final race trailing Holmes. Bowles won the race, but Holmes was able to finish fifth to take the championship.
Harraka, a teammate of Holmes at Bill McAnally Racing, won his second career pole - he also won the pole for the finale last season - and dominated en route to his season win of the season. Eric Schmidt finished second. Both Harraka and Schmidt are former champions in the Late Model division at All American.
Greg Pursley finished third, followed by Bowles, and Moses Smith.
The 26-year-old Bowles is in his third full season in the NASCAR Camping World Series West. He finished third in points and won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, and was runner-up to Holmes last year.
With the 2009 season complete, the next racing event on the schedule for NASCAR Camping World Series teams will be the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown on Jan. 29-30, 2010 in Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.). Bowles and Harraka already had secured spots in the Showdown by virtue of wins earlier this year.
Bowles and the rest of the NASCAR touring series champions will be honored at the Touring Series Gala in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 14.